Pixar’s latest idea, Elio, did not exactly blast off. The space adventure took in just $35 million globally during its opening weekend, and just $21 million domestically. Elio landed at #3 on the box office charts, behind the opening of 28 Years Later and the second domineering week of Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon remake. It’s officially the lowest-opening film in the studio’s history.

There are many theories being thrown around for why this happened. First off, let’s throw away the grim “people don’t want original movies” idea, because it’s not true. We can’t claim Elio had a bad reputation, either, as most critical reviews have been very positive. So why the snub?

Marketing and timing feel like the most likely culprits. Disney chose not to promote Elio very heavily — a big mistake, as it wasn’t the only family movie in town. Opening so close to How To Train Your Dragon — and to a lesser extent, Disney’s own Lilo and Stitch, which is still there — Elio couldn’t help but feel a bit late to the race and a Bronze Medal winner in the making.

Then you have the fact that the last five attempts at animated sci-fi movies, most of them from Disney, have never caught on. It seems to be a poison genre. I don’t quite get this one myself, but apparently American audiences will only pay for a feature-length cartoon with aliens and spaceships if the majority of it takes place in Hawaii.

There’s hope that, with word of mouth, Elio could repeat what Pixar’s own Elemental did and overcome its lethargic start to become a sleeper hit. The problem with that is Elemental opened at $44.5 million. Elio would have to work harder.

But you can help its odds increase by about ten to fifteen bucks by seeing the movie in theaters this week. Doesn’t that orphan boy deserve a better fate? Elio is playing nationwide now.

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