Disney Pixar’s latest big box-office bomb, ‘Elio,’ was first ‘queer-coded’

Yet another Disney/Pixar film has bombed at the box office, but the first cut would have played even worse with audiences.

Recently-released animated film “Elio” only managed to rake in $20.8 million domestically, which is “the lowest opening frame at the box office in Pixar’s history,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. But the version seen by audiences was not what was originally intended. “Multiple insiders” who spoke to the outlet revealed that the male character Elio was originally meant to be “queer-coded” and engage in activities like turning beach trash into feminine clothing.

According to multiple insiders who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, Elio was initially portrayed as a queer-coded character, reflecting original director Adrian Molina’s identity as an openly gay filmmaker. Other sources say that Molina did not intend the film to be a coming out story, as the character is 11. But either way, this characterization gradually faded away throughout the production process as Elio became more masculine following feedback from leadership. Gone were not only such direct examples of his passion for environmentalism and fashion, but also a scene in Elio’s bedroom with pictures suggesting a male crush.

Former Pixar Assistant Editor Sarah Ligatich suggested that leadership’s demand to make the lead character more masculine and thus appealing to audiences effectively “destroyed” the film that she adored.

“I was deeply saddened and aggrieved by the changes that were made,” she said, having provided feedback as a member of the company’s LGBT group. “The exodus of talent after that cut was really indicative of how unhappy a lot of people were that they had changed and destroyed this beautiful work.”

One anonymous former artist said the changes made to the film’s main character were obvious to those in the production process.

“It was pretty clear through the production of the first version of the film that [studio leaders] were constantly sanding down these moments in the film that alluded to Elio’s sexuality of being queer.”

“Suddenly, you remove this big, key piece, which is all about identity, and Elio just becomes about totally nothing,” the former artist stated. “The Elio that is in theaters right now is far worse than Adrian’s best version of the original.”

Another former employee whined that the main character just feels “generic” since his identity was changed.

“[The character] Elio was just so cute and so much fun and had so much personality, and now he feels much more generic to me.”

X users offered some commentary on the story:

I think Hollywood is drastically over estimating the size of the queer market share…

— MrVeber (@spyder152) June 30, 2025

This is the masculine version?

— Torquemada (@1970Torquemada) July 1, 2025

So they were intentionally targeting a sexual message at children… And I’m supposed to be upset that this thing flopped?

— blanky mcblank (@f4z6nxjqvx) July 1, 2025

Isn’t he a kid? I don’t think romantic relationships are revelant for a character his age nor to the target audience of this film

— AJ (@alecmets2011) July 1, 2025

The queer-coded was still fully sensed by the greater population of people. Hence the failure.

— the unquiet bard ☧ (@theunquietbard) July 1, 2025