Overview
- In a Wall Street Journal interview, Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter said the studio cut LGBTQ elements from 2025’s Elio because some parents didn’t want films prompting conversations they weren’t ready to have, adding, “We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.”
- Following poor willingness‑to‑pay results at a 2023 test screening, Docter ordered a major overhaul of Elio that proceeded even after much animation was complete, leading original director Adrian Molina to exit as Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi took over.
- Earlier iterations that hinted Elio might be gay—such as a pink bike and a fantasy imagining a future with a male crush—were removed during the rework, according to reports on the film’s development.
- Elio ultimately grossed about $150 million worldwide on a reported $150 million budget, a commercially disappointing result once marketing is considered after its June 2025 release.
- Docter’s remarks drew fan blowback and echoed reported frustration among some Pixar staff, coinciding with a broader leadership pivot toward broadly accessible concepts and sequels and separate reporting on a transgender storyline being dropped from the series Win or Lose.