Amid a fresh wave of delays due to concerns over the latest COVID variant, Disney has announced that Pixar’s new feature film Turning Red will be following in the footsteps of Soul and Luca by skipping a theatrical release in favour of a home premiere on Disney+.
“Disney+ 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,” said Kareem Daniel, Chairman, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. “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.”
Turning Red is helmed by Domee Shi, director of Pixar’s Oscar-winning short Bao, and features the voices of newcomer Rosalie Chiang and Killing Eve‘s Sandra Oh. As with the last two Pixar Disney+ releases, Turning Red won’t be releasing via Disney’s Premier Access, and will instead be available at no extra cost to all Disney+ subscribers worldwide from March 11th.
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Pixar’s last theatrical release was Onward, which opened in March 2020 but found its run cut short after just three weeks as cinemas began closing their doors and the world went into lockdown. That leaves 2019’s Toy Story 4 as the last Pixar movie not to be impacted by the pandemic.
Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red introduces Mei Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming (voice of Sandra Oh), is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager. And as if changes to her interests, relationships and body weren’t enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she “poofs” into a giant red panda! Directed by Academy Award® winner Domee Shi (Pixar short “Bao”) and produced by Lindsey Collins.
Turning Red will premiere on Disney+ on March 11th.
