Pixar knows a lot about taking a risk, even if they didn’t expect their boldest move to be giving one of their star characters a solo movie. Light year was the culmination of years of sequel releases -Toy Story 4, The Incredibles 2—and despite the fact that it seemed to be one of the most attractive products for several generations, It did not have the expected result at the box office.
The story had a very clear premise: it was the movie about an astronaut Andy went to see in 1995, and was so fascinated that he asked for a Buzz Lightyear doll for his birthday. However, 2022’s audiences didn’t seem to like it as much as the protagonist of toy story.
With a budget of 200 million dollars -not including promotional expenses-, the film ended up collecting 218, something that usually does not happen in the studies that have brought titles like Wall eo Up, among others, to the world. . It should be noted that, in total, the film ended up sneaking into the 19th highest-grossing spot of 2022; although its small difference from what has been invested in it means they are not good numbers.
Now in an interview for US media The envelope, a Pixar official has spoken out about what he thinks happened. This is how Pete Docter told how they do their self-criticism: “We did a lot of soul-searching about it because we all love the movie. We love the characters and the premise. I think what probably went wrong was that we asked too much of the viewers. When they hear Buzz, they say, great, where are Mr. Potato, Woody and Rex? And then we get into this sci-fi movie where they say what?
Without a doubt, it refers to two of the most striking aspects of the film: the lack of references to toy story and the complication of the plot. On the first, the directors took the creation of the world around Buzz very seriously; and despite the fact that it wouldn’t make sense to include anything from the movie Woody and company —we have to remember that in this universe they are toys from other brands—, a lot of people missed it .
As for the second, intertemporal travel can be difficult to grasp, especially for young viewers. The fact that Buzz spends several years trying to find the solution to his problem leads to one of the film’s most convoluted plots, which takes place in a science fiction context, but not in terms of what Pixar films usually explain.
Even so, blame is not removed: “Even if you read what was happening in the press, it was a bit, maybe too much, different. Both in concept and in the way the characters were drawn and in the way they were portrayed on screen. It was much more of a sci-fi movie. AND Angus Mc Lanethe director, took very seriously the way he wanted to portray these fictional characters as real characters,” he comments.
Finally, he finds the key to what could have happened for this low yield. But the protagonists of toy story They’re a lot wider than we think, so I think there was a disconnect between what people wanted/expected and what we were giving them.” concludes.