Disney and Pixar's Turning Red will forgo a theatrical release and instead go straight to Disney+.
"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," Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution Chairman Kareem Daniel said. "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."
Daniel's comments about the box office suggest Turning Red's turn to Disney+ is in response to the omicron variant of COVID-19, which has already disrupted numerous film and television productions and releases. As alluded to by Davis, this marks the third Pixar film to go straight to streaming, following Soul and Luca. Notably, at the time of Luca's streaming debut, it was reported that Disney would not send any future Pixar titles directly to the platform, though the landscape has changed considerably since then. However, it is worth noting the title will be available to all subscribers at no additional charge, as opposed to the $29.99 Premier Access tier used for Black Widow, Mulan and Cruella.
Turning Red features the voices of Rosalie Chiang as 13-year-old Mei Lee and Sandra Oh as her mother Ming, with the former being transformed into a giant red panda as a result of a mysterious and mystical connection her family has with the animals. The film was announced in May 2018, though the title wasn't revealed until two years later.
"We needed our character Mei to be obsessed with something that her mom would not approve of," director Domee Shi said while discussing the film's musical components. "Boy bands were the first step into the world of boys for a lot of girls that age. The guys were all super pretty, polished, soft and loving, and they had of way of bringing girls and their besties together. Plus, I thought it’d be really cool to create an animated boy band."
Turning Red arrives on Disney+ March 11.
Source: Disney