Late Friday afternoon, Disney announced a release date change for its upcoming Pixar movie ELIO, shifting back one week from June 13th to June 20th. This adjustment results in ELIO opening one week later than Universal’s live-action remake HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, which stays with its June 13th opening. Both films appeal to similar, family audiences.
Disney’s decision is due to several factors. First, and most obviously, ELIO will no longer be going head-to-head with TRAIN YOUR DRAGON on its opening weekend. In addition, ELIO’s move to June 20th creates a more orderly release calendar for Disney’s summer movies, which has also LILO & STITCH opening on May 23rd and THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS opening on July 25th. This results in each of these films having a full month to play without competition from other Disney releases.
Universal’s HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON is shaping up to be a very appealing movie, and will be in direct competition against ELIO for the family audience. On June 20th, ELIO will be sharing the opening spotlight with Sony’s horror film 28 YEARS LATER, which is hardly a film you would take your kids to see.
By announcing this change late Friday afternoon, it seems that Disney wanted to underplay the importance of the move as it relates to ELIO, and instead emphasize the strength of their 2025 summer release schedule. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON could wind up being a more popular film than ELIO, since the Pixar movie is an original story and DreamWorks’ title is a sequel based on well-known IP.