Latest news with #PIXAR
Straits Times
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Pixar has its worst box-office opening ever with Elio
Despite positive reviews, the turnout for the animated space adventure Elio was much worse than Pixar had expected, collecting an estimated US$21 million on its opening weekend. PHOTO: PIXAR Pixar has its worst box-office opening ever with Elio NEW YORK – Pixar knew that Elio, an original space adventure, would most likely struggle in its first weekend at the box office. Animated movies based on original stories have become harder sells in theatres, even for the once-unstoppable Pixar. At a time when streaming services have proliferated and the broader economy is unsettled, families want assurance that spending the money for tickets will be worth it. But the turnout for Elio was worse – much worse – than even Pixar had expected. The film cost at least US$250 million (S$323 million) to make and market. It collected an estimated US$21 million from the evening of June 19 to June 22 at theatres in North America, according to Comscore, which compiles box-office data. It was Pixar's worst opening-weekend result. The previous bottom was Elemental, which arrived to US$30 million in 2023. In May, when the Elio marketing campaign began to hit high gear, Pixar and its corporate owner, Disney, had hoped that it would, in the worst-case scenario, match the Elemental number. Instead, it fell 30 per cent short. In wide release overseas, Elio collected an additional US$14 million, on a par with the initial international results for Elemental. Quality did not appear to be a factor. Reviews for Elio were mostly positive, and ticket buyers gave the movie an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls. The Rotten Tomatoes audience score stood at 91 per cent positive on June 22. On June 22, Disney said it hoped a broader audience would find Elio over the coming weeks. The company pointed to Elemental, which overcame weak initial sales to ultimately collect nearly $500 million worldwide. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Canadian Oscar-winning filmmaker draws from childhood for Elio, a tale about lonely boy's search for life in the universe
A scene from the film Elio. Courtesy, Pixar. Photo by Pixar / PIXAR Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Domee Shi may have signed on to co-direct the new Pixar Animation Studios movie, Elio, about halfway through its lengthy production schedule, but it didn't take her long to identify with the film's protagonist. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Shi, who currently lives in California but spent most of her life in Toronto, co-directed the animated film with Madeline Sharafian after original director Adrian Molina amicably left the production to work on Pixar's Coco 2. (Shi, Sharafian and Molina are all credited as co-directors.) As both a creative vice-president for Pixar and a fan of Molina's work, Shi had been following the production ever since it was first pitched in 2020. But it was well underway and the concept well-established by the time Shi officially signed on. Still, she felt a real kinship with the film's titular character, a young boy whose dream of being whisked away to another planet comes true, and he is introduced to the Communiverse, a benevolent interplanetary organization with representatives from galaxies far and wide. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'With every project I'm on, I try to connect with and identify with the main character in some way,' says Shi in a Zoom interview with Postmedia. 'I have to find my way into the main character. For Elio, it definitely was that loneliness and desperation to belong that I drew from my own childhood and teenhood, just feeling like the only kid in school who liked anime and people not understanding why I liked these Japanese cartoons with big eyes and wacky expressions. I was like, 'No, it's not just that! It's because they are very deep characters with rich stories and arcs.' 'Being obsessed with going to animation school, being obsessed with being accepted there, I think that obsession and need to find my people is what I infused into the character of Elio. When he gets abducted and witnesses the Communiverse for the first time, that was definitely my feeling when I first stepped foot into Sheridan College. I finally got into the animation program there and got to meet fellow nerds like myself. That was such an amazing feeling.