The Disney and Pixar film “Elemental” had a strong start on Disney+, with the film pulling in 26.4 million views in its first five days of streaming availability.
Per Disney, that makes “Elemental” the most-watched movie premiere of the year on the service and among the top 10 movie premieres they have ever had. For context, Disney defines a view as total stream time divided by runtime, just like Netflix recently started doing. The film became available on Disney+ on Sept. 13. Disney also says “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, just ahead of “Turning Red.”
By comparison, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” debuted with 1.625 billion minutes viewed in its first five days of availability on Disney+, which translates to approximately 10.8 million views.
The streaming success continues the comeback story of “Elemental,” which was written off as a flop when it debuted in theaters back in June to a muted $30 million haul. But as Variety previously reported, the film has rebounded at the box office and has earned over $484 million worldwide to date.
Pixar president Jim Morris previously told Variety that the film’s initial performance was “certainly disappointing,” but with its ongoing performance “[this] will certainly be a profitable film for the Disney company.”
“Elemental” is set in Element City, where Fire-, Water-, Earth-, and Air-residents live together. According to the official logline, 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 voice cast also includes Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Mason Wertheimer, and Joe Pera. John Hoberg & Kat Likkel and Brenda Hsueh wrote the screenplay, with story by Peter Sohn, Hoberg & Likkel, and Hsueh. Sohn also directed. Denise Ream produced, with Pete Docter executive producing.