With the recent arrival of the trailer from Disney Pixar, here’s our look ahead at the Elemental UK release date and age rating. We’ll also talk you through the details for what is it about, cast and a whole lot more to give you everything you need to know about the film.
It’s the latest unconventional animated movie from the Pixar team, following in the footsteps of Inside Out in 2015 and Soul in 2020. This time, as the name implies, it’s all about the different types of elements – fire, water, earth and wind – and how they interact with eachother.
AdvertisementAlthough, the general idea is that they don’t mix that well until one day some come along to challenge the status quo. It’s all packaged up with Pixar’s usual stunning animation, but it’s been a very long time since they had a hit on their hands, so the pressure’s on for Elemental.
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What is it about
The story for Elemental is that a girl called Ember from a fire element family meets a guy called Wade from a water element family and there’s an instant connection. The problem is that it’s well known that the different elements don’t mix and their family are dead set against their relationship.
Essentially, it’s about stereotypes and differences and finding out that we don’t all need to be the same to get along. It’s a bit like the animated remake of Romeo and Juliet, but without the love pact (we hope) and the more serious altercations.
It’s set in Element City, so there’s a hint of Zootropolis / Zootropia about the setup and what it’s about. Like the animal extravaganza, the city is split up into districts like Fire Town where the fire elements live and everyone sort of keeps themselves to their neck of the wood.
Cast
AdvertisementThe Elemental cast is pretty light in terms of big names, but details are still a little thin on the ground in terms of who plays who. What we do know if that it’s led by relative newcomers Leah Lewis as Ember and Mamadou Athie (Jurassic World Dominion) as Wade. They’re joined by Joseph Pera as earth element Fern.
We’ll update you with more details on the cast list as they’re confirmed by Disney Pixar.
Elemental UK release date
The UK release date for Elemental has been confirmed for June 16th, 2023, and it’s due to come out on the same date in North America. It’s going to have a pretty packed weekend to face the box office with both The Flash and Wes Anderson’s latest movie Asteroid City out on the same date.
If that isn’t enough, it’ll also have the residual impact of the other big summer animation films, Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse, which is due out on June 2nd, 2023, and Strays starring Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx on the 9th. Transformers Rise of the Beasts releases a week ahead of Elemental and there’s also Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the end of the month.
All of these will make it tough for the film to stand out and land the kind of big cinema sales that we used to get from Disney Pixar. As such it’s going to be interesting to see what this means for the home media release with Disney quickly turning to Disney+ launches when things don’t go so well.
AdvertisementLuca and Turning Red went straight to Disney+, so they don’t really count, but Lightyear struggled at the box office, and it was a similar case for Soul and Onward. In fact, you’d have to go back to 2019’s Toy Story 4 for its last big success, but pre-pandemic it used to own the box office with hits like The Incredibles 2 and Finding Dory.
Going on the usual run of things, Elemental should then have a DVD, Blu-ray and standard digital release around October 2023, and early access end of July or early August. However, with the added pressures of the competition and based on what has happened in the past with Lighyear and Onward we could see this being brought forward.
The quick reliance on Disney+ is good for subscriber numbers, but it kills a film’s chances in cinemas in a way that doesn’t happen for other big animated film. You’ve only got to look at the success of films like Minions 2 or the buzz around the upcoming Mario Movie to see that keeping things as only cinema for a good period helps to give films the best chance of success.
Admittedly, both of these have a lot more hype around them than Elementals, but there was a time not too long ago when that was the case for Disney and Pixar movies too. Inside Out and Zootropilis (Zootopia in North America) both went on to be sleeper hits, but that was pre-pandemic and pre-Disney+.
UK and North America age rating
AdvertisementThe Elemental age rating for the UK will be officially announced by the BBFC when we get to within a few weeks of the release date, but there’s a lot to take from previous Disney Pixar films. The last one was Lightyear, which was given a PG certificate in both the UK and North America.
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The closest film comparison, though, is Inside Out, which picked up a U age rating and looking at the trailer this could be the case again with Elemental. However, another good comparison is Zootropolis / Zootopia, which was another PG certificate, so it’s between these two.
On the face of things, it doesn’t look like there’s much in the way of threat or the “blood, blood” scene in Zootropilis, so it could be on the lower side of the spectrum. However, we’ll know more when we see the next couple of trailers, because there are hints of action in the one below.
Runtime
As usual, the runtime will also be announced a little closer to the release date, much the same as the age rating, but again there’s lot to build on from previous animated releases. Lightyear was pretty long as Disney Pixar films go coming in at 1 hour and 41 minutes, but before that we had Turning Red, which was 1 hour and 40 minutes, so could be the new norm.
AdvertisementLuca was 1 hour and 35 minutes, while Soul was 1 hour and 41 minutes, so a good estimate would be between 1 hours and 30-40 minutes. However, one of the longest Disney Pixar films was The Incredibles 2, which was nearly two hours long, so there’s always a chance Elemental could go in a similar way.
However, with Inside Out being 1 hour and 35 minutes, we’re going with that as our best prediction for the upcoming release. We’ll update with more details as the runtime is confirmed.
Trailer
The recent arrival of the trailer below follows up on the teaser first look that arrived back in November. This time we get more of what it is about and a deeper look at the lead characters, Ember and Wade, and their opposites attract love story.
It racked up six million views in its first two days on YouTube, so there’s clearly a good amount of interest in the film. There’s not much detail for the rest of the cast of characters, so hopefully that will come in the 2nd trailer.
The best bits for us are the shots of the city, which look very well crafted, and the fireworks on the scooter scene. The character artwork is a little more undefined than usual, especially the fire elements, but this kind of works with the nature of the story.
The big question is whether or not there’s more to the plot than just the Romeo and Juliet spin. There’s a flood scene where Ember is running away from it on here bike, so there could be more friction than the trailer is letting on between the communities, which could come together well for the end of the film.
Check out our film news section to keep tabs on the latest, or check out the Pixar movie page to see more on the film at www.pixar.com/elemental.
