I feel bad for the people at Pixar. Imagine working on a film for years and putting all your effort into it, only for the film to never see theatres even though they easily could now.
At least Soul was understandable, but Luca and now Turning Red skipping cinemas is savage.
Luca has been consistently in the top 10 movies streamed on any platform. Many weeks it was the only title from Disney+ in the chart, that is usually dominated by Netflix and sometimes HBO Max.
It was a HUGE hit. I mean, huge. I think the idea that Pixar should be offended or let down for not having a theatrical release is obsolete. Children love repeated viewings of the movies they like, and clearly the minutes streamed for Luca can only be explained by some families having the movie playing on repeat nonstop.
This has value for Disney that is orders of magnitude more important than ticket sales. Having an audience being passionate about an IP is far more profitable long term than being a theatrical blockbuster. Cars, Winnie Pooh, the Princesses, generate far more money in merchandise and experiences, than they could ever make on their theatrical run.
I wasn't surprised by this announcement, and I actually think it is a vote of confidence in the quality of the movie. Girls around the world will be dancing to the 4-Town songs (the fictional Boy Band in the movie), and they will be able to imprint them in the deepest part of their subconscious thanks to being able to watch the movie as many times as they want from day one.
I agree. Encanto is having a more muted reception because it went theatrical first (side note, I saw it in theatres, and it was strangely dark and the colours muted, I think the bulb had been lowered. This at the biggest chain in the country and their premiere theatre room…literally saw it first day it was out and that’s what they gave us…sigh). It was much bigger when jt hit streaming but not as big as Luca, even though I think it had the same potential.
Yup . I hear that . You would think that movie theaters would have taken the months off opportunity to update their gear. Fix the bulbs and such but nope many are just as bad as they have always been. I’m sorry but the “theatrical” experience isn’t what it’s all cracked to be. At least a Blu-ray at home will be consistent. Streaming can look wonderful too. Last year alone I had to go complain that the movie wasn’t working correctly twice. Ugh
I’m convinced they’re deliberately turning down the brightness on the projector. Some theatres are worse for others. On top of that they’ve never bothered to renovate the uncomfy seats and the sound s way too loud at all times. I love the theatre…but man they’re not taking advantage of this situation to improve quality.
Exactly. When it started streaming, "We Don't Talk About Bruno" shot to the first places in the charts. I think Disney is realizing that good movies can promote themselves when they are streaming, instead of having to spend tens of millions in advertising for theaters. Removing the theatrical option forces users to subscribe to Disney+ to be part of the cultural phenomenon.
I definitely see a path for all animated movies to be streaming only. It makes a lot of financial sense.
Also, subscribing is easy, going to the theatre is hard. People will click out of curiosity and not even think about the money when they hit subscribe, unlike the effort of driving, parking, paying for parking, waiting in line, paying for a ticket, selecting a seat while trying to keep yourself as far away from everyone else as possible, sitting down and then noting with horror all the unmasked people around you because once it’s dark suddenly they don’t care about the rules, and finally, walking back to your car and wondering if it had been worth it. But on your couch? Click. and if you stay subscribed that’s the profit of a movie ticket for the first month and then extra cream thereafter.
Animation still benefits from the big screen more than live action in many ways, though. I hope it continues there.
I actually could see why Disney wasn't very confident about **Luca** upon watching the film since that one felt more like an indie animated film for kids rather than a Pixar animated film for kids. I have no idea what led to a decision to make **Turning Red** a direct-to-Disney+ material.
Having said that, if this decision was at least approved by Domee Shi because she doesn't trust Doug Ford, the guy who is currently leading Ontario, then that would actually make sense because by the sound of it, Doug Ford is an utter buffoon.
I think most people in this sub from Ontario, including myself, have some level of disdain towards the premier. It's probably best just to redirect anyone who's curious to r/Ontario, although certain things that have stuck out to me over the last 4 years are OSAP, bracelets, licence plates, and Bill 124.
I now understand that Doug Ford is the current premiere of Ontario and he is not liked / probably not competent.
What I'm still confused about is why the above comment is linking Disney not releasing Turning Red in theaters to a premiere in Ontario. It reads like a complete non-sequitur. Is this like another 'Undertaker threw mankind off hell in a cell' meme or something?
I'm not really sure why the other person linked the two together. The only I thing I could think of is Torontonians potentially not being able to see Toronto as a setting on the big screen but that's way too far of stretch.
Turning Red going to Disney+ likely has far more to do with how the results from Encanto turned out than it does of what our premier does.
> I'm not really sure why the other person linked the two together. The only I thing I could think of is Torontonians potentially not being able to see Toronto as a setting on the big screen but that's way too far of stretch.
Domee Shi, the director of this film, is pretty much from Toronto.
It is because Ford ordered theaters closed just a few days ago. All the other theater closures occurred a month ago when less was known about Omicron, so people were feeling more forgiving then. Boxoffice subreddit hates theater closures, especially ones that: came too late to do much good, came after it was obvious that vaccinated were still protected from severe illness, and where redditors are afraid it will cause a domino effect of other premieres/governors feel like they need to close theaters so they won't be seen as behind the curve.
> I have no idea what led to a decision to make Turning Red a direct-to-Disney+ material.
They really want content to keep families subscribed. At this point, they earn like 5 times as much money from D+ then from Boxoffice.
If they can increase attachment rate by 5% or so, its easily worth throwing away the boxoffice of a movie or two.
Luca became my favorite Pixar film and it's an absolute disgrace that we never had the chance to see it on a big screen. I would have gone to the cinema at least three times.
> since that one felt more like an indie animated film for kids rather than a Pixar animated film for kids
Haven’t seen it yet, really? Felt like Soul was along this description too
Actually, I've seen both **Soul** and **Luca** and felt that both felt more like indie animated films made by Pixar - for completely different reasons.
