Elemental

***Elemental*** is an American computer-animated film directed by Peter Sohn and written by John Hoberg, Kat Likkel and Brenda Hsueh from a story by Sohn, Hoberg, Likkel and Hsueh. It is the 27th animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures, being distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It stars the voices of Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie. *Elemental* debuted out of competition as the closing film at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 27, 2023, and was released theatrically in the United States on June 16, in RealD 3D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema formats.

## Plot

The film opens with two fire people arrive on a boat to Element City. Being the only fire people among water, earth, and air people, they are scornfully looked down upon. When they pass through customs, their names are hard for the agent to pronounce, so he calls them Bernie Lumen and Cinder Lumen. The two settle down in their new home, and Cinder gives birth to their daughter, Ember Lumen.

As time goes on, more fire people move into the same district Bernie and Cinder moved to, which later became known as Firetown, which is kept outside of Element City. Bernie and Cinder open up a shop, The Fireplace. Ember aspires to inherit the shop from her father, but she has a problem with her temper, as she is known to literally blow up and cause damage when she gets too upset. She also has a young earth neighbor named Clod, who has a crush on her and tries to impress her with flowers, but she cannot touch them without burning them.

Bernie takes the day off for the store’s Red Dot Sale and entrusts Ember to run the shop. Ember quickly becomes overwhelmed by the amount of customers and their bad habits, so she runs down to the basement where she can let out one of her fiery explosions. The pipes then start to break and fill the place with water. Ember tries to weld the pipe back together, but a water guy, Wade Ripple, spills out of the pipes. Wade is prone to big emotions like Ember but is more sensitive. He also happens to be a city inspector and finds numerous citations for the shop that can get it shut down. Despite Ember's pleas, Wade abides by his job and heads off to send in the citations. Ember Lumen chases after him through the city but is unable to stop Wade when they reach City Hall. After hearing how much the store means to her father, Wade offers to help plead her case to the higher-ups.

Wade brings Ember to Fern Grouchwood, an earth guy in charge of sending the citations to get certified. While Ember tries to talk, Wade talks over her and gets too personal about how the shop needs to be saved for Bernie. Ember loses it again and makes another explosion, which doesn’t help at all, and Fern tells her to expect the shop’s closure in a matter of days. Wade offers another solution by having Ember meet Gale, an air lady who is Wade’s boss. He brings Ember to Cyclone Stadium where a game of airball is taking place, and Gale is a passionate fan. Ember and Gale get off to a rocky start since Gale’s favorite team, the Windbreakers, is losing. Everyone sees that star player Lutz isn’t doing well, so Wade manages to start a chant among the audience to give Lutz a confidence boost, even creating a wave with the other water people. Lutz then plays even better, and the Windbreakers win.

After the game, Ember and Gale are on friendlier terms as Ember tries to explain the situation with her shop. After mentioning the leak, Gale finds is suspicious because water hasn’t come to Fire Town in years. Wade mentions inspecting a run-in of water outside the city limits before he got sucked into the basement of The Fireplace. Gale tells Ember and Wade that if they can find the source of the leak, the shop will not be closed. Ember and Wade find a hot air balloon that helps them fly over the city. While admiring the view, Ember gets upset when she sees Garden Central Station, because it reminds her of when she was a child and wanted to see a Vivisteria flower, as it can bloom around any element, even fire. However, she and Bernie experienced racism from the other elements who saw fire as destructive. The station ended up flooding, and Ember never got to see the flower. They then spot the source of the water coming from a broken dam that stops the runoff from ships from making its way into Fire Town. More water begins to spill out, so Ember and Wade quickly manage to block the leak by using sandbags.

Later on, Ember Lumen and Wade Ripple begin to date in secret. Although there are some activities they cannot do because of Ember being a fire woman, Wade helps to find other things they can do. In their time together, Ember shares another story about how her parents had to leave their home, Fireland, after a storm destroyed their home. On the day they left, Bernie tried to give his father the Big Bow, the highest mark of respect among the fire people, but his father would not return the bow due to seeing his son leaving their home as a betrayal. They keep a blue flame in their shop, as it is a cultural aspect of the fire people that they believe brings them blessings. Ember tries to keep the relationship a secret from her parents, but Cinder claims she can smell love off of her daughter. Wade visits the shop but must pretend to be a food inspector because Bernie hates water people. He gives Wade some of his coal nuts which are very hot, and Wade tries them out even though they burn him. When he tries to water them down, Bernie gets angry and bans Wade from the store.

