It’s the story of a fiery girl and a transparent boy who love each other but come from different backgrounds. The story of the film Elementary, however, threatens to become something else: that of the last flop of the Pixar studio. With this production released last Friday in the United States, the Disney subsidiary is indeed making its worst start. Elementary only grossed $29.6 million in its opening weekend. Significantly less than Buzz Lightyear (51 million dollars the first weekend), a production which had already not met with the expected success.
Of course, the game is not yet played: the film has just been released (in France, it arrived in theaters this Wednesday). This sluggish start in the United States is, however, indicative of the unprecedented challenge Pixar faces today. Bringing audiences into theaters when they have the vast catalogs of streaming sites at home has become difficult. Disney was the first to play with fire by choosing not to release several Pixar films (Drunk, Luke, Red alert) in theaters but to reserve them for its SVoD Disney + platform in order to encourage the public to subscribe to them. “The whole strategy of former Disney CEO Bob Chapek was to grow this service quickly. And this strong focus on streaming was accentuated during the Covid, with theaters and amusement parks being closed”, explains Gilles Pezet, senior consultant at the firm specializing in media and audiovisual NPA Conseil.
“The Pixar Name Isn’t Enough Anymore”
Bob Chapek’s methods have in fact made it possible to increase the number of Disney + subscribers very quickly: he is prancing today to 164 million while the group is one of the last to arrive on this juicy market. But habits die hard and it is not easy to bring viewers back to the cinema, once they have become accustomed to SVoD exclusives at low prices. “Pixar’s name is clearly not enough to bring people into theaters. In times of inflation, families are reluctant to pay 4 or 5 tickets to see a film that they will be able to discover in 30 or 45 days in their living room”, decrypts Gilles Pezet.
Those who still succeed best are franchises that are already established (Star Wars, Marvel) each new part of which is eagerly awaited by armies of fans. Since his return to the helm of Disney, Bob Iger has therefore relied on a radically different strategy that gives pride of place to theaters. And play it creatively safe. Toy Story 5, Frozen 3 And Zootopia 2the next three big Disney productions announced since his return are all linked to franchises that are already firmly established.
“In this industry, we can quickly turn the tide. It is enough for the next Pixar to be a hit for the studio’s last failures to be forgotten”, tempers Gilles Pezet. In the meantime, the pressure is maximum for Pixar. Disney has cut 75 positions within the studio and is sharpening its weapons for the battles ahead. “We entered the second phase of the streaming market six months ago,” explains the expert. After a period of carefree euphoria where all the actors advanced their pawns and spent lavishly, the end of the recreation rang. Disney+, whose one-year operating losses were $1.47 billion for the July-September period, is now looking to quickly achieve profitability (2024 target).
The second round of the streaming war
And to do this, Disney and all the others are going back to basics. Back to dark rooms to start. “The groups understood that there was no valid rule for all productions: you have to make lace, on a case-by-case basis: the very big franchises have periods of exclusivity in theaters. Those whose disappointing entries are quickly switched to streaming. And those that take off are kept longer than expected in theaters.” Return to licenses also after a period when each group began to jealously guard its content. According to American media Deadline, Warner Bros. Discovery would, for example, study the possibility of selling the licenses of certain HBO series to Netflix.
“Everyone finally seems to be rediscovering the virtues of advertising,” laughs Gilles Pezet. After promising for years that advertisements would never be allowed in his house, Reed Hastings announced in 2022 the launch on Netflix of a free offer backed by advertising. And Disney immediately followed suit. The history of Hollywood is no exception: it is a perpetual renewal.