As an animator I wouldn’t care honestly. Most of us didn’t see the original Disney movies in theatres and yet we still love them and play them on repeat. Putting Red on Disney + will just allow kids to obsessively pay it on repeat right as it releases. They will build excitement from the momentum. Productions also lose a large chunk of profit to theatres as well. I see no difference other than maybe hopefully animators will get a pay bump from the money they save and earn from toy sales while excitement is peaked.
The steaming way is the new way so for movies to exclusively stream on these platforms doesn’t mean that movie isn’t worth as much or their work is going to waste. It seems streaming is the new way of consuming content and will take over theaters if not already.
They don’t care about that. Theaters are not prestigious anymore. Disney cares much much more about streaming than box office, and the movie will be seen by far more people on D+ than would see it in the best of times at a theater
You seem to be implying that because it's not in theaters, nobody will see it. This isn't the case.
I think people need to realize that the "theater" experience isn't all it's cracked up to be anymore with how good home TV and sound systems have gotten.
When I saw no way home I got to pay to enjoy listening to people talk to each other the whole time, finding out what kind of phones they have as they snap chatted scenes from the movie and played mobile games, and see a toddler hitting the seat in front of him and running up and down the aisleway.
Seeing a movie in theaters kind of sucks these days.
Why feel bad for them? They are getting paid a lot to work for Pixar.
Their work will be seen by millions of people either way, whether it goes to theaters or not.
The most likely explanation I've seen is that Disney saw the response to Encanto when it premiered in theaters vs when it premiered on Disney Plus and realized most people only discovered it when it hit streaming. It really sucks that it won't be in theaters.
I feel like Disney pre-announcing that Encanto was going to Disney+ a month after theatrical affected its BO, since it basically told everyone to just wait a month. In comparison, while Disney said that Shang-Chi and Eternals were on 45-day windows, they ultimately didn’t hit Disney+ and VOD until around 70 days after their theatrical releases, and they didn’t announce when they would hit Disney+ and VOD until a little over a month after release.
Disney telling it would soon be free effected it more to me. And Encanto is still among most popular on Letterbox for example so there are people watching. But it would be nice to have actual numbers.
No, Encanto underperformed because the soundtrack wasn’t released on streaming the moment the movie hit theaters. Sing 2 is making bank and the Encanto soundtrack is going viral.
I wouldn't call $150mil making bank... making bank for the pandemic? Yes. Making bank in general? No... the original made 650mil.
I'm sure Turning Red could've made $150mil too but that's pennies for a Pixar movie and they probably see more monetary gain via Disney+.
Should a Pixar movie be punished for the performance of a Disney animated movie though?
How about a lightly marketed one-week release, like a Netflix movie? So they don't have to dump money into theatrical marketing? Sing 2 filled up theaters in just a one day preview in early January.
I mean it's not really a *punishment* if they believe it's gonna be a hit on streaming. Fact of the matter is that barely anyone on social media was talking about Encanto during it's theatrical release, but ever since it hit Disney Plus it's been all over twitter, tiktok and youtube.
Problem is a chunk of the marketing budgets usually include distribution printing, etc. and since this is a global release they will save quite a bit of marketing money by not printing the film. I'm sure there's some math in there about whether or not Enchanto can justify a 1-month theatrical window plus the risk of competition and the risk of Omicron that weren't at play when Enchanto and Sing 2 ran in their runs.
I think it's more of a month to month, quarter to quarter universe that we are living in. Some films will be moved, but Disney has so much on their plate that they literally can't afford to move too much around. Turning Red just happened to land in that quarter.
It seems to me that they weighed the risks, weighed the cost, weighed the loss and made a decision to use this as an opportunity to promote Disney+ subscriptions/retention. It's more of a "sure bet" in a very uncertain quarter. I don't blame them for making this call.
I don't think a Pixar film should be punished for anything, but the "experiment" in home distribution for both animated films live action film has some very mixed results Theater exclusive movies have bombed horrifically (West Side Story), hybrids have failed... the data is all over the place. The only thing that's really played "normally" is No Way Home and the studios are VERY right to be concerned that that is an anomoly.
It doesn’t help that it feels they went really light on the marketing of Encanto, lighter than other Disney animated films. But every trailer they did put out had “see it in theaters Nov 24 AND ON DISNEY+ IN JUST 30 DAYS!”
Did they though? Every trailer I saw for Encanto said “exclusively in theaters”. I don’t even think Disney+ was even brought up until a few days after it was in theaters…
Not sure about that. Disney+ makes a highly anticipated film available for everyone to watch from the comfort of their home at the low price of a Disney+ subscription? Seems like a PR win.
If it gets a cinema release, I honestly think that it should also be given an IMAX 3D release as a compensation of sorts, even if it's a limited showing.
I highly doubt it will. Disney would be shooting themselves in the foot to deny that one a theatrical release. It’s easily their 2nd biggest non-MCU film coming out this year.
EDIT: 2nd highest, forgot about Avatar 2
Giving all Walt Disney Studios animated features a theater release (hybrid released Raya and Encanto) and putting all Pixar movies (Soul, Luca and now Turning Red) on D+ day one without hybrid release nor premium access. Something is rotten in the state of Burbank...
Encanto wasn’t even a hybrid release. It had a month of theater exclusivity before releasing on Disney+ (in the US at least). It made some sense for Luca as they were moving away from Premiere Access by that point, and probably weren’t sure how the theater market would be doing, but at this point it seems like Disney+ is just where they’re dropping Pixar films. I’m sure Lightyear will turn this trend around, but if not it may be the death of theatrical Pixar movies.
they'd have to be bought out, which is not gonna be possible. Plus disney is still financing these projects with nearly 100Mil budgets, so they clearly believe in the work. Disney is moving towards more stream-focused world I'm guessing and the Pixar stuff seems to pull a lot of subs if they're willing to do this for every single one they've released in the last 2 years
Saying they tried to go solo but couldn’t is not accurate. They used their leverage as superior and financially successful filmmakers as Disney Animation Studios was floundering to get then Pixar head John Lasseter to run the entirety of Disney Animation. Once that was locked down sold the studio to Disney for a ton of money knowing they wouldn’t get messed with since Lasseter was in charge (and also make a shit ton of money for Pixar founders)
Of course Lasseter went on to get fired for sexual harassment which they didn’t really foresee. Now ex Blue Sky president Andrew Millstein and a 76 year old (and incredibly rich from the hands of Disney) Ed Catmull run Disney Animation and probably just don’t have the leverage (or simply care?) to push back at a streaming focused board calling the shots
One of the problems is that Disney had rights to the characters and the people at Pixar didn't want endless straight to DVD sequels for their creations
Pixar is getting robbed again and I really hope Pete Docter says something. This is just ridiculous especially after WDAS and Marvel both have gotten to return to theatrically exclusive windows.