Wade returns to the dam and sees that the sandbags didn’t hold. Ember Lumen arrives at the spot and comes up with an idea. She uses the sand from the bags to create tempered glass using her flame to create a strong enough barrier to stop the water from coming out. Ember later joins Wade for dinner with his family at the home of his mother Brook Ripple. She meets Wade's siblings and uncle as well, and even though it is awkward at first, the rest of the family tells Ember that Wade has not stopped talking about her. Wade’s uncle accidentally breaks a glass pitcher, and Ember puts it back together in a more beautiful design, which impresses the Ripples. They then gather for a “Crying Game”, as Wade’s family is just as emotional as he is, but the objective is to not cry. Ember and Wade go up, and Wade manages to get Ember to tear up by giving her a heartwarming speech about his love for her. They then get a call from Gale, who has seen the tempered glass and is happy about it, so she says the shop can stay. Ember and Wade celebrate. Before leaving, Brook tells Ember about a possible job opportunity at a glass-blowing company that could use someone with her skills. While Ember likes the idea, she is too conflicted about taking over the shop since she admits to Wade that it’s not something she really wants to do.

Wade Ripple brings Ember Lumen to Garden Central Station for a surprise. Gale is there, and she creates an air bubble for Ember to enter underwater. Wade takes her underground where she finally sees the Vivisteria flowers, which all bloom when she goes near them. The air bubble starts to shrink, so Wade manages to swim out quickly with Ember. Despite their moment together, Ember is still hesitant to get close to Wade for fear that they may accidentally kill each other. Wade encourages her to take things slowly, and they manage to touch hands, creating steam. They get closer and are able to dance together, but once again Ember feels an obligation to her family and runs back to the shop. Wade follows and is spotted by Cinder. She makes them get into her room in the shop where she does smoke readings on couples to see if their love is real. Wade manages to use Ember’s flame to shine through him to light the wick, but Bernie comes home before Cinder can do the reading, and Wade has to leave.

On the day of Bernie’s intended retirement, he holds a celebration with the other fire people to announce that he is letting Ember take over the shop. Wade shows up to declare his love for Ember, despite knowing how Bernie will react. However, Ember remains firm in her position to not disappoint her family, so she tells Wade that she doesn’t love him. Cinder says she is wrong because she did find love in their smoke readings, but when Ember mentions her temper blow-up caused the pipes to leak, Bernie is disappointed and unretires, saying his trust in Ember has been broken. Ember goes to be alone when she spots that the glass from the dam has broken, and a huge flood is heading toward Firetown. As she goes to warn the other citizens to get to higher ground, Wade, who was getting ready to leave Element City, sees everything and rushes back to help. The flood reaches the shop, and Ember goes inside to protect the blue flame. Wade helps her and manages to save the flame before the water gets everywhere. They end up trapped in a room, where Ember’s flame is getting too hot for Wade. Ember tries to break through the room to save Wade, but he doesn’t let her because she could be extinguished. They hold each other close, and Wade evaporates.

Bernie and Cinder get Ember out, and she cries over lying to her parents and because she really did love Wade. When she tells Bernie that she feels she ruined his dream and life’s work, Bernie tells her that the shop was never his dream, she was. Ember then hears what sounds like Wade crying and dripping from the ceiling into a bucket. Ember gets her parents to say things that can make Wade cry, which helps him rematerialize. Ember and Wade then share their first kiss. Months later, Firetown is now more open for the rest of Element City the shop is rebuilt and is now open for other water, air and earth elements too, now the fire people are included with the other element kinds. Bernie officially retires and has given the shop to his neighbors, Flarrietta and Flarry. Clod has befriended another little fire girl that he tries to woo. Ember and Wade then prepare to leave for a new city since Ember has accepted the internship at the glass company. Bernie, Cinder, and Brook go to see their kids off. Before Ember boards the ship, she gives Bernie the Blessed Bow, which he returns to her.

