As many industry insiders struggle to find a path forward through the changing entertainment landscape, Victor Elizalde, founder of Viva Pictures, has his own approach to bringing family animation to audiences.
Elizalde’s model at Viva disrupts the way business has been done in the past. The company offers gross royalties paid off the top. In this setup, licensors see money beyond their minimum guarantee. Under the older models, a host of expenses could eat up the share paid to producers.

It’s a system that’s made him a trusted partner in many deals. His company produces two to three original animated features for theatrical release each year and distributes about 10 to 15 animated films yearly. Viva supplies content to premiere streamers like Disney+, HBO, Hulu, Amazon, Peacock and others.

Elizalde, who was director of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s international business development before founding Viva, focuses on quality family animation that often features familiar IP already beloved by audiences. He also generally works with mid-level budget films that attract audiences and help theaters fill out their slate between some of their tentpole releases. “The Pout-Pout Fish” and “Tom & Jerry: Forbidden Compass,” which will come out later this year, are just two examples of his strategy.

“The evidence that this is working is the number of screens that we’re getting,” says Elizalde. “For ‘Pout-Pout Fish,’ we were on over 2,000 screens. If you don’t deliver for the exhibitors, you’re out. They can’t afford to do favors. So there’s a reason why we’re consistently 1,200 screens, 1,800 screens, or 2,000 screens with our films. We’re delivering a great campaign. We have quality titles. It has to be a good user experience. It doesn’t matter, even if the ticket is discounted or free. If it’s awful, then the audience is going to think it’s not even worth $1 because it’s not worth my time.”

While Viva Pictures often relies on a slate comprising well-crafted features, Elizalde also uses the company’s data to get a clear picture of which risks make the most sense to take.

“We use AI in one way,” says Elizalde. “We use it to analyze scripts, and I have developed a weighted scoring, not too dissimilar, but much more advanced, than what was happening at Sony. The weighted scoring will look at the elements of the film. It doesn’t mean for certain that [a film] is going to be successful if it has certain things. One of the variables is that fish and water creatures typically do better than animals, and animals do better than people. The reasoning behind it is — as it relates to family animation —that it’s harder to suspend the disbelief of the audience if it’s something you’re very familiar with it.”

Does Elizalde, who holds a master’s degree in applied economics from the University of Michigan, strictly stick to what the weighted scoring tells him?

“We go off of it probably more than we should,” says Elizalde. “Because the minute we go strictly based on model analytics, it’s taken the creativity out of it.”