Turning Red will go directly to Disney Plus on March 11.
Following on the heels of “Soul” and “Luca,” another Pixar anfilm is skipping theatres and going straight to Disney Plus.
“Turning Red,” an animated movie about a Chinese-Canadian girl who turns into a red panda after feeling certain emotions, was slated to be released on March 11.
On Friday, Disney Plus and the Disney-owned (DIS) Pixar announced that it would “premiere exclusively in homes worldwide” and go directly to the popular streaming service. The day of the release remains unchanged.
The reason has primarily to do with the continuing COVID-19 pandemic as rising case counts risk theatre closures in many states and keep a portion potential visitors away from movie theatres out of caution.
Family movies and cartoons, in particular, have been seeing lower visits during the pandemic and pushing executives to release them straight to streaming services. One exception was Disney’s “Encanto,” which premiered at the box office last November and remained at the top of the charts despite low numbers of theatergoers in general.
“Given the delayed box office recovery, particularly for family films, flexibility remains at the core of our distribution decisions,” Disney Media and Entertainment Chairman Kareem Daniel said in a statement to the press.
In the last year, (DIS) – Get Walt Disney Company Report stock has dropped almost 12% as the company struggled to keep momentum on the streaming boon seen during the early days of the pandemic.
In the past, live-action films like “Mulan” and “Black Widow” were released early to Premier Access subscribers, but the company confirmed that this film would come out at the same time for everyone.
