'Turning Red' Coming Spring 2022

[Disney Analyst]

While I love saving money I'm sure this is terrible for morale. We've already heard reports of them upset last year over Luca being pushed to Disney+. Don't understand this when Encanto was released in theaters and even RAYA had a dual release. Not to say Raya was undeserving, but it released prior to major vaccine availability and still got a theater release.

Perhaps this is due to family films as a whole not doing that great in the box office or perhaps Omicron scare or (the likeliest) Disney ocne again isn't confident in Pixar and simply wants content for Disney+. Either way a shame for those Pixar animators.

I think it's partly due to bad timing as well. Pixar releases seem to keep happening during the worst peaks of Covid.

I am sure they see the writing on the wall, and would rather drive subscriptions then likely have a poor box office and have that narrative for the movie.

 

[Slpy3270]

I can't see Pete Docter and Jim Morris staying after this.

 

[waltography]

This is so upsetting, though I can't say I'm surprised they got cold feet given omicron. I feel awful for the all who worked on this movie, though; they deserve a theatrical release, and it's hard to shake off the feeling that Disney doesn't value their work given that neither Soul nor Luca even had Premier Access granted to them.

 

[MisterPenguin]

OTOH... big name stars are signing on for D+ series such as the Star Wars and MCU series.

While being *moved* from theaters to D+ stings a little bit. It shouldn't be thought of as an insult. Big name talent is doing straight-to-D+ work. This isn't the Disney Channel on cable.

 

[Disney Analyst]

OTOH... big name stars are signing on for D+ series such as the Star Wars and MCU series.

While being *moved* from theaters to D+ stings a little bit. It shouldn't be thought of as an insult. Big name talent is doing straight-to-D+ work. This isn't the Disney Channel on cable.

Totally. And Disney+ has a huge audience as it is.

 

[Slpy3270]

While being *moved* from theaters to D+ stings a little bit. It shouldn't be thought of as an insult. Big name talent is doing straight-to-D+ work. This isn't the Disney Channel on cable.

Film residuals pay more. An insult is exactly how employees and talent will see the move.

Docter, Stanton, Morris, et cetera are likely to be gone this year, especially if Disney corporate (not just Chapek) wants production costs cut by any means necessary.

 

[Disney Irish]

OTOH... big name stars are signing on for D+ series such as the Star Wars and MCU series.

While being *moved* from theaters to D+ stings a little bit. It shouldn't be thought of as an insult. Big name talent is doing straight-to-D+ work. This isn't the Disney Channel on cable.

Exactly, this is a whole new ballgame being played here. Talent is signing up for mega deals with Netflix, Disney is starting to follow suit. This isn't the BW issue with ScarJo, which got settled anyways so ScarJo is back with Disney. You aren't going to see a huge exodus over this.

 

[Slpy3270]

Exactly, this is a whole new ballgame being played here. Talent is signing up for mega deals with Netflix, Disney is starting to follow suit. This isn't the BW issue with ScarJo, which got settled anyways so ScarJo is back with Disney. You aren't going to see a huge exodus over this.

Why wasn't there any statements from Pete, Domee, etc.? Why did they announce this on a FRIDAY? I find it hard to believe nobody got screwed here.

 

[waltography]

I think the real test here will be whether Lightyear is released on D+ or not. I seriously doubt they'll do that given it's based on an established property, but then again I was surprised Turning Red was shifted over to a VOD release.

...But then it gives off the impression that Pixar's original content is worth less, which is exactly the opposite sentiment most people have.

 

[Disney Irish]

Why wasn't there any statements from Pete, Domee, etc.?

There maybe over the next couple days, or as we get closer to release on D+. It was a distribution decision so the announcement came from Kareem Daniel.

Why did they announce this on a FRIDAY?

Because the decision likely came in the last day or so.

I find it hard to believe nobody got screwed here.

Well only time will tell if this is true or not. But honestly I doubt that Pete is gonna leave over this. The director may go elsewhere but that's what directors do anyways, they work for multiple studios on different projects.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I think the real test here will be whether Lightyear is released on D+ or not. I seriously doubt they'll do that given it's based on an established property, but then again I was surprised Turning Red was shifted over to a VOD release.