During the end credits, Bernie enjoys his time with Cinder during his retirement, Ember makes Wade a glass statue of himself with a big muscular body, Cinder reads Gale and Fern's love fortune, Clod dates the little fire girl, a water woman and an earth man kiss, the Lumen couple and the Ripples become close friends, Lutz and the other Windbreakers play another airball game Gale, Fern, Cinder and Bernie are attending, and Ember and Wade eventually return to Element City after a long time of traveling together.

## Voice Cast

### Main cast

* Leah Lewis as Ember Lumen
	+ Reagan To as Big Kid Ember
	+ Clara Lin Ding as Little Kid Ember
* Mamoudou Athie as Wade Ripple
	+ Dylan Buccieri as Little Kid Wade
* Ronnie del Carmen as Bernie Lumen
* Shila Ommi as Cinder Lumen
* Catherine O'Hara as Brook Ripple
* Wendi McLendon-Covey as Gale Cumulus
* Joe Pera as Fern Grouchwood
* Jonathan Adams as Flarry
* Wilma Bonet as Flarrietta
* Mason Wertheimer as Clod
* Matt Yang King as Alan Ripple, Lutz, and an Earth pruner
* Innocent Onanovie Ekakitie as Marco Ripple and Polo Ripple
* Krysta Gonzales as Eddy Ripple
* Ava Kai Hauser as Lake Ripple
* Ronobir Lahiri as Harold Ripple
* Maya Aoki Tuttle as Ghibli
* Jeff Lapensee as an unnamed sparkling customer
* Ben Morris as C.C. Stump, an official wood immigration
* Alex Kapp as an unnamed customer, an unnamed delivery person, and an earth landlord
* P.L. Brown as an Unnamed doorman

### Additional voices

* Assaf Cohen
* Jessica DiCicco
* Alisha Mullally
* Tara Strong
* Grant George
* Carlos alazraqui
* Roger Craig Smith
* Trevor Devall
* Scott Menville
* Terri Douglas
* Austin Madison
* Assad Cohen
* Anif S. Kinchen
* Cole Massie
* Fred Tatasciore
* Kari Wahlgren
* Secunda Wood

## Production

### Development

News of the film was first reported on May 16, 2022 by Pixar when they dropped the concept art for its next feature, *Elemental*, which will hit theaters on June 16. Disney already had the Father’s Day weekend date reserved for an untitled Pixar film. It will be directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream. The movie was inspired by Sohn’s childhood in New York.

“My parents emigrated from Korea in the early 1970s and built a bustling grocery store in the Bronx,” said the director. “We were among many families who ventured to a new land with hopes and dreams—all of us mixing into one big salad bowl of cultures, languages and beautiful little neighborhoods. That’s what led me to *Elemental*.” The director added, “Our story is based on the classic elements — fire, water, land and air. Some elements mix with each other, and some don’t. What if these elements were alive?”

On September 9, 2022, alongside the cast announcement, Peter Sohn talked more about *Elemental*. He said, “The idea [for *Elemental*] started with my parents. As immigrants to the U.S. from Korea in the ’70s, they had no family, nothing. But they managed to create a life here in New York,” Sohn said in introducing the film. “And just like them, many people have left their people and families to a new land, with hopes and dreams, all mixing into one big salad bowl of cultures, languages and neighborhoods.”

Denise Ream went on to describe the story as one “about anyone who’s ever made a sacrifice or taken a risk, set it in the hustle and bustle of the city, but with a twist.”

On March 28, 2023, it was revealed that John Hoberg & Kat Likkel and Brenda Hsueh scripted *Elemental* from a story by Sohn, Hoberg & Likkel and Hsueh. Denise Ream produced, with Pete Docter exec producing, and Thomas Newman providing the score. Disney/Pixar also announced that *Elemental* will be accompanied in theaters by the Pixar short “*Carl’s Date*.”

On April 19, 2023, Pixar Animation Studio revealed that *Elemental* would be last film of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, running from May 16 to 27. The film will be presented Out of Competition on May 27, ahead of its release in theaters in the US on June 16 and in France on June 21. *Elemental* is the fourth feature film from Pixar Animation Studios to be presented in the Official Selection, after *Up*, *Inside Out* and *Soul*.

