Disney Released ‘Soul’ in Theaters Last Weekend and Nobody Went to See It
With a dearth of films set to be released in theaters in early 2024 due to last year’s Hollywood strikes, Disney made the interesting decision to release Pixar films that originally debuted on Disney+.
With plans to eventually release Turning Red and Luca to theaters, Disney kicked off their re-release parade with Soul.
Photo: Pixar
Ahead of the film’s release, Pixar told anyone who would listen to that moviegoers would be experiencing the films “the way they were meant to be seen.”
“They were made to be seen on the big screen. Every frame has been pored over by the artists and technicians here, and it’s a different experience. Hopefully, people have seen them on Disney+. We’re very thankful to have had that platform to release them because otherwise the pandemic would have put them on the shelf. But we’re really excited for people to go back to theaters with their friends and see it together. The scale and the community are all reasons to go,” Pixar CCO Pete Docter said.
Soul Struggles at the Box Office
As it turns out, even Pixar fans weren’t intrigued by the idea of paying to see films in the theaters that were still available on Disney+.
During its weekend box office run, Soul managed a meager $430,000 over its first three days and $557,000 over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
That total was good for 19th at the box office. Soul could not even top Trolls Band Together, which brought in $450,000 in its first three days.
Perhaps more damning is the fact that Trolls grossed almost twice as much per theater ($728) as Soul ($318).
Disney’s Strategy Didn’t Work
The failure of Soul at the box office had little to do with the quality of the film or its popularity.
Upon its release, Soul was a major hit for Disney+. The film topped the streaming charts and delivered 1.7 billion total minutes of streaming in its first week. Critically, Soul also won two Oscar awards, including the prize for Best Animated Feature.
Instead, Soul‘s struggles prove that there is likely not a market in theaters for content that people can watch at home for free.
Image: Variety, Pixar
While Turning Red and Luca will both get their chance in theaters, the overall strategy behind releasing the films looks to be a failure. Fans will not pay for films they can watch at home for free. Even if the movies were “meant to be seen” in theaters.
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Soul was also re-released during a blizzard. Very few people want to go to the theater when there is ice and snow on the roadway.
That’s definitely true and it certainly hurt the film overall! But still, when compared to its box office peers during the bad weather, Soul struggled. I do think that the film was also hurt by a lack of advertising however. I wonder how many people even knew the film was being released?