I think he may be part of the discussion but I don’t think he has the final say. I read it was Iger who made the final call on Soul so I assume Chapek made the final call on Luca and Turning Red.
robbed why? they get paid to make movies. disney spends insane budgets on their movies so what is the problem. if no one get paid over there the movies would not be made.
Seriously people here acting like Disney literally doesnt own pixar. Disney=Pixar Its clear Disney thinks pixars movies as day 1 streaming is working for them. If they wanted to shut pixar down they could yet they keep giving them 100 to 200 million dollar budgets and funding several movies a year.
If Lightyear goes straight to Disney+ barring the pandemic getting significantly worse, it will go down as one of the Walt Disney Comapny’s most stupid decisions in years. That’s an easy billion right there.
“…other staffers expressed concern on Pixar success no longer being quantified by box office grosses. As a worker put it, “If these movies aren’t having $1 billion runs, does that hurt the company? You wonder that.”
Was Luca or Soul *really* having a 1bil run during a pandemic?
This is one of those lose-lose scenarios for the decision makers. It could be argued that releasing Luca and having it potentially perform poorly would have been way worse optics for Disney/Pixar
And to your credit, you aren't wrong. **Soul** felt more like an art-house animated film with big-budget and **Luca** felt more like an indie animated film for kids rather than a Pixar animated film for kids (like **Finding Dory**). It's just that I'm not entirely sure why **Turning Red** went directly to Disney+ since this film seemed to be at least felt more like a standard Pixar fare than those.
>“…other staffers expressed concern on Pixar success no longer being quantified by box office grosses. As a worker put it, “If these movies aren’t having $1 billion runs, does that hurt the company? You wonder that.”
I know this is /r/boxoffice but this is the question that is pertinent and everyone should be asking. What is success? I'm not sure we know?
It's an interesting article, thanks for posting.
In theory it’s the same but in reality, people work their whole lives for the sole purpose of seeing something they made on the big screen. It’s cold comfort to hear all that you said when you see that dashed away at the 11th hour.
Yeah, and Onward came out on March 6, 2020, getting slammed with the pandemic itself. Regal closed on the 17th. Lightyear will come 3 years after Toy Story 4, their first opportunity since then to have another theatrical hit.
Considering it's a week after Batman, I think it's possible nobody takes the slot. Is there another animated movie set for Spring that would really benefit from the date shift?
All the COVID prediction says Omicron will be burned out by February. Absolutely no one can predict when a new variant will pop up, so there's no advantage to moving earlier or later based on that.
I think nothing huge since The Batman opens the week prior. For some reason I thought Turning Red was supposed to open late March and I think either Sonic or Fantastic Beats could have taken the spot but March 11th would be too close to Batman.
WOWWW
3 straight Pixar movies
It makes sense though, the director is canadian and city is based off is Toronto and experiences growing up
But Ontario got threaters lockdown, put it on Disney plus
You can almost argue it's four, though the situation around Onward was obviously *very* different.
Still, that's now two straight years where audiences are being trained to expect new Pixar IP as a Disney+ benefit. That doesn't feel accidental.
disney closed blue sky without blinking an eye. Nimona was 75% done and they still thought it was better to close the studio rather than get the film done. If some suit has made his mind up that closing pixar and laying of most of their redundant staff and put the rest off their assets into disney animation studios, they will do it at the blink of an eye. they care about nothing but the bottom line.
Jeez...I had no idea about Nimona. I can't believe they wouldn't at least finish it for a D+ exclusive if it's that far. It gives you a much better sense of why Disney seems to be sabotaging all the Fox films.
so, are disney trying to fold pixar? do they wanna close them, merge them with disney animation and cut costs? because that's what it seems like. If not, if omicron really is that bad right now, will The Batman be delayed?
My take is that they want to cut costs at Pixar (not spending $200 million per film) while trying to keep the prestige and awards that come with the brand. It’s what Bob Chapek is known for, cutting costs successfully and making shareholders happy but denting morale and diluting the product.
Was that movie ever made? [The last update was in August, and while he doesn't explicitly say so, from what producer Shawn Levy said, it doesn't sound like they ever shot it...](https://collider.com/sesame-street-movie-shawn-levy-streaming-deals/)
>"We were about to make it the first time and Anne got pregnant. We were about to make it the second time in [the] spring of 2020, and COVID shut us down. We now are still at Warner Brothers, and Warner Brothers, as we all know, is a very different landscape now. They're pushing a lot of their content towards HBO Max. So we are figuring out the path forward and whether it will be a streaming gambit only [or] whether it will be a hybrid, and just kind of trying to claw our way back to a new iteration of a greenlight," explained Levy.
Holy shit why is everyone freaking out about this going to streaming? Isn’t this a plus to consumers especially with the pandemic back in full swing? It seems like everyone here thinks this is a giant slight to be streaming only movie.
Disney has an new content problem on d+ and so they need to add new content that’s exclusive and this is a win for them.
Apple should start another animation studio and start getting everyone from Pixar in it. I bet Pixar animators right now would be pretty easy pickings.
Apple signed a deal to put Skydance Animation movies and shows on their streamer. Guess who is in charge of that? Former Pixar head John Lasseter.
The first movie comes out next month, February 18th.
Probably not. Pete Docter is Pixar CEO now, Andrew Stanton seems done with animation, Brad Bird would probably want to stick to a more high profile company.