...But then it gives off the impression that Pixar's original content is worth less, which is exactly the opposite sentiment most people have.

I mean you say that... but I have found the more recent batch of Pixar entries to not be up to their usual standard, apart from maybe Soul. Hoping Turning Red is up there.

The last truly stellar one for me that wasn't a sequel was Coco.

(and I love Pixar).

 

[Slpy3270]

At this rate I'm beginning to think the "flywheel" between theatrical and streaming just doesn't seem to be happening.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I don't understand the business strategy of dumping all these movies on Disney+. They surely aren't making back their money in subscription sales alone.

It seems Disney is desperate for content ASAP and can't make it fast enough, so it's hurting other business units.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Either way a shame for those Pixar animators.

Do they get paid less if it goes straight to Disney+?

 

[doctornick]

Encanto had a pretty mediocre box office which maybe drove this decision. Still it seems odd that Pixar movies are treated so differently than DFA ones during the pandemic.

I don't understand the business strategy of dumping all these movies on Disney+. They surely aren't making back their money in subscription sales alone.

It seems Disney is desperate for content ASAP and can't make it fast enough, so it's hurting other business units.

yeah, it seems like an attempt to prop up Disney+ but at the expense of any box office revenue. Still, feels like even a shorter theatrical window like Encanto would be something and yet still help the content on D+

 

[Slpy3270]

Don't know if "desperate" is the word when streaming sub numbers have been slowing everywhere and it's not clear more content will fix it.

If they were really desperate then they would've gone the HBO Max route and dumped everything to D+.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Encanto had a pretty mediocre box office which maybe drove this decision.

I think the mediocre box office was in part because people knew it would be "free" in a month.

Putting it on Disney+ at a time of year kids are guaranteed to be out of school and out seeing movies was perplexing to me.

 

[Slpy3270]

I'm wondering if there's a plan to merge Pixar into the main Disney animation studio and retain Pixar only as a brand and nothing more. That's the only reason they might be doing this.

It's becoming clear that brands are now a bigger priority than talent.

 

[Archie123]

I mean you say that... but I have found the more recent batch of Pixar entries to not be up to their usual standard, apart from maybe Soul. Hoping Turning Red is up there.

The last truly stellar one for me that wasn't a sequel was Coco.

(and I love Pixar).

Well from the trailer Red looks absolutely horrible. Was going to skip it but will check it out for free now. Well D+ free.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Well from the trailer Red looks absolutely horrible. Was going to skip it but will check it out for free now. Well D+ free.

My reaction was not "it's horrible", but was more like "How come Pixar is copying Steven Universe's bean-shaped mouths? Or maybe they're The Amazing World of Gumball's bean-shaped mouths", etc. The movie just does not look like Pixar made it. It looks like Nickelodeon or Dreamworks made it. Did someone at Pixar think they needed to copy TV cartoon tropes to appeal to the general public? Pixar used to set trends, not follow them (but then that's what Disney used to do, isn't it?). And the story looks kind of juvenile, but maybe it's better than the trailer looks. Whatever. I don't have Disney+, so won't be seeing it in any case.

MAJOR DIGRESSION: My sister has Apple+, and the other day we watched the new animated Peanuts special "For Auld Lang Syne". It's like the first Peanuts special in a decade. And my gosh, it was wonderful. The cartoon looks like Charles Schulz himself animated it - down to the brush-stroke outlines of the characters. It's in full 2D and looks like it was hand-drawn animation - although it probably wasn't, but it sure does fool the eye into thinking it was. Beautiful movement, lighting and shading. And the writers updated the characters, Lucy especially, and it worked. Imagine that! Somebody behind Charlie Brown and company refused to play it safe and just recycle the same old tired character routines. Instead, they added personality and pathos. As a result, the special is MUCH better than 98% of the old Peanuts specials, which were kinda crappy, to be honest. Altogether, "Auld Lang Syne" is, artistically speaking, as successful as the new Mickey Mouse shorts. It's great to see people take risks like that and see it pay off. It warms my cynical little heart...