After making a course correction with a number of reshoots and directorial shuffling, “Elio” is poised to be Disney & Pixar’s next potential blockbuster when the kid-centric sci-fi comedy drops into our galaxy with a rescheduled release date of June 20, 2025 and we’ve got a vibrant new trailer to share.
“Elio’s” family-friendly plotline orbits around its aliens-obsessed 11-year-old hero who dreams of venturing into the heavens on intergalactic adventures when he’s suddenly beamed up into the midst of the “Communiverse.” This vast interplanetary institution is a consortium of representatives from all points of the universe.
Elio is wrongly identified as Earth’s official ambassador in an unexpected role he inherits. He’s soon thrust into a political storm where he must forge alliances with a variety of alien species both friends and foes to save the galaxy and discover his true purpose in life.
Directed by Madeline Sharafian (“Burrow”)and Domee Shi (“Bao,” “Turning Red”) in collaboration with Adrian Molina (“Coco”) and produced by Mary Alice Drumm (“Coco”), Elio taps into its wealth of talented voice actors including Yonas Kibreab (Elio), Zoe Saldaña (Aunt Olga), Remy Edgerly (Glordon), Jameela Jamil (Ambassador Questa), and Brad Garrett (Ambassador Grigon), and Shirley Henderson (OOOOO).
This latest preview offers more amusing nods and easter eggs that space enthusiasts will recognize like a Voyager-like Golden Record and Elio’s Aunt Olga employed by the Air Force Space Command, the branch of the U.S. Armed Services that became the U.S. Space Forced in 2019. Does that mean the movie takes place in the past? Time will tell.
“I just want to belong somewhere,” Elio declares in the latest trailer. “So if any aliens are listening please come by and get me… okay, bye, I love you.”
As an outer space coming-of-age offering, “Elio,” has all the makings of an original animated adventure since it had a necessary tonal revamp when Sharafian and Shi stepped in to rework the screenplay. Though it pushed the release date off for more than a year, these extensive alterations and tinkering served to give the film a less serious demeanor and brightened up the overall mood.
Disney & Pixar’s “Elio” hits theaters on June 20, 2025.