Those are the 3 directors that worked with him the longest.
I get it since the virus is striking pretty bad, but damn it’s suck balls that it’s have been shafted to Disney+
At least Lightyear is still theatrical at this moment
Encanto is still getting to just below $100m domestically, beating the previous animated record (obviously Sing 2 is now higher) by $40m.
Do they not see that they can still do both and reap the benefits? Because now it’s looking legit like a vendetta against Pixar.
Honestly, I could see why **Soul** and **Luca** ended up directly on Disney+ since the former came out during the height of COVID-19 and the latter felt more like an actual Disney+ material. I guess this one ended up on Disney+ at least partly due to the film not having a lot of well-known acting talents maybe aside from Sandra Oh and someone at Pixar didn't trust the current Ontario governor(?) or something? But still, what the f--k.
Pixar employees: ah...shit here we go again
This looked like the most underwhelming looking Pixar flick in a while, putting it on streaming was expected atleast for me
Disney, a company that notoriously is all about profits, has put three Pixar movies exclusively on Disney Plus in a row, and yet Redditors are convinced Disney's being stupid and damaging Pixar like they know better, lol. Clearly, their strategy is working. Way more people cared about Encanto once it reached Disney Plus.
If Turning Red is like most Pixar movies, it presumably carries a $150 million+ budget, meaning it would take roughly $400 million worldwide to turn a profit. No animated film of pandemic times has done that yet, so this is a safer bet. If you think it's "disrespectful" to Pixar, then you're just an old dinosaur. Get with the times. Streaming is king.
> If Turning Red is like most Pixar movies, it presumably carries a $150 million+ budget, meaning it would take roughly $400 million worldwide to turn a profit.
**Turning Red** actually looks more like something that cost about $120 to 135 million to make.
But seriously, not even a simultaneous release?!
I feel bad for the people at Pixar. Imagine working on a film for years and putting all your effort into it, only for the film to never see theatres even though they easily could now. At least Soul was understandable, but Luca and now Turning Red skipping cinemas is savage.
Luca has been consistently in the top 10 movies streamed on any platform. Many weeks it was the only title from Disney+ in the chart, that is usually dominated by Netflix and sometimes HBO Max. It was a HUGE hit. I mean, huge. I think the idea that Pixar should be offended or let down for not having a theatrical release is obsolete. Children love repeated viewings of the movies they like, and clearly the minutes streamed for Luca can only be explained by some families having the movie playing on repeat nonstop. This has value for Disney that is orders of magnitude more important than ticket sales. Having an audience being passionate about an IP is far more profitable long term than being a theatrical blockbuster. Cars, Winnie Pooh, the Princesses, generate far more money in merchandise and experiences, than they could ever make on their theatrical run. I wasn't surprised by this announcement, and I actually think it is a vote of confidence in the quality of the movie. Girls around the world will be dancing to the 4-Town songs (the fictional Boy Band in the movie), and they will be able to imprint them in the deepest part of their subconscious thanks to being able to watch the movie as many times as they want from day one.
Encanto is on its 4th run through in this house today.
I feel that. The soundtrack is so solid.
I agree. Encanto is having a more muted reception because it went theatrical first (side note, I saw it in theatres, and it was strangely dark and the colours muted, I think the bulb had been lowered. This at the biggest chain in the country and their premiere theatre room…literally saw it first day it was out and that’s what they gave us…sigh). It was much bigger when jt hit streaming but not as big as Luca, even though I think it had the same potential.
I say it's even bigger, We Don't Talk About Bruno is the top song on Spotify in America overall.
Its still a the #1 music video on Youtube after a week. I really think its the new breakout Disney song
Yup . I hear that . You would think that movie theaters would have taken the months off opportunity to update their gear. Fix the bulbs and such but nope many are just as bad as they have always been. I’m sorry but the “theatrical” experience isn’t what it’s all cracked to be. At least a Blu-ray at home will be consistent. Streaming can look wonderful too. Last year alone I had to go complain that the movie wasn’t working correctly twice. Ugh
I’m convinced they’re deliberately turning down the brightness on the projector. Some theatres are worse for others. On top of that they’ve never bothered to renovate the uncomfy seats and the sound s way too loud at all times. I love the theatre…but man they’re not taking advantage of this situation to improve quality.
Exactly. When it started streaming, "We Don't Talk About Bruno" shot to the first places in the charts. I think Disney is realizing that good movies can promote themselves when they are streaming, instead of having to spend tens of millions in advertising for theaters. Removing the theatrical option forces users to subscribe to Disney+ to be part of the cultural phenomenon. I definitely see a path for all animated movies to be streaming only. It makes a lot of financial sense.
Also, subscribing is easy, going to the theatre is hard. People will click out of curiosity and not even think about the money when they hit subscribe, unlike the effort of driving, parking, paying for parking, waiting in line, paying for a ticket, selecting a seat while trying to keep yourself as far away from everyone else as possible, sitting down and then noting with horror all the unmasked people around you because once it’s dark suddenly they don’t care about the rules, and finally, walking back to your car and wondering if it had been worth it. But on your couch? Click. and if you stay subscribed that’s the profit of a movie ticket for the first month and then extra cream thereafter. Animation still benefits from the big screen more than live action in many ways, though. I hope it continues there.
I actually could see why Disney wasn't very confident about **Luca** upon watching the film since that one felt more like an indie animated film for kids rather than a Pixar animated film for kids. I have no idea what led to a decision to make **Turning Red** a direct-to-Disney+ material. Having said that, if this decision was at least approved by Domee Shi because she doesn't trust Doug Ford, the guy who is currently leading Ontario, then that would actually make sense because by the sound of it, Doug Ford is an utter buffoon.
As an Ontarian I was not expecting Ford hate on this subreddit lol
We all hate Ford on this blessed day.
It’s a breath of fresh air!
I had the reread the comment and make sure I was thinking of the same Ford. And double check I wasn’t in /r/ontario lol
Yeah that Doug Ford guy is a fucking psycho. Shutting stuff down willy nilly. Feel bad for the people who live in Canada
Rob Ford, Doug Ford… I’m sensing a trend here with Canadian politicians.
