Disney And Pixar Sneak In “Non-Binary” Character In Box Office Bomb ‘Elemental’

Nerdigans Inc. |

Jun 22, 2023

As Pixar’s Elemental drowns with the worst domestic box office opening in the animation studio’s history, the film’s tie-in books and the character’s voice actor revealed that the movie features a non-binary character that uses they/them pronouns.

Pixar’s historical box office bomb Elemental follows the lives of fiery young fire element Ember Lumen and a go-with-the-flow water element Wade Ripple as they confront the challenges of familial and societal expectations.

In typical Disney and by extension Pixar fashion, Elemental‘s landmark LGBTQ+ representation is Wade Ripple’s youngest sibling Lake Ripple who is a minor character with minimal screen time.

According to Sportskeeda, Lake was officially unveiled as Pixar’s first “non-binary” character in Elemental’s junior novelization and Meredith Rusu’s Unlikely Friends movie tie-in book where Wade’s youngest sibling was introduced using they/them pro nouns.

The 20 year old “non-binary” water elemental is also depicted to be in a relationship with a female elemental they met in art school named Ghibli.

Lake’s “non-binary” voice actor Kai Ava Hauser further solidified the character’s gender identity in an announcement on Twitter.

“Big Announcement I got to play Pixar’s first nonbinary character!” Hauser proclaimed. “Meet Lake! I voice Lake in the new movie #Elemental! I’m seeing it in theaters tonight with my friends, so you can catch it in theaters too if you wanna see them.”

Elemental only grossed $29.6 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office. Currently, the film has grossed $39.8 million domestically and another $14.9 million internationally for a global gross of $54.7 million.

The film is just the latest in a string of box office failures for Pixar that includes 2020’s Onward and last year’s Lightyear. Other recent Pixar releases did not even get a theatrical release. Luca and Turning Red were released straight to Disney+.