Can Pixar Make Successful Original Films?

There was a time, when outside of the “Toy Story” franchise, Pixar refused to make sequels. It wasn’t until 2011’s “Cars 2” that the sequel seal was broken, leading to a flood of follow-up films.

Now, a decade after the advent of the Pixar sequel began in earnest, the studio may need to lean more into its established franchises to remain successful.

Source: Pixar.fandom.com

The studio’s latest original film “Elemental” arrived in theaters yesterday, and unfortunately for both Pixar and Disney, the film looks dead on arrival.

Currently, “Elemental” is tracking toward a $35 million opening weekend, which would put it among Pixar’s worst debuts.

Photo: Disney

The question facing the studio in a post-pandemic world, is whether audiences will turn out to a Pixar original film?

Pete Docter Weighs In

In a recent interview with Variety, Pixar head Pete Docter weighed in on the balance that the studio needs to strike moving forward.

“My dad was a musician. He always talks about music as a combination of the comfort of familiarity and surprise. If it tips in either direction, it doesn’t work. If you can tell where every next note is going to fall, you’re like, ‘hmmm.’

But if every note is a surprise, and you don’t know where it’s going, and it’s so foreign, it doesn’t work either. So, most people generally gravitate towards music which is a sweet spot, somewhere in the middle.” Docter muses.

Have Audiences Changed?

The question remains then, have audiences changed? Or is there another reason for Pixar’s lack of success with original films?

“Right now, the world seems to want the comfort of what they know, which is sequels, and movies based on things like comic books or video games. But all of these things were original at one point” Docter notes.

Photo: Pixar

“I think it’s essential for us to develop new original stories, which are harder to publicize, harder to get people excited to go see them. But I think audiences deserve it. They want to find that surprise, along with the comfort of the expectation. We have our share of sequels in the works.

We’re doing a sequel to “Inside Out,” so you get to go back inside the mind of Joy and Sadness. We have another “Toy Story,” so Woody and Buzz are back. And we have a few other projects, but it’s always a balance.”

Pixar Will Move Foward

In the end however, Docter says that Pixar is going to do what it always does- tell meaningful stories.

Photo: Pixar

“It’s all fair game. Our philosophy from the beginning has been the same. The people have changed, but the approach is the same. We tap people that we believe in and feel like they have talent and something to say. We ask them to talk about things that are important to them,” Docter asserts.

“If this is impactful and powerful to a person, they’re going to get on the screen, and it will resonate with audiences. We’re looking to tap these amazingly talented people I get to work with to talk about universal stories that are about life issues that we all face. Our movies on the surface are about fish, cars and monsters, but just below that, they’re really about all of us, and the challenge of dealing with loss, becoming a parent, finding our place in the world.”

Credit: Disney-Pixar