Turning Red, scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on March 11, is now the third Pixar film in a row to skip a theatrical release entirely, following Soul and Luca. While there are justifications that can be made for this release strategy in light of the pandemic, those arguments start to fall flat when one realizes Disney is only making these justifications for Pixar films. Every other major Disney movie in 2021 and 2022 initially planned for theatrical release has stuck to those plans, with delays or simultaneous VOD releases when needed, but Pixar, once Disney's most reliable studio with both critics and audiences, now seems to be relegated to streaming content -- at least when it comes to original stories.
When Soul dropped on Disney+ for Christmas 2020, it made sense. Pete Docter's film had already experienced multiple delays, and at the time, theaters were facing challenges relating to the pandemic. Sticking to a 2020 release allowed Disney to submit Soul for Oscars with limited competition, and its messages about living in the moment and appreciating the small things in life were incredibly appropriate for a year of such great uncertainty.
Luca going straight to streaming in June 2021 was slightly weirder. By then, Disney had already released Raya and the Last Dragon and Cruella simultaneously in both theaters and as premium content on Disney+ and had similar plans for Black Widow and Jungle Cruise later in the summer. However, two Pixar films in a row sent straight to free streaming was reportedly hurting morale at the Emeryville animation studio.
Now, Turning Red officially turns this from a coincidence to a pattern. One could chalk it up to bad luck due to the omicron wave, but it's striking that Disney's official press release doesn't even mention the pandemic, rather just "the delayed box office recovery," a phrasing that makes it clear the concern isn't safety; it's money. If Disney was truly concerned about rising COVID cases, surely the company would be pressuring Sony to immediately make Spider-Man: No Way Home (a production of Disney's Marvel Studios) available for home viewing rather than embracing the film's titanic box office.
Even if this is just about money, it's still strange that this is only affecting Pixar movies. It's true that box office has been much lower than usual for animated family films this year, but that didn't stop Disney's own Raya and the Last Dragon and Encanto from coming to theaters. Perhaps the decision about Turning Red is a dramatic reaction to Encanto, which did well in theaters but became a phenomenon the moment it hit Disney+.
However, even if there's some sort of solid data backing up this release strategy, it doesn't change that the optics of this are bad on multiple levels. After a run of mostly sequels for much of the 2010s, Pixar has made four original stories in a row, only for all of them to have their releases hobbled in some way (Onward had the bad luck of coming to theaters right before everything closed). Also contributing to the bad optics is that these original films have also been some of the studio's first to truly embrace diverse voices: Soul had Pixar's first Black protagonist, and Turning Red is its first feature directed by a woman of color (Domee Shi). Meanwhile, Lightyear, Pixar's next franchise film focused on a white man, seems to be set for a theatrical release, so it feels like Disney's punishing Pixar for originality (and arguably for diversity).
Bob Iger, who recently retired as CEO of Disney, has said buying Pixar was his "proudest decision." It's possible his successor Bob Chapek sees the studio as a lower priority, as a lot can be affected by corporate regime changes, and Iger himself has expressed concern that Chapek would become too reliant on data -- and that films like Pixar's Coco or Marvel's Black Panther would never get made as a result.
There's no reason Disney couldn't have delayed Turning Red if a March theatrical release was truly unviable. Honestly, the "It's Gonna Be Me" meme in the trailers would be perfect for selling a May release. If it absolutely had to move to streaming, why is it that only Pixar's original films have received this treatment thus far? Whatever the motivation, it comes off as if Disney is punishing Pixar's attempts at originality and diversity.
Turning Red will be available on Disney+ (but sadly not in theaters) on March 11.