Free interactive Pixar experience opens in Lower Manhattan ahead of "Elemental" movie release
LOWER MANHATTAN (WABC) -- The upcoming release of Pixar's "Elemental" got a boost Friday in Lower Manhattan with the opening of a display that invites fans into the imaginative world of the movie.
For the film's director, Peter Sohn, the moment was especially sweet because he grew up in the Bronx and still has deep ties to the city where he was raised by his parents who immigrated from Korea.
"That experience growing up in this diverse town with different cultures sort of mashing is what inspired the film," Sohn said.
His new movie is set in a sprawling world full of elemental citizens that are either air, earth, water or fire.
And while fire and water typically do not mix well, the two main characters in this latest Pixar release test the boundaries.
Ember Lumen is a fire element citizen and her parents become concerned when she starts falling in love with Wade Ripple, a water guy.
He's a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, while she is well, fiery.
Ember is working in her family's store aptly named The Fireplace. Sohn modeled the family-owned grocery store his parents ran in the Bronx.
"They started it from nothing and it served primarily like a West Indian neighborhood," Sohn said. "My brother and I grew up in that little grocery store."
The free exhibit fully immerses visitors in the "Elemental" world with photo and video opportunities that are truly interactive. There's also an opportunity to draw alongside Pixar artists.
The exhibit will be open all this weekend before it heads to other cities.
"Elemental" will be released on June 16.
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