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Pixar’s ‘Elio’ Reportedly Stripped of Queer Representation After Test Screenings

ARIZONA, JUL 08 – Original LGBTQ+ themes were removed after negative test screening feedback, leading to director Adrian Molina's exit and a loss of key creative talent, sources say.

  • Pixar released the animated film Elio on May 20, 2025, in most countries including the United States where it earned $21 million its opening weekend.
  • The initial concept for Elio centered on an 11-year-old gay boy who, after being bullied, is taken by aliens to represent humanity in an intergalactic council.
  • Following negative test screening feedback in summer 2023, Disney and Pixar executives removed LGBTQ+ elements and altered the film's direction, prompting several creatives to leave.
  • Despite costing over $150 million, Elio grossed under $72 million worldwide in two weeks and received critical panning as derivative and dull, marking Pixar’s worst domestic opening.
  • Elio’s commercial failure and content changes suggest Pixar struggled to balance original storytelling with corporate concerns over queer representation amid prior film flops.
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The film, directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi and Adrián Molina, denounces the danger that apps like Instagram make young people want to be all equalCriticism – ‘Jurassic World: The Reborn’ tries to put aside the nostalgia to face the vacuum of a drifting saga ‘Being unique sometimes means feeling alone’, says an Elio character in one of the scenes in the new Pixar film. The phrase, which is the premise under which Disney’s latest animatio…

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National Review broke the news in United States on Friday, July 4, 2025.
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