Pete Docter, Pixar’s chief creative officer, said this year’s return to Cannes was particularly special for the studio: “As we all emerge from our pandemic cocoons and come together in story rooms, animation dailies and impromptu brainstorming sessions, it’s a joy and honor to have Pixar back on La Croisette. Directed by the extraordinary storyteller Peter Sohn, *Elemental* is so funny, full of heart and, frankly, stunning to see. It was created for audiences to experience on the big screen and I love that it’ll make its world premiere at Cannes.”

Adèle Exarchopoulos and Vincent Lacoste are set to voice the key Element City characters of Flam (Ember) and Flack (Wade) in the French version. The original voice cast includes Leah Lewis (Ember) and Mamoudou Athie (Wade). Cannes Film Festival head Thierry Frémaux said, “For many years, the Festival de Cannes has welcomed animated films from around the world. Pixar Animation Studios, with *Up*, directed by Pete Docter, made Cannes history by opening the 62nd edition of the Festival in 2009. It was a wonderful event!. This is another great opportunity, to present the amazing *Elemental*, for the ‘Last Screening’ of this 76th Festival de Cannes, and to think about our lives in such a powerful way.”

Docter, director Peter Sohn, producer Denise Ream and many actors voicing the characters of the film are expected to attend the red carpet screening in Cannes. The film joins 51 other features in this year’s Official Selection announced at a press conference in Paris last Thursday.

### Animation and design

Element City was modeled after New York City as a series of immigrant neighborhoods composed of organic materials that would complement each element. An example would be Fire Town, which was constructed with ceramic, metal, and brick. Production designer Don Shank says "design ideas inspired new technology, which inspired new design." Sohn noted that he "went into more detail about how the design and tech process went for designing Ember and Wade." He believed personifying elements was a difficult challenge, although he declared that air was not nearly as difficult to portray as fire and water, having already personified clouds in *Partly Cloudy*. The character Wade Ripple is incredibly complex, with the biggest challenge being his transparency through creating visual effects. In order to make him transparent enough, the animators needed to find some middle ground for how to create the character.

The set designers at the studio looked to cities like Venice and Amsterdam for inspiration. The water canals and the buildings that surround cities have immense detail and thought put into them. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in which most of the production took place, the production team of the film was unable to travel to these cities for research, so they spent many hours watching POV city tours on YouTube to get inspiration for Element City. To feel less like an alien version of real-world cities, production designer Don Shank and his team brainstormed the evolution of elemental beings and their civilization.

Over 151,000 cores were used for *Elemental* in three large rooms on the Pixar campus, making it a massive amount of computing power compared to previous Pixar feature films, due to Pixar having to upgrade and buy more computers for this film; for example, *Toy Story* (1995) had 294 cores, *Monsters, Inc.* (2001) had 672 cores, and *Finding Nemo* (2003) had 923 cores.

### Casting

In September 2022, during the D23 Expo Presentation, it was announced that Mamoudou Athie and Leah Lewis had been cast in the leading roles. In March 2023, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O'Hara, Mason Wertheimer and Joe Pera joined the cast.

### Music

On February 7, 2023, Thomas Newman was confirmed to compose and conduct the original score for *Elemental*. It marks Newman's fourth collaboration with the studio after *Finding Nemo* (2003), *WALL-E* (2008), and *Finding Dory* (2016), as well as his first Pixar film not to be directed by Andrew Stanton.

## Release

*Elemental* debuted out of competition as the closing film at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 27, 2023, followed by the worldwide premiere on June 10, 2023, at Tribeca Festival. The film was released theatrically by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the United States on June 16, 2023, in RealD 3D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema formats. It was accompanied by the *Dug Days* special short film *Carl's Date* in theaters, which marked the first Pixar film to be preceded by a Pixar-produced theatrical short film since *Bao* (2018), which was theatrically released with *Incredibles 2* (2018). On February 16, 2023, following the commercial failures of *Lightyear* and Walt Disney Animation Studios' *Strange World* (both 2022), Disney reportedly considered extending the theatrical windows for both *Elemental* and Walt Disney Animation Studios' *Wish* in hopes of bringing families back to theaters.

