Photo: Disney/Pixar

DISNEY AND PIXAR’S “ELEMENTAL” TO CLOSE 76th ANNUAL CANNES FILM FESTIVAL—“Elemental” director Peter Sohn created this custom art piece to celebrate the film’s inclusion as the closing film of the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 27, 2023. “After years of crafting this story, creating and realizing characters made of fire and water—effects in and of themselves—and building a brilliant world that is so much a part of all of us, it’s an honor to share these characters and this film in its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival,” said Sohn, who will attend the festival with producer Denise Ream and Pixar’s chief creative officer Pete Docter. Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental” introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in. “Elemental” opens in U.S. theaters on June 16, 2023.

The Cannes Film Festival has its closing film.

Pixar’sElementalwill cap the 76th edition of the iconic movie festival next month, Pixar Animation Studios announced on Wednesday.

The feature-length film will become the fourth Pixar movie to make its world premiere at the French venue, following the previous selections ofUp,Inside OutandSoul, the studio said.

Elementalis set in a fictional place called Element City — “where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together” — and features the voices of Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie,Wendi McLendon-CoveyandCatherine O’Hara.

With the tagline “Opposites React,” the movie’s plot revolves around the fiery Ember (Lewis) and her relationship with Wade (Athie), a “go-with-the-flow” kind of guy.

Disney/Pixar

WELCOME TO ELEMENT CITY – Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental” takes fire, water, earth and air and imagines what it would be like if they were alive and living in the same city – a place called Element City. Directed by Peter Sohn (“The Good Dinosaur,” “Party Cloudy” short) and produced by Denise Ream (“The Good Dinosaur,” “Cars 2”), Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental” releases on June 16, 2023.

In an interview with Collider last fall, Sohn (who wrote and directed 2015’sThe Good Dinosaur) shared that he was nervous about how moviegoers will receive the film.

“I am totally scared of how people will react to it,” Sohn said at the time. “There have been a lot of artists working really hard to try to make something new, in terms of non-kinematic models that are just constantly moving, particularly with the air, the water, and the fire characters.”

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He added, “There’s just been a lot of work and love put into that technical process. At the same time, we’re hoping that the audiences don’t see that, but that they see characters that they embody, and hopefully fall in love with that.”

Elementalreleases in theaters June 16, 2023.

source: people.com