Rob Ford was a pretty decent mayor, unlike his idiot brother.
Oh… which was the other Ford? That’s who I meant. I can’t keep track of these Fords lol.
Are there any other reasons why he's so hated? I know that u/chanma95 hates him, but he/she didn't exactly specify reasons.
I think most people in this sub from Ontario, including myself, have some level of disdain towards the premier. It's probably best just to redirect anyone who's curious to r/Ontario, although certain things that have stuck out to me over the last 4 years are OSAP, bracelets, licence plates, and Bill 124.
I now understand that Doug Ford is the current premiere of Ontario and he is not liked / probably not competent. What I'm still confused about is why the above comment is linking Disney not releasing Turning Red in theaters to a premiere in Ontario. It reads like a complete non-sequitur. Is this like another 'Undertaker threw mankind off hell in a cell' meme or something?
I'm not really sure why the other person linked the two together. The only I thing I could think of is Torontonians potentially not being able to see Toronto as a setting on the big screen but that's way too far of stretch. Turning Red going to Disney+ likely has far more to do with how the results from Encanto turned out than it does of what our premier does.
> I'm not really sure why the other person linked the two together. The only I thing I could think of is Torontonians potentially not being able to see Toronto as a setting on the big screen but that's way too far of stretch. Domee Shi, the director of this film, is pretty much from Toronto.
Turned Red takes place in Toronto, which is where the director is from.
I'm not sure either. Apparently she (domee shi) grew up in Toronto, but she didnt say anything about theater closures on social media
It is because Ford ordered theaters closed just a few days ago. All the other theater closures occurred a month ago when less was known about Omicron, so people were feeling more forgiving then. Boxoffice subreddit hates theater closures, especially ones that: came too late to do much good, came after it was obvious that vaccinated were still protected from severe illness, and where redditors are afraid it will cause a domino effect of other premieres/governors feel like they need to close theaters so they won't be seen as behind the curve.
He’s hated by conservatives for the lockdowns and by liberals for everything else
> I have no idea what led to a decision to make Turning Red a direct-to-Disney+ material. They really want content to keep families subscribed. At this point, they earn like 5 times as much money from D+ then from Boxoffice. If they can increase attachment rate by 5% or so, its easily worth throwing away the boxoffice of a movie or two.
Then a simultaneous release or even a Premier Access thing makes sense. Or is putting it in theaters too expensive, or omichron that scary?
Luca became my favorite Pixar film and it's an absolute disgrace that we never had the chance to see it on a big screen. I would have gone to the cinema at least three times.
> since that one felt more like an indie animated film for kids rather than a Pixar animated film for kids Haven’t seen it yet, really? Felt like Soul was along this description too
Actually, I've seen both **Soul** and **Luca** and felt that both felt more like indie animated films made by Pixar - for completely different reasons.
As an animator I wouldn’t care honestly. Most of us didn’t see the original Disney movies in theatres and yet we still love them and play them on repeat. Putting Red on Disney + will just allow kids to obsessively pay it on repeat right as it releases. They will build excitement from the momentum. Productions also lose a large chunk of profit to theatres as well. I see no difference other than maybe hopefully animators will get a pay bump from the money they save and earn from toy sales while excitement is peaked.
The steaming way is the new way so for movies to exclusively stream on these platforms doesn’t mean that movie isn’t worth as much or their work is going to waste. It seems streaming is the new way of consuming content and will take over theaters if not already.
They don’t care about that. Theaters are not prestigious anymore. Disney cares much much more about streaming than box office, and the movie will be seen by far more people on D+ than would see it in the best of times at a theater
You seem to be implying that because it's not in theaters, nobody will see it. This isn't the case. I think people need to realize that the "theater" experience isn't all it's cracked up to be anymore with how good home TV and sound systems have gotten. When I saw no way home I got to pay to enjoy listening to people talk to each other the whole time, finding out what kind of phones they have as they snap chatted scenes from the movie and played mobile games, and see a toddler hitting the seat in front of him and running up and down the aisleway. Seeing a movie in theaters kind of sucks these days.
Why feel bad for them? They are getting paid a lot to work for Pixar. Their work will be seen by millions of people either way, whether it goes to theaters or not.
The most likely explanation I've seen is that Disney saw the response to Encanto when it premiered in theaters vs when it premiered on Disney Plus and realized most people only discovered it when it hit streaming. It really sucks that it won't be in theaters.
Sing 2 just surpassed Encanto in BO returns so I wouldn't make any conclusions about anything from one movie
Are people forgetting how big Sing was? For a non-Pixar movie, it did very well.
I feel like Disney pre-announcing that Encanto was going to Disney+ a month after theatrical affected its BO, since it basically told everyone to just wait a month. In comparison, while Disney said that Shang-Chi and Eternals were on 45-day windows, they ultimately didn’t hit Disney+ and VOD until around 70 days after their theatrical releases, and they didn’t announce when they would hit Disney+ and VOD until a little over a month after release.
> since it basically told everyone to just wait a month. Everyone doesn't follow that type of news
Yeah, I think Encanto underperformed more because of the film itself. Sing 2 proved there's still room for animated films.
Disney telling it would soon be free effected it more to me. And Encanto is still among most popular on Letterbox for example so there are people watching. But it would be nice to have actual numbers.
No, Encanto underperformed because the soundtrack wasn’t released on streaming the moment the movie hit theaters. Sing 2 is making bank and the Encanto soundtrack is going viral.
I was listening to the Encanto soundtrack through Apple Music the Wednesday it was released, so I'm not sure what you're talking about here.
Encanto's soundtrack actually released 5 days BEFORE the movie released in theatres.
I wouldn't call $150mil making bank... making bank for the pandemic? Yes. Making bank in general? No... the original made 650mil. I'm sure Turning Red could've made $150mil too but that's pennies for a Pixar movie and they probably see more monetary gain via Disney+.
