Pixar is getting ready to release another movie again – this is what we know about Elio.
While Inside Out 2 continues to hold the interest of Pixar fans (and anyone in the mood for a great animated movie), , there are a few upcoming Pixar films that we can talk about – but today, we’ll be focusing on Elio, a new sci-fi movie that will surely capture your hearts.
The new original Pixar film was announced in 2023, but when is Elio going to be released? And who is going to star in it? Get ready, because we have a good amount of information for anyone who happens to be curious as to what Elio is going to be all about.
What Is The Elio Release Date?
At the time of updating this in August 2024, Elio will release on June 13, 2025 as part of the 2025 movie release schedule.
Originally, we were supposed to get the film in 2024, but due to the SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023, it was pushed back by more than a year, so unfortunately, it won’t be on any 2024 movie schedule. But at least we have that film to look forward to after the hype for Inside Out 2 finally dies down.
The Elio Cast
If you were wondering who's going to star in this film, we already have a few people that we can talk about. Back during 2022’s D23, the film was announced by Pixar officially and shared on their official Twitter account, where they confirmed some of the cast:
Zoe Saldana as Elio’s Aunt
This news came straight from D23 2024, where it was announced on stage that Zoe Saldana had joined the cast as Elio’s Aunt in Elio. According to The Wrap in August 2024, this role was originally going to be played by America Ferrera, and it would have been Elio’s mother, but Pixar Chief Pete Docter said that Ferrera had to drop out due to “scheduling conflicts.”
Saldana in general is a huge actress and has appeared in several movies and TV shows. Some of her biggest include the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the Avatar films, the new Star Trek films and many more.
Yonas Kibreab as Elio
Yonas Kibreab will play Olga’s son, Elio, the titular character of the film. Kibreab is on the younger side, as you would imagine, but he’s actually appeared on the popular Netflix fantasy series, Sweet Tooth, as Finn Foxx, a pretty big character on the show, and has appeared in other television shows such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and more.
Jameela Jamil as Ambassador Questa
When the teaser was released back in June 2023, Deadline also confirmed two other actors who are set to play roles in the movie. The first is Jameela Jamil, who will play Ambassador Questa.
Jamil is primarily known for her role in The Good Place cast, but she’s also been a part of many other television casts as well, including the She-Hulk cast as well as the Poker Face cast, a very successful television show on Peacock.
Brad Garrett as Ambassador Grigon
The other cast member that Deadline confirmed is that Brad Garrett would voice Ambassador Grigon in Elio. Brad Garrett has had major roles in television shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond, Gleason, and more, and has held voice roles in several movies including Tangled, Finding Nemo, Garfield, A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille and more – so you know he has plenty of voice-acting skills that will be perfect for a movie such as this.
Check Out The Teaser Trailer For Elio
If you’re as interested in Elio as I am, be sure to check out the teaser that was released for the upcoming film back in June 2023. It features Elio getting beamed up to space – and his first run-in with these mysterious aliens that we are going to get to know over the course of the film.
Unfortunately, a full trailer has still not been released, but since we’re less than a year from the film coming out, hopefully we’ll get a full trailer soon.
What Elio Is About
When I told you this was going to be the next major adventure into space, I was not joking.
In the Deadline article featured above, we are given a hint of what happens to our titular character Elio in the movie – that he gets taken into space completely by accident. While he does have an “active imagination,” he ends up finding himself mistaken for Earth’s Ambassador when aliens kidnap him into the galaxy.
While there, he has to find a way to somehow stay alive while out in the middle of literal nowhere – all while he forms bonds with alien creatures and starts to figure out who he really is.
The CEO of Pixar, Pete Docter, even spoke about the idea for the film, and how it came to be in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in June 2024 – that all of us at some point have sat under the stars and wondered if we were alone in the universe:
Everyone has sat under the night sky and thought, ‘Are we alone? Are we the only intelligent life in the universe?’ So it’s tickling that, and then thematically, it also talks about something that's very central to our own experience in the same way of, ‘Am I the only one going through this?’ It feels that one, from the beginning, has proven to check all those boxes of something that is a universal concept in terms of the overall conceit and deeper theme. Obviously, it slipped behind Inside Out 2 for a lot of different reasons, but I think it's in a good place.
This just makes me more excited for the film, can it come here already?
Domee Shi And Madeline Sharafian Will Are Directing Elio
At first, it was confirmed that Alfred Molina would direct the film, but Pete Docter confirmed in that The Wrap article that Turning Red’s Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian, who did the 2020 short, Burrow, will be the directors behind the sci-fi flick.
When asked about the change, Docter said that he and Molina (who is now working on another secret project at Pixar) worked together to find directors, and that these two were the best for the job:
We worked together to find other directors to help carry it across. The two of them are really doing a fantastic job…I think it’s really working out well in their case. It’s been tricky in past films, but in this case, they have both such respect for each other and a great working style that is working out really well.
I have a feeling that this movie is going to be so much fun and I can’t wait to see it when it comes out.
What are you the most excited for when it comes to Elio? We’re already less than a year away – time to count the days down.
