Victor Elizalde, founder of Viva Pictures, presents a distinct strategy for reaching family audiences amid a shifting entertainment landscape. His model departs from traditional practices by offering gross royalties calculated from the top, allowing licensors to receive revenue beyond guaranteed minimums, whereas older frameworks often absorb costs that diminish producer shares.
Viva produces two to three original animated features annually for theatrical release and distributes roughly ten to fifteen titles each year, supplying content to major streaming platforms such as Disney+, HBO, Hulu, Amazon, and Peacock.
Elizalde, previously director of international business development at Sony Pictures Entertainment, emphasizes quality family animation anchored in recognizable IP. He targets mid‑budget films that complement theater slates between tentpole releases, exemplified by upcoming titles like “The Pout‑Pout Fish” and “Tom & Jerry: Forbidden Compass.”
“The proof of this approach is the number of screens we secure,” Elizalde notes. “For ‘The Pout‑Pout Fish,’ we reached over 2,000 screens. Exhibitors cannot afford to make exceptions; therefore we consistently achieve 1,200 to 2,000 screens per release. Our success stems from robust campaigns, high‑quality titles, and an experience that justifies ticket price, even when discounted or free.”
Viva’s slate consists of carefully crafted features, and Elizalde leverages data to identify the most viable risks.
“We employ AI to analyze scripts,” Elizalde explains. “I have developed a weighted scoring system that is more sophisticated than the methodology used at Sony. The model evaluates various film components; for instance, characters involving fish and water tend to outperform generic animals, which in turn outperform human‑centric stories, because familiar subjects can strain audience suspension of disbelief.”
Although Elizalde holds a master’s degree in applied economics from the University of Michigan, he does not rely solely on the scoring model.
“We probably depend on it more than we should,” he admits. “When we prioritize model analytics exclusively, creativity suffers.”
< img class="c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto" src="https://variety.com/wp-content/themes/pmc-variety-2020/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif" data-lazy-src="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Pout-Pout-Fish.jpg?w=1024" alt="" data-lazy-srcset="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Pout-Pout-Fish.jpg 2048w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Pout-Pout-Fish.jpg?resize=150,63 150w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Pout-Pout-Fish.jpg?resize=300,126 300w" data-lazy-sizes="(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px" height="429" width="1024" decoding="async"/> Viva distributed “The Pout Pout Fish” on more than 2,000 screens./photo courtesy of Viva