Movies

Elemental Trivia | 70 facts about the animated film

“Elemental” is the new animated film by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios.

So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the film.

Elemental is a 2023 American computer-animated romantic comedy-drama film
The film is produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios
It is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The film is directed by Peter Sohn
It is produced by Denise Ream
It was written by Sohn, John Hoberg and Kat Likkel, and Brenda Hsueh
With Pete Docter serving as executive producer
The overall 27th feature film produced by the studio
The film features the voices of Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Catherine O’Hara
Set in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic elements of nature, the story follows fire element Ember Lumen (Lewis) and water element Wade Ripple (Athie)
They meet and fall in love after Wade is summoned by a plumbing accident at a convenience store owned by Ember’s father Bernie (Del Carmen)
Following the release of The Good Dinosaur (2015), Sohn began working on the project when the idea first started
He pitched the concept to Pixar to develop Elemental based on the idea of whether fire and water could ever connect or not
Elemental draws inspiration from Sohn’s youth, growing up as the son of immigrants in New York City during the 1970s, highlighting the city’s distinct cultural and ethnic diversity
While the story is inspired by romantic films, like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), Moonstruck (1987), and Amélie (2001)
Rather than visit countries for research, the team spent many hours watching point-of-view city tours on YouTube like Venice and Amsterdam for inspiration
The animation tools were utilized to design the visual effects and appearance of each character, particularly Ember and Wade
Production on Elemental lasted for seven years, both in the studio and at the filmmakers’ homes, with the story being finished remotely
Thomas Newman composed and conducted the film’s original score, marking his fourth collaboration with Pixar
Elemental debuted out of competition as the closing film at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 27, 2023
It was released in the United States on June 16, in RealD 3D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema format
The film received generally positive reviews from critics
Peter Sohn, who previously directed the feature film The Good Dinosaur (2015) and the short film Partly Cloudy (2009), pitched the concept to Pixar to develop Elemental based on the idea of whether fire and water could ever connect or not
Sohn also says the idea for the film was inspired by his experiences as the son of immigrants in New York City in the 1970s
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sohn says the film’s seven-year development period with Elemental is closely tied to his relationship with his family
Then the idea first started, following the release of The Good Dinosaur in 2015
It is also revealed that Ember was born in Elemental City, but grew up in a fire town, since the neighborhoods are sort of split up in different ways
The idea is that Water got to this area first, and then Earth came, so it became a delta
Then, they built a water infrastructure with water canals and elevated water channels everywhere, making it even tougher for Ember
Then, Air came in after that, and Fire was one of the last groups to come into the city
Ember and Wade have chemistry, despite the differences
When Sohn first pitched the story and started developing it, he asked himself: “What’s fire?”
On May 16, 2022, Pixar announced a new film titled Elemental, with the anthropomorphic classical elements of fire, water, air, and earth as its central theme, with Sohn directing and Denise Ream producing
Sohn and Ream reunite after having previously worked together on The Good Dinosaur
On September 9, 2022, during the D23 Expo, Sohn, Ream, and Pete Docter presented a first look at the film
Shortly after the unfinished animation footage, a clip was screened, showing Ember and Wade on a date, walking through a park where Wade tries to impress Ember by running across water, sliding, and creating a romantic rainbow
Production of the film was completed on March 24, 2023, after the final frame was approved, and seven years were spent on it, both in the studio and at the filmmakers’ homes
According to story artist Jason Katz, the team finished their story while working remotely from home
Similarly, Sohn had tears in his eyes when completing
Element City was modeled after New York City as a series of immigrant neighborhoods composed of organic materials that would complement each element
An example would be Fire Town, which was constructed with ceramic, metal, and brick
Production designer Don Shank says “design ideas inspired new technology, which inspired new design”
Sohn noted that he “went into more detail about how the design and tech process went for designing Ember and Wade”
He believed personifying elements was a difficult challenge, although he declared that air was not nearly as difficult to portray as fire and water, having already personified clouds in Partly Cloudy
The character Wade Ripple is incredibly complex, with the biggest challenge being his transparency through creating visual effects
In order to make him transparent enough, the animators needed to find some middle ground for how to create the character
The set designers at the studio looked to cities like Venice and Amsterdam for inspiration
The water canals and the buildings that surround cities have immense detail and thought put into them
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in which most of the production took place, the production team of the film was unable to travel to these cities for research, so they spent many hours watching point-of-view city tours on YouTube to get inspiration for Element City
To feel less like an alien version of real-world cities, production designer Don Shank and his team brainstormed the evolution of elemental beings and their civilization
Over 151,000 cores were used for Elemental in three large rooms on the Pixar campus, making it a massive amount of computing power compared to previous Pixar feature films, due to Pixar having to upgrade and buy more computers for this film; for example, Toy Story (1995) had 294 cores, Monsters, Inc. (2001) had 672 cores, and Finding Nemo (2003) had 923 cores
On February 7, 2023, Thomas Newman was confirmed to compose and conduct the original score for Elemental
It marks Newman’s fourth collaboration with the studio after Finding Nemo (2003), WALL-E (2008), and Finding Dory (2016)
As well as his first Pixar film not to be directed by Andrew Stanton
Lauv performed the original song called “Steal the Show” that played during Ember and Wade’s first date as well as end credits
It was released tonight June 2, 2023, as a single, two weeks before the film’s theatrical release
In the United States and Canada, Elemental was released alongside The Flash and The Blackening
The film is projected to gross $35 – 40 million from 4,035 theaters in its opening weekend
The film made $11.8 million on its first day
Including $2.4 million from Thursday night previews
Lowering estimates to $30 million
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 76% rating
Based on 164 critics’ reviews
With an average rating of 6.50/10
The website’s consensus reads: “Elemental may not satisfy as fully as the greatest Pixar pictures, but it remains a solid story told with dazzling visual flair”
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100
Based on 40 critics
Indicating “mixed or average reviews”
Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale
While PostTrak reported 85% of filmgoers gave it a positive score, with 68% saying they would definitely recommend it