The first thirty minutes of footage of the film were shown during an early press event at the studio on March 28, 2023. It was positively received by critics for its worldbuilding, animation, and characters.

The first twenty minutes of footage of the film were previewed in 3D at CinemaCon on April 26, 2023. It was positively received by critics, who appreciated its tackling themes of racism and xenophobia head-on of the movie.

### Marketing

Following the project announcement, the first look concept art of the film was released on May 16, 2022. Nicole Clark for *Polygon* said fans are "pointing out the similarities to the *Fireboy and Watergirl* series of games, six in total, developed by Oslo Albet." Following the voice cast announcement, a first look image and an exclusive teaser poster were released on September 9, 2022, during the 2022 D23 Expo Presentation.

The teaser trailer was released on November 17, 2022, set to Bakar's "Hell N Back". Jeremy Mathai of */Film* commented positively of the footage, saying it "looks wonderfully rendered and irresistibly charming."

An official full-length trailer was released on March 28, 2023, set to Astral's "High Five". Charles Pulliam-Moore of *The Verge* commented positively, saying that "the movie's visuals are as imaginative as they are delightful", while noting that its "tough to say whether *Elemental*'s take on beats from *Guess Who's Coming to Dinner* (1967) will land with audiences, especially considering how some of its characters seem prone to destroying one another simply because of how their physical forms interact."

A series of books based on the film was published in May 2023, including novelizations, short stories, a sticker album, a behind-the-scenes book, and coloring books, while the graphic novel is scheduled to be published on August 29, 2023. A line of action figures and toy packs by Mattel were gifted, while visiting the studios for the film's press day. It was available for the following month.