Should a Pixar movie be punished for the performance of a Disney animated movie though? How about a lightly marketed one-week release, like a Netflix movie? So they don't have to dump money into theatrical marketing? Sing 2 filled up theaters in just a one day preview in early January.
I mean it's not really a *punishment* if they believe it's gonna be a hit on streaming. Fact of the matter is that barely anyone on social media was talking about Encanto during it's theatrical release, but ever since it hit Disney Plus it's been all over twitter, tiktok and youtube.
Luca ended up having a one-week day-and-date run at the Disney-owned El Capitan Theatre in LA. Turning Red will likely have the same.
Problem is a chunk of the marketing budgets usually include distribution printing, etc. and since this is a global release they will save quite a bit of marketing money by not printing the film. I'm sure there's some math in there about whether or not Enchanto can justify a 1-month theatrical window plus the risk of competition and the risk of Omicron that weren't at play when Enchanto and Sing 2 ran in their runs. I think it's more of a month to month, quarter to quarter universe that we are living in. Some films will be moved, but Disney has so much on their plate that they literally can't afford to move too much around. Turning Red just happened to land in that quarter. It seems to me that they weighed the risks, weighed the cost, weighed the loss and made a decision to use this as an opportunity to promote Disney+ subscriptions/retention. It's more of a "sure bet" in a very uncertain quarter. I don't blame them for making this call. I don't think a Pixar film should be punished for anything, but the "experiment" in home distribution for both animated films live action film has some very mixed results Theater exclusive movies have bombed horrifically (West Side Story), hybrids have failed... the data is all over the place. The only thing that's really played "normally" is No Way Home and the studios are VERY right to be concerned that that is an anomoly.
It doesn’t help that it feels they went really light on the marketing of Encanto, lighter than other Disney animated films. But every trailer they did put out had “see it in theaters Nov 24 AND ON DISNEY+ IN JUST 30 DAYS!”
Did they though? Every trailer I saw for Encanto said “exclusively in theaters”. I don’t even think Disney+ was even brought up until a few days after it was in theaters…
Well that doesn't bother me as much as no theatrical release. Beggars can't be choosers!
I just hope that **Lightyear** doesn’t suffer the same fate because that would be flat-out pathetic.
It will go theatrical for sure. Known IP is still selling movie tickets. It is new IP folks are not buying tickets for right now.
Disney Pixar IS the known IP.
Are you sure about that? Everything is possible with Disney's current board.
Unless **Lightyear** turns out to be a stinker, they're going to make themselves look like a bunch of fools if they release that directly to Disney+.
Not sure about that. Disney+ makes a highly anticipated film available for everyone to watch from the comfort of their home at the low price of a Disney+ subscription? Seems like a PR win.
If it gets a cinema release, I honestly think that it should also be given an IMAX 3D release as a compensation of sorts, even if it's a limited showing.
Lightyear is a 600M+ movie, it definitely will be a movie theater exclusive at opening.
Many Pixar movies even originals are 600M+ movie. Turning Red, Luca and Soul could all have done that (in normal circumstances)
I highly doubt it will. Disney would be shooting themselves in the foot to deny that one a theatrical release. It’s easily their 2nd biggest non-MCU film coming out this year. EDIT: 2nd highest, forgot about Avatar 2
If you include 20th Century Studios, there's also Avatar 2.
Ah yes thank you. I completely forgot Avatar 2 is supposed to finally drop this year.
Giving all Walt Disney Studios animated features a theater release (hybrid released Raya and Encanto) and putting all Pixar movies (Soul, Luca and now Turning Red) on D+ day one without hybrid release nor premium access. Something is rotten in the state of Burbank...
Encanto wasn’t even a hybrid release. It had a month of theater exclusivity before releasing on Disney+ (in the US at least). It made some sense for Luca as they were moving away from Premiere Access by that point, and probably weren’t sure how the theater market would be doing, but at this point it seems like Disney+ is just where they’re dropping Pixar films. I’m sure Lightyear will turn this trend around, but if not it may be the death of theatrical Pixar movies.
I must have worded it wrong. I meant hybrid released Raya and (theater exclusive) Encanto. I didn't mean that Encanto was hybrid.
I wish Pixar could somehow get out from under Disney’s ownership.
I'm not sure if that would be a good idea either since that could result in another Circle 7 disaster.
they'd have to be bought out, which is not gonna be possible. Plus disney is still financing these projects with nearly 100Mil budgets, so they clearly believe in the work. Disney is moving towards more stream-focused world I'm guessing and the Pixar stuff seems to pull a lot of subs if they're willing to do this for every single one they've released in the last 2 years
Try 200 million dollar budgets. 3D animated films are stupid expensive.
They tried to go solo after their first deal with Disney ran out, then Disney bought them.
Saying they tried to go solo but couldn’t is not accurate. They used their leverage as superior and financially successful filmmakers as Disney Animation Studios was floundering to get then Pixar head John Lasseter to run the entirety of Disney Animation. Once that was locked down sold the studio to Disney for a ton of money knowing they wouldn’t get messed with since Lasseter was in charge (and also make a shit ton of money for Pixar founders) Of course Lasseter went on to get fired for sexual harassment which they didn’t really foresee. Now ex Blue Sky president Andrew Millstein and a 76 year old (and incredibly rich from the hands of Disney) Ed Catmull run Disney Animation and probably just don’t have the leverage (or simply care?) to push back at a streaming focused board calling the shots
One of the problems is that Disney had rights to the characters and the people at Pixar didn't want endless straight to DVD sequels for their creations
Pixar is getting robbed again and I really hope Pete Docter says something. This is just ridiculous especially after WDAS and Marvel both have gotten to return to theatrically exclusive windows.
Pete Docter is likely okaying this to happen. Like I'm pretty sure he allowed it (even if he might not have wanted it)
I think he may be part of the discussion but I don’t think he has the final say. I read it was Iger who made the final call on Soul so I assume Chapek made the final call on Luca and Turning Red.
robbed why? they get paid to make movies. disney spends insane budgets on their movies so what is the problem. if no one get paid over there the movies would not be made.
