Elemental: Release date, trailer, cast, plot & more

Opposites react: here’s everything we know about Elemental, the newest movie from Disney and Pixar, including its release date, trailer, cast, plot, and more.

Together, Disney and Pixar remain the biggest powerhouses in big-screen animation. Their dominance began with their first try with 1996’s Toy Story, only fortified with its long string of hits: Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Cars, The Incredibles, WALL-E, Up, and many more.

That said, it wouldn’t be unfair to suggest the studios have passed their prime in recent years. With the exception of Moana and Encanto, others have failed to connect to the masses on that same seminal level, no matter how good they are (Soul, for example, is one of the best movies of the decade so far).

Well, Elemental may be poised to be its next big Inside Out-level hit, so here’s what we know about the movie.

Elemental release date

Elemental hits cinemas on June 16 in the US, and July 7 globally.

Unlike past Disney and Pixar releases, such as Luca and Turning Red, Elemental will be exclusive to cinemas, hopefully marking a committed return to theaters after the Disney+ era of day-and-date releases.

That said, it’ll need to be successful to remain on the big screen. Strange World, Disney’s first box office bomb since Meet the Robinsons, spent just a month in cinemas before dropping on the streaming platform.

Elemental trailer

Check out the first full trailer for Elemental below:

The trailer introduces viewers to Element City, where the air, earth, fire, and water keep to themselves by following one rule: elements never mix.

“Air usually has their head in the clouds. Earth can be a little seedy. Water is always getting into something. And Fire… we run a little hot,” Ember Lumen says in her narration.

Of course, there wouldn’t be much of a movie if they didn’t collide, and we’re given a breakneck glimpse of Ember and Wade Ripples adventures together. We also see Ember with her parents, who want her to follow in their footsteps, while Wade thinks she should live on her own terms. As the tagline says, get ready to live out of your element.

There’s also a teaser trailer for Elemental, which you can check out below:

Plus, an official clip has been released, showing how inter-elemental dating is supposedly not a thing in this world:

Elemental cast: Who’s in it?

The Elemental cast includes:

• Leah Lewis as Ember Lumen
• Mamoudou Athie as Wade Ripple
• Mason Wertheimer as Clod
• Wendi McLendon-Covey as Gale
• Catherine O’Hara as Brook Ripple
• Ronnie del Carmen as Bernie Lumen
• Shila Ommi as Cinder Lumen

You can fins out more about the characters and cast here.

The movie is directed by Peter Sohn, who earlier helmed The Good Dinosaur, as well as lending his voice to Sox in last year’s Lightyear.

In an interview with Collider, he said: “It’s super exciting. I feel very lucky, but it all comes from trying to have some fun with all the creatives [at Pixar]. Working with [Lightyear director Angus MacLane], he’s just such a sci-fi nerd, as am I, so that was hitting that side of movie love, where Elemental is really different, on this other side. It’s fueling both of those things, so I’m totally lucky.”

In terms of working with Lewis and Athie, he added: “I think having done some voices helps me out a lot, but I’m not a trained actor in that way, so I only can use a little bit of the experience. Most of the time, it’s really trying to understand what the story needs.

“We’re doing a movie about elements and trying to find characters that fall in love. There’s a chemistry that’s necessary between the two performers, and trying to find that chemistry was not something I had done before. The film will live or die on that chemistry. The audience has to believe that they can get together, both just their elements, but also as performers. I knock on wood, but I hope people can feel it. That has been the main challenge, trying to get that chemistry up on screen.”

Elemental plot: What is it about?

The official synopsis for Elemental reads: “In a city where fire, water, land, and air residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy are about to discover something elemental: How much they actually have in common.”

Sohn has a personal connection to the story, as he told Geek Culture: “The original concept was like… what if fire fell in love with water? And how was that a problem?

“For me, it was like… oh, I fell in love with someone that wasn’t Korean and it was a problem for my parents, and so there’s this sort of love story between these two characters – fire and water – but then a daughter and a father started to form, and that started to change and evolve through the years of making the story.

“Because [this movie took] so long, so many different things happened in my life that would change the story – both my parents died during the making of this thing.

“My mom took me to the movies all the time but it was American movies so she didn’t understand English, so I would sit there and will have to translate everything. But I remember seeing some Disney movies where I didn’t have to translate anything, that she would just watch it and she would cry and I didn’t realize at that time as a kid, but as an adult in animation, that’s my favorite thing.”

That’s all we know about Elemental so far. In the meantime, check out our other TV & movies hubs below:

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