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Filmmaker Domee Shi, co-director of Pixar's Elio. Courtesy, Pixar. Like all of Pixar's creations, Elio presents a wondrous, imaginative world full of offbeat characters and warm humour. But there is also a sadness underlying the film and its main character. Elio, voiced by 14-year-old actor Yonas Kibrea, is a lonely 11-year-old whose desperation to be abducted by aliens seems to be driven by a need to know he isn't alone in the universe. After his parents die, he is taken in by his Aunt Olga (voiced by Zoe Saldana), who becomes his loving but occasionally overwhelmed caregiver. A respected Air Force officer, Olga has to deal with her troubled nephew and his single-minded obsession with contacting aliens while reining in her career ambitions. Elio doesn't feel like he belongs in her world, and also has nagging guilt over the possibility that his unexpected arrival in her life has disrupted Olga's life plans. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Elio's interest in contacting life in outer space begins after he learns about the real-life Voyager satellite, which was launched in 1977, containing a 'Golden Record' from the children of Earth inviting aliens to come visit. The invitation works, and aliens contact Earth, which is intercepted and answered by Elio at his aunt's Air Force base. He is taken to the Communiverse after its colourful ambassadors mistake him for Earth's ruler. Elio doesn't correct the mistake, which eventually leads to him taking on a dangerous mission to negotiate peace with the hostile Lord Grigon (voiced by Everybody Loves Raymond star Brad Garrett), who wants to wage war on the Commuiverse after being rejected as a member. Along the way, Elio learns a lot of family-friendly lessons about friendship, belonging, the importance of family and home, and not to judge a book by its cover. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It's not like we start our movies wanting to have a message,' Shi says. 'I think we start our movies with a really fun and unique what-if concept, and we start with the character. With the main character, how does he start in the movie, and how does he change? Where does he end up in the movie? What is driving him, and what is making the audience care about him and want to go on a journey with him? Then it's interesting, as you're working on a story or a movie, the theme starts to emerge slowly and naturally as you are working with the material. For us, yeah, the theme of loneliness and seeking connection just organically started to bubble up as we were talking in the room. We love this quirky kid who wants to be abducted by aliens, but we just kept asking ourselves, 'Why does he want to be abducted by aliens?' What is driving that need to go off the planet?' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. On top of that, Elio is essentially a sci-fi movie, a genre Shi has always wanted to explore. 'I was really excited to jump into this new sandbox that I've never been able to play in,' she says. 'I've never done sci-fi before, but I love sci-fi movies. I grew up watching E.T. I love Gravity. I love Alien. I love the use of space and aliens as metaphors and allegories of things the protagonist is going through internally.' A scene from the film Elio. Courtesy, Pixar. Photo by Pixar / PIXAR After graduating from Sheridan College, Shi was hired as a story intern at Pixar and quickly graduated to story artist, working on the Oscar-winning feature, 2015's Inside Out. She worked on The Good Dinosaur, Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4. Initially, she was happy being a story artist and had no real ambitions to direct films for the company. But she did begin developing her own project, a short film called Bao. It told the story of a lonely Chinese-Canadian woman whose steamed bun comes to life. She initially intended to make it as a side project and had no intention of pitching it to Pixar. But she did show it to Pete Docter, a veteran director of the company's films and Pixar's current chief creative officer. He encouraged her to pitch it to Pixar. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It was way more quote, unquote adult,' she says of the original concept. 'It wasn't G-rated. There is a PG-13 version of Bao somewhere on my computer that I probably won't ever show anybody.' It was the first Pixar film to be directed by a female and ended up winning her an Oscar in 2018 for best animated short. Since then, Shi made her feature directorial debut with 2022's Turning Red, which was also nominated for an Academy Award. For those who watch the end credits of Elio, or any Pixar film for that matter, it's clear that it takes a sprawling team of animators and other craftspeople to create a movie. 'It takes a village,' Shi says. 'It's incredibly inspiring and also daunting to lead these projects because there are so many people involved. They kind of come on at different parts of production, so it's not like everyone comes on all at once, and you are suddenly this captain of this 2,000-person army. Because our movies take four or five years to make, people come on steadily and then they wrap and different people come on and they wrap. So not too bad, but then if you zoom out and look at the credits, it's like, 'Oh my God, that's a lot of people.' But that's what it takes to make animation. People don't understand that animation is blood, sweat and tears. Everything you see on screen takes a person, an artisan, to bring to life.' Elio opens June 20. Columnists Columnists Toronto & GTA Toronto & GTA World