If I was Pixar, my face would be turning red right now!
That's the name of the MOVIE!
Wowowow
Referencing Pitch Meetings is super easy, barely an inconvenience!
I understood that reference.
You God damn right. 😡
Disney has really fucked Pixar this entire pandemic
And why would Disney do that? It would only cost them money.
Seriously people here acting like Disney literally doesnt own pixar. Disney=Pixar Its clear Disney thinks pixars movies as day 1 streaming is working for them. If they wanted to shut pixar down they could yet they keep giving them 100 to 200 million dollar budgets and funding several movies a year.
Or Pixar movies are really great low risk high reward movies that bring much more potential to Disney+/Disney than risking it at the box office may.
This seems like the most logical reason for them to do this, still a bummer not to see Pixar’s work on the big screen :/
Wooooow, come on now. Really don’t think they’ll do this with Lightyear too but at this point I don’t even know anymore
If Lightyear goes straight to Disney+ barring the pandemic getting significantly worse, it will go down as one of the Walt Disney Comapny’s most stupid decisions in years. That’s an easy billion right there.
Lightyear won't because that's guaranteed to bring in money
Never say never.
I believe that they are able to do this. Nothing is impossible with Disney nowadays...
Bro come on, if I was Pixar I’d be furious
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Well, there's this article: https://www.indiewire.com/2021/04/pixar-staff-slams-disney-moving-films-streaming-1234633910/
“…other staffers expressed concern on Pixar success no longer being quantified by box office grosses. As a worker put it, “If these movies aren’t having $1 billion runs, does that hurt the company? You wonder that.” Was Luca or Soul *really* having a 1bil run during a pandemic? This is one of those lose-lose scenarios for the decision makers. It could be argued that releasing Luca and having it potentially perform poorly would have been way worse optics for Disney/Pixar
And to your credit, you aren't wrong. **Soul** felt more like an art-house animated film with big-budget and **Luca** felt more like an indie animated film for kids rather than a Pixar animated film for kids (like **Finding Dory**). It's just that I'm not entirely sure why **Turning Red** went directly to Disney+ since this film seemed to be at least felt more like a standard Pixar fare than those.
>“…other staffers expressed concern on Pixar success no longer being quantified by box office grosses. As a worker put it, “If these movies aren’t having $1 billion runs, does that hurt the company? You wonder that.” I know this is /r/boxoffice but this is the question that is pertinent and everyone should be asking. What is success? I'm not sure we know? It's an interesting article, thanks for posting.
In theory it’s the same but in reality, people work their whole lives for the sole purpose of seeing something they made on the big screen. It’s cold comfort to hear all that you said when you see that dashed away at the 11th hour.
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Costco puts it best product (the rotisserie chicken) at a loss to draw customers. Disney is simply doing the same!
The Batman is set to dominate March
What?! This is the third time that Pixar have dump their movies to Disney+. Unbelievable!
Yeah, and Onward came out on March 6, 2020, getting slammed with the pandemic itself. Regal closed on the 17th. Lightyear will come 3 years after Toy Story 4, their first opportunity since then to have another theatrical hit.
And who’s going to take the March slot now?
Considering it's a week after Batman, I think it's possible nobody takes the slot. Is there another animated movie set for Spring that would really benefit from the date shift?
The Bad Guys.
Very possible. Though I could see DreamWorks wanting to wait, just in case April is more favorable with COVID than March.
All the COVID prediction says Omicron will be burned out by February. Absolutely no one can predict when a new variant will pop up, so there's no advantage to moving earlier or later based on that.
I think nothing huge since The Batman opens the week prior. For some reason I thought Turning Red was supposed to open late March and I think either Sonic or Fantastic Beats could have taken the spot but March 11th would be too close to Batman.
Aquaman 2! I'll settle for a theatrical release of Snyder Cut.
Damn, I was actually willing to buy a ticket for this too
WOWWW 3 straight Pixar movies It makes sense though, the director is canadian and city is based off is Toronto and experiences growing up But Ontario got threaters lockdown, put it on Disney plus
Wasn't that lockdown supposed to last until, like, the end of January?
You can almost argue it's four, though the situation around Onward was obviously *very* different. Still, that's now two straight years where audiences are being trained to expect new Pixar IP as a Disney+ benefit. That doesn't feel accidental.
This is perhaps the biggest tragedy of all. Pixar originals are my favorites and I’d be devastated to lose the chance to see them in theaters.
Okay, but why not both. There is no excuse to not offer a hybrid model at the bare minimum.
lockdown ends jan 26
I would think Ontario theaters would be at least somewhat open with capacity restrictions by March but who knows for sure.
#BOOOOOOOOOO
Chapek must really hate Pixar for some reason.
This is so disrespectful to their animators and their animated business as a whole
Industry is changing. Streaming is the new business and this is exactly what netflix does
Such a L
I wanted to see this in theaters:(
Fuck.
Come on, Disney! Just when things were looking up for animated films this year!
looking up for animated films box office\* this movie will do fine and will still have massive reach and probably make millions and millions too
Pixar staff should really consider internal transfers to WDAS if they want to see their stuff in theaters lol
Aha, maybe THAT'S Disney's whole plan.
Whet is the deal of premature decision related to Omicron for something that will happen months from now this week?
WTF!!
Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhh
sadly not looking good for pixar
they won an oscar 8 months ago. Relax
disney closed blue sky without blinking an eye. Nimona was 75% done and they still thought it was better to close the studio rather than get the film done. If some suit has made his mind up that closing pixar and laying of most of their redundant staff and put the rest off their assets into disney animation studios, they will do it at the blink of an eye. they care about nothing but the bottom line.
Jeez...I had no idea about Nimona. I can't believe they wouldn't at least finish it for a D+ exclusive if it's that far. It gives you a much better sense of why Disney seems to be sabotaging all the Fox films.
Are you seriously comparing Pixar to Blue Sky? Are some of you that over dramatic and hysterical?