## Notes and trivia

* This is the first Pixar movie to not receive Funko figures.
	+ It is also the first Pixar movie since *Turning Red* to not receive LEGO sets.
* This is the first Pixar movie since *Monsters University* to have a teaser that depicts a scene that is meant to act as a short film of sorts rather than utilize preexisting scenes from the movie.
* The movie features Lake Ripple, Pixar's first non-binary character.
* This is the second Pixar film to be released on June 16, after *Cars 3* and to be directed by Peter Sohn, after *The Good Dinosaur*.
* This is the first Disney animated film to be released in China since *Encanto* (2021), after *Turning Red*, *Lightyear*, and *Strange World* from 2022 were not released in the country due to unknown reasons for the former and LGBT themes for the latter two.
	+ This is the first Pixar film to be released in China since *Luca* (2021).
* Wade makes a cameo appearance in *Lightyear* on the label of a bottled drink called "Wade Water".
* The movie was released with the *Up* short film *Carl's Date* in front of it, making it the first Pixar film to have a Pixar short film in front of it since *Incredibles 2*.
* This is the first Pixar film to use Disney's 100th-anniversary logo.
	+ It is also the first Pixar film to use the new 2022 Walt Disney Pictures logo.
* This is the sixth Pixar film to have a female protagonist after *Brave*, *Inside Out*, *Finding Dory*, *Incredibles 2*, and *Turning Red*, as well as the first original movie to have a female protagonist with a love interest.
* The film was supposed to come out in the UK and Ireland on the same day, but it got delayed to July 7, 2023, for unknown reasons unless being re-released in the future (probably for its anniversary on June 16, 2024).
* This is the third Pixar film of the 2020s to be produced in a 1:85:1 aspect ratio after *Luca* and *Turning Red*.
	+ It is also the fourth Disney animated film of the 2020s to be produced in a 1:85:1 aspect ratio, after *Luca*, *Encanto*, and *Turning Red*.
	+ Thus, it is the first Disney theatrical film produced in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio to use the 2022 Disney logo.
* This is the sixth Pixar film of the 2020s to be rated PG by the MPA after *Onward*, *Soul*, *Luca*, *Turning Red*, and *Lightyear*.
* This is the sixth Pixar film not to have humans in it, following *A Bug's Life*, the *Cars* trilogy, and *Onward*. It is also the second PG-rated Pixar film not to have humans in it.
* This is the fifth Pixar film that doesn't feature John Ratzenberger, after *Soul*, *Luca*, *Turning Red*, and *Lightyear*.
* The air elementals in this film resemble the cloud characters from *Partly Cloudy*, a short film Peter Sohn directed.
* This is the third romantic Pixar movie; the first being *WALL-E* and the second being *Toy Story 4*.
* The is the third Pixar movie of the 2020s to not have a post-credits scene, after *Onward* and *Soul*. It is also the second to not have any sort of post-credits scene before or after the closing logos.
* This is the second Pixar film of the 2020s to have the normal music and/or sounds for both of the opening logos, after *Turning Red*. It is also the first in this case to not have any musical or sound alterations to either logo at any given point whatsoever.
* This is the fourth Pixar film to be composed by Thomas Newman after *Finding Nemo*, *WALL-E*, and *Finding Dory*.
	+ It is also Newman's first Pixar film not to be directed by Andrew Stanton.
* This is the second Pixar film to have Ronnie del Carmen to voice a character since *Soul*.
* For the language of the fire people, David Peterson from *Game of Thrones* created this as "Firish" based on fire sounds that are part of Ember's family.
* Following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2023 and Bob Iger's reorganizing plan, *Elemental* will expand the theatrical windows in hopes of bringing families back to theaters before being released on PVOD and Disney+.
	+ According to some sources, this plan was also caused by the failure of *Lightyear* and *Strange World*.
* In a Japanese trailer (and in the film itself), posters of the films *The Good Element* and *Partly Cloudy* can be seen at the Alkali movie theater (one of the locations in the film), with the former being a resemblance to (and a parody of) *The Good Dinosaur*, while the latter is based on the short film of the same name.
* This is the second Pixar trailer or TV spot to use the song "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry after *Inside Out*.
	+ This is the first time that Pixar had the clips from their previous films in a trailer for a new film since *Inside Out*.
* Element City takes a bit of inspiration from New York City, Amsterdam, and several cities in China. In order for Element City to feel less like an alien version of real-world cities, Production designer Don Shank and his team brainstormed the evolution of elemental beings and their civilization.
* The making of *Elemental* resulted in Pixar having to upgrade and buy more computers. This film used over 151,000 cores (the brains of a computer), a massive jump compared to *Toy Story* with 294 cores, *Monsters Inc.* with 672 cores, and *Finding Nemo* with 923 cores.
* This is the ninth Pixar film to begin with a flashback after *Finding Nemo*, *Up*, *Monsters University*, *The Good Dinosaur*, *Finding Dory*, *Coco*, *Incredibles 2*, and *Toy Story 4*.
* During the end credits, the film was initially going to depict Ember and Wade returning home with the reveal that they had a baby made out of steam. It was ultimately scrapped as the writers wanted the audience to settle with the characters first before such an idea would take hold.
* This Pixar film holds the record for being dedicated to the most amount of people who passed away during its production, with 6 in total. The names listed include:
	+ Ralph Eggleston [animator] (1965-2022)
	+ Thomas Gonzales [assistant editor] (1978-2022)
	+ Amber Martorelli [animator, lighting technical director] (1978-2022)
	+ J. Garett Sheldrew [storyboard artist] (1964-2022)
	+ Yung Tahk Sohn [Peter Sohn's father] (1945-2017)
	+ Hea Ja Sohn [Peter Sohn's mother] (1946-2021)
* This is the first Pixar film to use the full 2022 Disney opening logo as a closing logo.
	+ This is also the second Disney theatrical animated film to feature the full 2022 Disney opening logo as a closing logo after *Strange World*.
* This is the fourth Pixar film with no main antagonist nor any antagonists after *Inside Out*, *Finding Dory*, and *Turning Red*.
* This is the second Pixar film to show the real-life images after *WALL-E*.
* This film, *A Bug's Life*, *Cars*, *Cars 2*, *Cars 3* and *Onward* are the only Pixar films with no human characters.

