Elemental is Pixar's 27th film, and what a splash it made! It's a story about love, family and stepping outside your comfort zone, starring the four elements - earth, air, fire and water! It was a long production for Pixar, and there are a lot of fun facts about the film you probably didn't know! Learn all about it here - how many computers were needed, why Ember's family owns a grocery store, and what the ending was originally supposed to be!

For more Elemental, check out some of our other stuff! Try our Elemental trivia quiz, find out which Elemental character you are, or laugh your head off with some Elemental jokes!

1. It's based on the director's experiences

No, director Peter Sohn isn't made of water or fire! But the story is partly based on his experience growing up in an immigrant family. Peter was born in The Bronx to Korean immigrant parents, and his family owned a grocery store - just like Ember's! Also, another tiny fun fact about Peter Sohn - he voiced Remy's brother Emile in Ratatouille!

2. The music is by Thomas Newman

The beautiful score of the film is composed by Thomas Newman, and this is his fourth time working with Pixar! He also did the music for Finding Nemo, WALL-E and Finding Dory! All three of those films were directed by Pixar legend Andrew Stanton, so this is his first time working with a new director at Pixar!

3. There are no humans in it

This is the first Pixar film since the Cars movies to have no humans in it at all! Fun fact - early Pixar films didn't feature humans as main characters because the technology at the time meant that humans were very hard to animate. The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to feature a fully human cast in 2004, but now Pixar are getting back to their roots!

4. It took a long time to make

It took an amazing 7 years to make Elemental! This includes the time to write and storyboard the movie, as well as making all those gorgeous visuals. Peter Sohn said that the development was closely tied to his family - his two children were born not long before he first pitched the film, and both of his parents passed away during the making of Elemental. The message of the film is about love and thankfulness to your parents!

5. It also took a LOT of power

Pixar had to buy more computers than ever before to make Elemental - it took more than 151,000 cores in three rooms (a core is a processing unit in a computer)! For comparison, it Monsters University needed around 24,000 cores, Finding Nemo 923 cores, and the original Toy Story only 294 cores.

6. There's an anime Easter egg!

One of the characters in the film is named Ghibli, which is a reference to Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio that made Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service and more! Pixar are BIG Ghibli fans. The name is also a reference to the elements - "ghibli" is an Italian word that means "hot desert wind"!

7. It features Pixar's first nonbinary character!

Wade's sibling Lake is Pixar's first official nonbinary character! They're voiced by Kai Ava Hauser, a nonbinary voice actor, too!

8. The characters are totally unique

Animators working on the film have said that Ember and Wade are like no characters they've ever animated before - because they're not made of solid matter! As you know, fire and water tend to move around a lot, and Pixar wanted to show that in their characters. The water characters were particularly difficult to animate, because water reflects and is see-through. Some animation tests of Wade came back looking a little bit scary, because you could see the backs of his eyes and his teeth! Luckily they managed to make the characters designs look good, but it sure took a lot of computer power!

9. The worldbuilding is so cool

When you watch the film, pay attention to the little details! In Fire Town the kids drink from little cans of kerosene, and babies drink lighter fluid (two things you SHOULDN'T do in real life!), and Ember delivers bags of wood chips, not potato chips! Element City is also full of signs and adverts that are jokes and puns about the elements - Cyclone Stadium has lots of slogans for their team The Windbreakers, like “Blow Them Away,” “Deflate Them” and “Kick Their Gas!”. There's also a very nice tribute to Pixar veteran Ralph Eggleston who died in 2022 - a sign saying "Eat at Ralph’s Café" can be seen in the heart of the city!

10. There was a different ending planned

An earlier draft of the script had Ember and Wade returning home in the end credits with a baby made of steam! Another early script also had Brook as the villain of the film. In this version she was in charge of the water works in Element City and wants to run a river through Fire Town. Pixar decided that they wanted to focus more on the love story, though. Would you like to see that version of the film?