Pixar’s 2025 animated film Elio has recently made a significant leap in the box office rankings, marking a noteworthy shift in its performance. The movie, which follows an 11-year-old boy named Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) who gets mistaken for Earth’s ambassador by an alien organization, began with a rough start but has managed to surpass its predecessor Onward in domestic earnings.
Elio’s Rocky Start and Recent Growth
Despite receiving a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 82%, Elio faced a slow start when it debuted in theaters. The movie’s 3-day opening weekend gross of $20.8 million made it Pixar’s lowest domestic debut ever, surpassing Toy Story’s opening of $29.1 million in 1995. This disappointing debut seemed to suggest that the film might struggle at the box office.
However, recent reports indicate that Elio has begun to recover. By the end of its fourth weekend, the film is projected to gross around $63 million domestically. This marks a significant improvement and makes Elio the 16th movie of 2025 to pass the $60 million domestic milestone. Additionally, it has surpassed the $61.5 million gross of Onward, which had previously held the title of Pixar’s lowest-grossing domestic release of the decade.
The Impact of Onward and Elio’s Box Office Journey
While Elio may have surpassed Onward in terms of domestic gross, it’s important to note that Onward was also hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The movie’s release in March 2020 coincided with the start of global lockdowns, leading to a significantly shortened theatrical run. The pandemic led to early availability on premium video-on-demand, which impacted its box office performance.
Looking at Elio in comparison to other Pixar films from the 2020s, Onward remains an outlier, as it never had the opportunity for a full domestic theatrical run. Here’s how Elio compares to other notable Pixar releases:
| Title | Domestic Box Office | Worldwide Box Office |
|---|---|---|
| Onward (2020) | $61.5 million | $133.3 million |
| Lightyear (2022) | $118.3 million | $218.9 million |
| Elemental (2023) | $154.4 million | $484.8 million |
| Inside Out 2 (2024) | $652.9 million | $1.699 billion |
| Elio (2025) | $63 million (and counting) | $117 million (and counting) |
The Challenges Ahead for Elio
While surpassing Onward is a positive step, Elio still faces significant challenges. The film’s reported production budget is $150 million, meaning it still has a long way to go to break even, especially considering the marketing costs and the general industry expectation for profitability. To cover its budget, Elio would likely need to gross over $375 million worldwide, which seems unlikely based on its current pace.
Additionally, Elio would need to earn an additional $55.3 million to surpass Lightyear’s domestic total of $118.3 million, a feat that would be difficult given that Elio made just over $63 million in its first four weeks.
What This Means for Pixar
The modest success of Elio at the box office is a mixed result for Pixar. While the film has made strides by surpassing Onward in earnings, the road ahead remains tough, and the film may still struggle to reach a profitable level.
Pixar’s recent releases, like Lightyear and Elemental, have seen greater success, but Elio’s struggle could be indicative of larger trends in the film industry, particularly the challenges animated films face at the box office in a crowded market.
In the end, the future of Elio at the box office seems uncertain, but it’s still a positive sign that the film has managed to climb the rankings within Pixar’s 2020s output. Whether it can continue to rise or ultimately fall short will be determined in the coming weeks as the movie continues its theatrical run.
