“Sucks, but I Get It”: Pixar Staff React to “Turning Red” Announcement
On Friday, the Walt Disney Company announced that Pixar Animation Studios’ next feature film, “Turning Red,” will head straight to Disney+ rather than first premiering in theatres. The sudden announcement not only surprised those working on the project but also left many rather upset, according to an article published by Insider.
Disney and Pixar’s #TurningRed will stream exclusively on #DisneyPlus beginning March 11. pic.twitter.com/YI8CGyYpDZ
— Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red (@PixarTurningRed) January 7, 2022
“It’s safe to say that we’re all feeling extremely disappointed. … Until today, we all thought ‘Turning Red’ would be our return to the big screen, and everyone at the studio was so excited about it being this film in particular. It was quite a blow,” said one Pixar cast member in the article in reaction to Friday’s announcement.
Another staff member on the project expressed shock cloaked in a bit of understanding, according to the article. “Sucks, but I get it,” said the anonymous source. With the omicron variant sweeping the nation, the move to release the film on March 11th directly to the popular Disney streaming service logically makes sense though, another anonymous source explained.
“Disney Plus subscribers around the world enthusiastically embraced Pixar’s Academy Award-winning ‘Soul’ and the critically-acclaimed ‘Luca’ when they premiered exclusively on the service, and we look forward to bringing them Pixar’s next incredible feature film ‘Turning Red. Given the delayed box office recovery, particularly for family films, flexibility remains at the core of our distribution decisions as we prioritize delivering the unparalleled content of The Walt Disney Company to audiences around the world,” said Kareem Daniel in the announcement last week, according to a Variety article. Daniel serves as chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution.
Streaming Announcements Continue
Based on Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek’s comments the other day, movie-goers can expect Disney+ to continue to play a major role in the future of Disney film releases.
“Right now, their behavior tells us and our industry that the way they want to experience entertainment is changing — and changing fast thanks to technology and the pandemic. We must evolve with our audience, not work against them. And so we will put them at the center of every decision we make,” Chapek said in the statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
With two other recent Pixar releases, “Luca” and “Soul,” also both going straight to Disney+, the next hope for a Pixar Studios film to hit theatres will be, “Lightyear.” Set for a release this sumer, the story follows the origin of one remarkable “Toy Story” character, Buzz Lightyear.