Pixar struggles to find relevancy in a world haunted by its past successes.
Once world-renowned for its original concepts, Pixar now finds itself pumping out legacy sequels and relying on existing IP.
2017’s Coco was the last successful original film to come out of the company.
2025’s Elio was slated to be a classic kid’s romp, featuring aliens, an original idea, and, crucially, a queer-coded lead.
Director Adrian Molina found his footing co-directing Coco, now directing solo, he wanted the character of Elio to reflect his experience as an openly-gay man.
Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter was profiled in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend and revealed Pixar’s avoidance of Queer themes.
Pixar didn’t want their films to force parents to have conversations with their children they might not be ready for.
“We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy,” he said in reference to cutting Queer themes from Elio and other Pixar projects.
For Docter, director of Pixar’s greatest hits such as Up, Monsters Inc and Inside Out, the hard graft is over.
He can afford to rest upon the lofty title of Creative Officer, but for his staff and Pixar’s wallet, the ramifications are fierce.
His conflict-averse leadership style often left films lacking substance or meaning, pushing new directors to make autobiographical films that audiences couldn’t connect with, which in the case of Elio, resulted in a tumultuous production.
Back in 2023, Molina presented a rough-cut of Elio to Pixar leadership.
Sources close to Molina say he was hurt by the conversations that followed and soon left the project, leaving co-directors Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi to re-configure the film.
A test screening panned with audiences.
The film was delayed for a year and suffered multiple cuts.
A pink bicycle and a scene in which Elio imagines raising a child with his male crush are among the cuts.
Numerous staff continued to leave the project and as former Pixar assistant editor Sarah Ligatich cited “was really indicative of how unhappy a lot of people were that they had changed and destroyed this beautiful work.”
Another staff member noted, “It was pretty clear through the production of the first version of the film that [studio leaders] were constantly sanding down these moments in the film that alluded to Elio’s sexuality of being queer.”
The final product was a hodge-podged film barely resembling its original that opened to record-low numbers for Pixar, debuting to $20.8 million in the US and $14 million overseas.
Docter’s WSJ profile reveals his inability to lead the company with a clear voice.
“As time’s gone on, I realised my job is to make sure the films appeal to everybody,” he said.
The ineffectual position allows for streaming giants to swoop in on Pixar’s box-office dependent market.
Netflix break-out success KPop Demon Hunters sticks out as an original work able to find success in streaming.
