Disney, Pixar, and AT&T Team Up to Bring Students Into Fantastical World of "Elio"

With powerful themes of friendship and connection, AT&T is the perfect collab for the occasion.
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Perfect for the themes of the film, AT&T has teamed up with Disney and Pixar Animation Studios to help bring students into the wondrous world of the film, at the studio, the premiere, and more.

What’s Happening:

  • AT&T, Disney, and Pixar Animation Studios have created unique opportunities for students centered around the newest movie from the iconic animation house, Elio.
  • This original story from Pixar follows an alien-obsessed boy on a journey to find his place in the world, discovering the true power of friendship and connection along the way.
  • 12 students from the East Oakland Youth Development Center – one of AT&T’s Connected Learning Centers (CLCs) – visited Pixar Animation Studios for hands-on workshops with virtual reality demos, recording sessions, a studio tour and a showing of Elio footage.
    In addition, students from the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund (SALEF) - an AT&T CLC in Los Angeles - attended the blue-carpet premiere of Elio as AT&T’s special guests. Former CLC student Gia Duarte, who used the center’s connectivity resources to apply to college, became a student reporter on the blue carpet, interviewing CLC peers. Like Elio, Gia’s story highlights the greater possibilities that can be reached with curiosity, friendship and connection.
  • Students from eight CLCs in cities across the country watched special Elio screenings, reinforcing the film’s themes of belonging and discovery while highlighting AT&T’s ongoing commitment to bridging the digital divide.
  • Pixar’s all-new feature film Elio, introduces Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination and a huge alien obsession. So, when he’s beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization with representatives from galaxies far and wide, Elio’s all in for the epic undertaking. Mistakenly identified as Earth’s leader, Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions, and somehow discover who and where he is truly meant to be. Directed by Madeline Sharafian (Burrow Sparkshort), Domee Shi (Bao short, Turning Red) and Adrian Molina (co-screenwriter/co-director of Coco), and produced by Mary Alice Drumm (associate producer of Coco), the film features the voices of Yonas Kibreab as Elio, Zoe Saldaña as Aunt Olga, Remy Edgerly as Glordon, Brad Garrett as Lord Grigon, Jameela Jamil as Ambassador Questa and Shirley Henderson as Ooooo.
  • Elio is now showing in theaters everywhere.

What They’re Saying:

  • Melissa Arnoldi, executive vice president and general manager of AT&T Business: “As Elio shows us, the journey to belonging is fueled by connection. Our decades-long relationship with Disney is rooted in more than technology – it’s about creating meaningful experiences that inspire and empower. By blending creativity and connectivity, we’re helping the next generation discover their potential and connect to greater possibilities."

Experimental Communiverse of Tomorrow:

  • All this talk of AT&T and another collaboration with the Walt Disney Company makes me think of a longstanding one that they previously had - the sponsorship of Spaceship Earth at EPCOT.
  • From 1984 to 2004, the company hosted the EPCOT icon, and showed how everyone on the planet - past, present, and future - can be connected through the use of advancing communications technology.
  • With Elio following similar themes of connection and communication, I can’t help but put the characters of the fantastical “communiverse" dotted throughout the attraction as it exists today.
  • So now I can’t help but think “what if" AT&T returned to sponsor the attraction and threw in IP on one of the last bastions of original EPCOT that has zero character branding. There has been a shelved/cancelled massive refurbishment that was slated to come to the attraction, announced with the massive overhaul of EPCOT that officially ended with the opening of Communicore Hall at the park.
  • While we’re not saying that this kind of character-integrated refurbishment will happen, the early reviews of Elio are all mostly positive, but it’s really the box office that makes these kinds of decisions, and we’ll see if Elio extends into the parks aside from that strange Tomorrowland space at Magic Kingdom.  
  • You can find out what we thought of the newest film from Pixar Animation Studios in our review, here. 

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Tony Betti
Originally from California where he studied a dying artform (hand-drawn animation), Tony has spent most of his adult life in the theme parks of Orlando. When he’s not writing for LP, he’s usually watching and studying something animated or arguing about “the good ole’ days” at the parks.
View all articles by Tony Betti