Following its debut on Disney+ on September 13, Disney has announced that this summer’s Pixar box office boiler Elemental is officially the streamer’s most-watched movie premiere of 2023. With 26.4 million views tallied up in its first five days on the platform, the film is also in the Top 10 Disney+ premieres of all time.
In less than a week, Elemental has become the most-viewed animated movie premiere since Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red was released in March 2022, as well as the most-viewed Disney+ movie premiere of all time in Latin America, ahead of Turning Red. Disney+ determines “views” by a title’s total stream time divided by its runtime.
Released in June, the film has seen theatrical success as well, earning $484 million worldwide with a 93% Rotten Tomatoes Verified Audience Score and an “A” CinemaScore. Domestically, the film generated $154 million — more than five times its domestic opening weekend of $30 million, a rare feat for any theatrical release and the second-highest multiple behind Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story (1995). Internationally, the film brought in $330 million and had a particularly strong showing in South Korea, becoming Pixar’s most-seen film in the country.
Directed by Peter Sohn, produced by Denise Ream and executive produced by Pete Docter, the original feature film is set in Element City, where Fire-, Water-, Earth- and Air-residents live together. The story follows the quick-witted and fiery Ember (Leah Lewis), whose friendship with the sappy and go-with-the-flow Wade (Mamoudou Athie) challenges not only her beliefs about the world they live in, but the person she wants to be.
The screenplay for Elemental was written by John Hoberg & Kat Likkel and Brenda Hsueh, with story by Sohn, Hoberg & Likkel, and Hsueh. Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Mason Wertheimer and Joe Pera round out the film’s voice cast.
Also streaming on Disney+ is the new documentary Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental, offering an inside look at how Sohn’s personal family history and animation career led to the creation of the film. Fans can also catch the Up-inspired short that screened with Elemental in theaters, Carl’s Date, starring the late Ed Asner.
