Box Office: ‘Elio' $21M Debut is Record-Low For Pixar, ‘28 Years Later' Hits $29M

There’s something oddly admirable about Sony reviving “28 Days Later” with Danny Boyle back in the driver’s seat. Same goes for Disney/Pixar, who are stubbornly trying to push original storytelling with “Elio.”

Let’s start with “28 Years Later,” a film that had every possible ingredient for a solid horror relaunch — the legacy, the director, and even that first trailer, which was practically weaponized for virality. It worked, kind of? The film opened to a solid-but-not-phenomenal $29M, with a global take of $58M. That’s not bad, but below expectations.

However, more concerning, the film was frontloaded — $14M Friday (including a full day of Thursday previews), and then a steep -38% drop on Saturday to $8.8M. The Thursday night fan crowd, the ones who should be most forgiving, gave it a mediocre 63% exit rating.

It didn’t help that, despite strong critical backing, “28 Years Later” landed a mediocre B CinemaScore, which for horror is a red flag. People showed up for a zombie thrill ride and got something moodier, more existential. That’s a win for us, but not for the nostalgia-induced crowd. The post-Walking Dead, post-pandemic horror audience wants blood, not meditations on trauma. Sucks for them.

Meanwhile, “Elio” was a much bigger problem.

The animated film opened with a quiet thud, just $21M, the lowest wide release debut for Pixar ever. That’s not just underwhelming. That’s alarming. Audience reactions were actually strong: an A CinemaScore and A+ from the under-25s. But those reactions were from the few who showed up. If Pixar movies are supposed to be for everyone, this one skewed young — 39% under 12.

Blame the marketing. What was the hook? A boy with an eyepatch? Quirky aliens? It didn’t scream “must-see.” Especially when Pixar is still living under the shadow of its pandemic-era misfires, and the “why wasn’t this just a Disney+ release?” question hangs over everything.

Reviews for “Elio” were also subdued. The delay from its original March release didn’t help either. The film got a total creative overhaul last year, and even the 2023 and 2025 trailers looked very different in tone. Disney was puzzled about how to market this one, which led to audiences barely knowing the film existed.