### Easter eggs and references

* Gale's office number is A113.
	+ A113 also appears on a transit sign in the film's teaser trailer. It is listed there as "A H Al". The symbols H and Al refer to Hydrogen and Aluminum, which are respectively numbered 1 and 13 on the Periodic Table of Elements.
* Movie posters for *The Good Dinosaur* (listed here as *The Good Element*) and *Partly Cloudy* appear outside the Alkali Theater.
* Wade's popcorn container bears the logo for Pixar Popcorn, which also carries the Luxo Ball's design.
* An Earth-version of Dug appears during the "Steal the Show" montage.
* The Pizza Planet Truck (in a boat-like form) floats through the canal as Cinder approaches Wade's building.
* During Wade's "sponge" flashback, a blue "science club" poster behind him depicts a major location in *Elio*.
* Brand names and products are parodied in the form of element-themed puns. These include "Treeyota" (Toyota), "Twig" (Twix), "Juicy Flame" (Juicy Fruit), "Frosted Flames" (Frosted Flakes), "Sparkburst" (Starburst), "Best Fry" (Best Buy), and "Kolgate" (Colgate). These are visible in the Lumen family's shop, around Element City, and in the film's end credits.
* The movie that Ember and Wade supposedly see (as possibly evidenced by the theater's marquee) is a movie entitled *Tide and Prejudice*, which is a parody of Jane Austen's book, *Pride and Prejudice*.
* The Ripples' apartment building is number 212. In Fahrenheit, water boils at 212 degrees.
* Wade's sibling Lake has a girlfriend named Ghibli, who is named for Studio Ghibli.
* Harold's painting seen during the Ripples' dinner includes the colors of the Emotions: red (Anger), yellow (Joy), green (Disgust), blue (Sadness) and purple (Fear), and adds orange (Anxiety), pink (Embarrassment), indigo (Ennui) and aqua (Envy) as a sneak peek of the next Pixar film, *Inside Out 2*.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ To Close Cannes Film Festival
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Pixar Unveils Concept Art & Dates 27th Film ‘Elemental’ For Summer 2023
3. ↑ ELEMENTAL
4. ↑ Elemental
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 ‘Elemental’: Pixar Unveils Lead Voice Actors For Peter Sohn Film – D23
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ Expands Voice Cast, Unveils Trailer
7. ↑ ‘Elemental’ Filmmakers Peter Sohn & Denise Ream On Bringing Elements To Life: “We’ve Never Done This Before”
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Opposites Attract In Pixar's First Rom-Com – *Elemental* Press Conference Coverage
9. ↑ ELEMENTAL Exclusive Interview with Production Designer Don Shank
10. ↑ Elemental Fun Facts – 5 Things We Learned About the Film When Visiting Pixar (And More Screencaps)
11. ↑ Thomas Newman to Score Pixar's *Elemental*
12. ↑ Tribeca Festival Sets Opening, Closing & Centerpiece Films
13. ↑ Pack your 3D glasses, we’re going to Element City! Experience Disney and Pixar's #Elemental in RealD 3D June 16. Tickets on sale now.
14. ↑ 🌊 Get ready to experience @pixarelemental in 4DX! 🔥 With 4DX, you'll feel the heat of the flames, the chill of the water, and the rush of the wind. Don't just watch Elemental, feel it with 4DX.
15. ↑ 🔥 Tickets for Disney and Pixar’s #Elemental are ON SALE NOW!💧 Don’t miss it in #DolbyCinema June 16: http://dolbylabs.co/Elemental
16. ↑ How Much Is Too Much Marvel and *Star Wars*? Disney Rethinks Franchise Output
17. ↑ Disney Reportedly Considering Longer Theatrical Windows for Upcoming Animation Releases
18. ↑ Pixar's *Elemental* Footage Reaction: A Charming Romantic Comedy Simmers In A Mesmerizing World
19. ↑ Pixar's *Elemental* Footage Sends Clear Message About Discrimination
20. ↑ Check out this all-new concept art from Disney and Pixar's *Elemental*. See the movie June 16, 2023!
21. ↑ Pixar's *Elemental* characters remind fans of classic platformer Fireboy and Watergirl
22. ↑ What Is The Song In Pixar's *Elemental* Teaser Trailer?
23. ↑ *Elemental* Teaser: Opposites Attract In Pixar's Newest Original
24. ↑ Musou Music Group
25. ↑ *Elemental* first trailer is a bubbling, sizzling feast for the eyes
26. ↑ Numerous *Elemental* Books Announced and Covers Revealed
27. ↑ *Elemental* Toys – Mattel Figures Featuring Ember, Wade and Clod