Pixar Reintroduces 'Elio' With New Teaser Following Plot Overhaul
Remember Elio? He’s back, and he’s hyperfixating!
It was at the end of October 2023 that Disney and Pixar’s Elio was delayed 15 months from March 1, 2024 to June 13, 2025, a familiar weekend for both animation studios that happened to be two years after the release of the first teaser. After its delay, the film got a major creative overhaul, with Turning Red director Domee Shi and Burrow director Madeline Sharafian being revealed as the new directors after Adrian Molina departed, and Elio’s own parental figure goes from a mother voiced by America Ferrera to an aunt voiced by Zoe Saldaña. And so with all this change, a new trailer was released on November 21.
Instead of what was clearly a terrified boy unwillingly abducted to the horror of his mother, Elio now asks “What if the thing you were searching for… found you first?”, becoming comedic misadventure about an alien-obsessed, friend-deficient boy still voiced by Merry Little Batman’s Yonas Kibreab. Now he wants to get abducted and is eager and excited when he is transported to the Communiverse, which is now an interplanetary paradise that is home to intelligent life from galaxies far and wide. Previously it was an organization with representatives from so many galaxies. He’s still mistaken as Earth’s leader, but his “Uh Earth” line is now basically said among friends he meets instead of in front of the organization. With unexpected bonds formed. While the trials are gone, he’ll still have to “navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions” and instead of having to figure out who he’s truly meant to be, he will make sure he doesn’t lose the opportunity to live out his ultimate dream. The teaser is set to The Postal Service's “Such Great Heights”.
Pixar CCO Pete Docter said that former director Molina is still at Pixar and “was taken on to a priority project that we’re not ready to talk about yet, but it’s very exciting and he’s excited about it as well” even if the path was not ideal. “We worked together to find other directors to help carry it across,” Docter said. About Shi and Sharafian he remarked “The two of them are really doing a fantastic job”. Them both being directors is rather new, as usually directing pairs were designated main director and co-director, with both filmmakers covering different aspects of the production. “I think it’s really working out well in their case,” Docter said. “It’s been tricky in past films, but in this case, they have both such respect for each other and a great working style that is working out really well.”
Elio also stars Remy Edgerly as Glordon, Brad Garrett as Lord Grigon, Jameela Jamil as Ambassador Questa, who introduced herself in the new teaser and Shirley Henderson as OOOOO. It is produced by Mary Alice Drumm. Its June 13 release probably has reraised expectations placed on it as Inside Out 2 had that weekend this year and has become the undisputed highest-grossing animated film of all time.
Source: The Walt Disney Company, The Wrap