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jellycat開心果公仔爆紅亮相！淘寶官網開賣掀搶購潮，出身意大利名門的「腼腆甜品大師」
Jellycat近期最受矚目的焦點，非全新推出的「開心果公仔」莫屬！這款玩偶於2025年5月16日在中國市場首發，一經上架便以驚人速度售罄，引發粉絲搶購熱潮！ 【立即睇】Yahoo Style 專頁，跟貼最新潮流及優惠情報！ 根據Jellycat官網介紹，這顆開心果公仔「出身名門」，家族來自意大利南部的果園，被賦予「腼腆甜品大師」的可愛形象，令人愛不釋手。 淘寶官網定價¥189，現在已經可以下訂購買，在香港的話就因為商品不直送香港而不能直接下單，就要找代購買了。 SHOP NOW Jellycat開心果是2025秋冬新品，同期亦有其他可人兒，包括害羞藍兔仔、熊貓、袋鼯、法棍，每款都好可愛，喜歡Jellycat的朋友準備入手！「Usagi晴天娃娃」捧在掌心的可愛！5.23開售，兔兔為大家祈求天氣晴朗 緊貼潮流、購物資訊，就Click入以下連結睇更多啦～ 🎉📱Style Facebook： 🎉📱Style Instagram： 🎉📱最新優惠碼/網購攻略： 潮流熱話： Kuromi小夜燈超可愛港幣$29就買到？日本Daiso限定，5款Sanrio角色小夜燈手刀搶 LEGO推出PIXAR頑皮跳跳燈積木，「靈活關節」積木更附上招牌黃色球超可愛 Starbucks出運動網球袋超靚！與Lacoste首度聯名5.22登場，袋子、Cap帽、折疊椅、大毛巾全部都想擁有
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meet Apple's Adorable, Pixar-Esque Robot Lamp
Pixar's movies wouldn't be the same without the intro featuring Luxo Jr., the charismatic desk lamp who hops onto the capital I in PIXAR as the animation studio's production logo unspools. While Luxo Jr. is a digital character, a team of researchers at Apple has created a real-world robot that looks just like the Pixar mascot has come to life. The robotics scientists and engineers detailed the project in a paper shared to Apple's Machine Learning Research site in January under the topic "Human-Computer Interaction". The post summarizes the research and includes an eye-catching video of the robot desk lamp in action. The prototype robot shows off a variety of behaviors. It knocks over some wooden blocks like a naughty cat. It follows a book around as it's moved so that it always shines light on the pages. It reacts to a person who's waving at it to show it where to turn. It behaves more like a cute and helpful pet than a cold and calculating robot. Read more: There Sure Are a Lot of Robots at CES: Here's Why We're Not Picking a Favorite The paper, called ELEGNT: Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-anthropomorphic Robot, is available on arXiv. This open-access research archive hosts studies prior to peer review and publication in journals. The paper details a framework for making nonhuman robots both engaging and utilitarian. The researchers designed six different task scenarios to see how users react to a robot that behaves in a purely functional manner versus a robot that behaves in an expressive manner — like how Luxo Jr. comes across on screen. The contrast is notable. In a task requiring the robot to light an object for photography, the functional machine primarily holds still, only moving in direct response to user input. The expressive robot sways its lampshade and appears to "look" at the user as it responds. In another task, the robot fields the question, "How is the weather today?" The expressive robot looks out the window as if checking the conditions before answering. Its motions and responses evoke a sense of emotion despite its lack of a human or animallike face. It's endearing, while the functional robot comes off as a stoic tool. Read more: We Interviewed Aria, a $175K Almost-Human Robot at CES 2025 Nearly two dozen participants watched videos of the robot completing tasks and rated their perception of the robot and its interaction with the person in the video. The paper found "that expression-driven movements significantly enhance user engagement and perceived robot qualities." The positive perception was especially strong with social-oriented tasks related to entertainment and conversations. The desk lamp form for the prototype was a deliberate choice. The researchers gave a shout-out to the 1986 Pixar Luxo Jr. short film that features the now-iconic desk lamp playing with a ball under the watchful eye of a bigger desk lamp that acts as a parental figure. "Although primarily appliance-like, it incorporates subtle anthropomorphic elements — such as the lamp head and the arm connecting the head to the stand — that evoke the appearance of a head and neck," the team wrote. Apple may be known for phones, computers and apps, but it's eyeing big moves into the home robotics space, according to a Bloomberg report last year. It could be a natural move for the tech giant, which has invested heavily in AI and introduced Apple Intelligence into iOS. Home robots could open a new avenue for hardware sales while leveraging the company's work in AI and machine learning. Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the lamp robot. The paper is a peek behind the curtains at a direction Apple could go in with home robots. This robot lamp isn't just a lump of metal and plastic. It's more like a buddy than a machine.