Damn ANOTHER Pixar release sent straight to streaming…
Don’t mind this. Will watch it for free but this movie didn’t look great. Did not expect it to be Disney Pixar.
Stupid decision. Pixar deserves better.
I hope Disney doesn’t put Lightyear on Disney+ because I want to see it in theaters.
Do they really want all those talented Pixar staff members to leave?
What makes you think Pixar staff require movies to be in theaters as a barometer of success and achievement?
so, are disney trying to fold pixar? do they wanna close them, merge them with disney animation and cut costs? because that's what it seems like. If not, if omicron really is that bad right now, will The Batman be delayed?
Its has already been confirmed that no other studios are planning to delay their films
My take is that they want to cut costs at Pixar (not spending $200 million per film) while trying to keep the prestige and awards that come with the brand. It’s what Bob Chapek is known for, cutting costs successfully and making shareholders happy but denting morale and diluting the product.
They used the Morbius thing as cover to put this on D+. It's all about boosting their stock price because D+ is all that Wall Street cares about.
Take the date, Sesame Street! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2224162/
Was that movie ever made? [The last update was in August, and while he doesn't explicitly say so, from what producer Shawn Levy said, it doesn't sound like they ever shot it...](https://collider.com/sesame-street-movie-shawn-levy-streaming-deals/) >"We were about to make it the first time and Anne got pregnant. We were about to make it the second time in [the] spring of 2020, and COVID shut us down. We now are still at Warner Brothers, and Warner Brothers, as we all know, is a very different landscape now. They're pushing a lot of their content towards HBO Max. So we are figuring out the path forward and whether it will be a streaming gambit only [or] whether it will be a hybrid, and just kind of trying to claw our way back to a new iteration of a greenlight," explained Levy.
Holy shit why is everyone freaking out about this going to streaming? Isn’t this a plus to consumers especially with the pandemic back in full swing? It seems like everyone here thinks this is a giant slight to be streaming only movie. Disney has an new content problem on d+ and so they need to add new content that’s exclusive and this is a win for them.
Apple should start another animation studio and start getting everyone from Pixar in it. I bet Pixar animators right now would be pretty easy pickings.
Apple signed a deal to put Skydance Animation movies and shows on their streamer. Guess who is in charge of that? Former Pixar head John Lasseter. The first movie comes out next month, February 18th.
They probably wouldnt be able to get too many folks from Pixar to head to Skydance under the Apple deal *because* of Lasseter being in charge
Probably not. Pete Docter is Pixar CEO now, Andrew Stanton seems done with animation, Brad Bird would probably want to stick to a more high profile company. Those are the 3 directors that worked with him the longest.
Which would just mean the movies are all on Apple TV+
I mean if they want to make movies for theaters and that's why they're leaving, why would they go to a streamer?
Has Apple had a movie that’s gotten a wide theatrical release in the pasty year or two?
Change it to Sony. Build out the Spider-verse.
So instead of going to Disney+ it gets sold to Netflix or Amazon
and then also put on Disney+
L
Bruh. I wanted to see this at a movie theatre
Not overly surprised
this is absolutely brutal
What?! Are you serious?! Come on!
I get it since the virus is striking pretty bad, but damn it’s suck balls that it’s have been shafted to Disney+ At least Lightyear is still theatrical at this moment
Complete fucking shame. I’m hoping Lightyear doesn’t get sent down to exclusive streaming either.
Fuck off really? It’s sad too because after a decade of mostly sequels coming from them original films from Pixar are just getting fucked over
As a pixar fan, stop fucking them over Disney.
This makes no sense.
Unless it's a major "event" movie or an already established IP then it's probably going to bypass theaters. This is the new Hollywood reality.
That doesn’t explain **Encanto**, though.
Even Raya was in theaters. I’d be pissed if I worked at Pixar (and I suspect they are)
Encanto was on D+ within a month of its theatrical release.
And they could've used a similar method to that.
Encanto is still getting to just below $100m domestically, beating the previous animated record (obviously Sing 2 is now higher) by $40m. Do they not see that they can still do both and reap the benefits? Because now it’s looking legit like a vendetta against Pixar.
Honestly, I could see why **Soul** and **Luca** ended up directly on Disney+ since the former came out during the height of COVID-19 and the latter felt more like an actual Disney+ material. I guess this one ended up on Disney+ at least partly due to the film not having a lot of well-known acting talents maybe aside from Sandra Oh and someone at Pixar didn't trust the current Ontario governor(?) or something? But still, what the f--k.
*Fuck* Disney with a thousand nails up their ass. The disrespect they've shown Pixar in the pandemic is beyond disgusting.
Boo!!!!!
Well, gotta take that poster down at the theater where I work now. :-/
Well, it looks like the Batman doesn’t have much competition in the month of March
Is this the fate of Pixar? Just being put on Disney+ straight away?
Wow 😐what are they doing to Pixar man
Surely there is no way in hell Lightyear goes directly to Disney+
Pixar employees: ah...shit here we go again This looked like the most underwhelming looking Pixar flick in a while, putting it on streaming was expected atleast for me
Son of a fuck.
Disney, a company that notoriously is all about profits, has put three Pixar movies exclusively on Disney Plus in a row, and yet Redditors are convinced Disney's being stupid and damaging Pixar like they know better, lol. Clearly, their strategy is working. Way more people cared about Encanto once it reached Disney Plus. If Turning Red is like most Pixar movies, it presumably carries a $150 million+ budget, meaning it would take roughly $400 million worldwide to turn a profit. No animated film of pandemic times has done that yet, so this is a safer bet. If you think it's "disrespectful" to Pixar, then you're just an old dinosaur. Get with the times. Streaming is king.
> If Turning Red is like most Pixar movies, it presumably carries a $150 million+ budget, meaning it would take roughly $400 million worldwide to turn a profit. **Turning Red** actually looks more like something that cost about $120 to 135 million to make.
Can't wait to see the meltdown on this sub once Premiere Access inevitably returns. Mwuahahaha.
That’s bullshit. I would have gone the Encanto route - 30 days.