With Disney’s latest announcement, the studio will be the first in Hollywood to act on an interesting experiment. The studio recently announced that three Pixar movies are receiving official theatrical releases in 2024 after they originally premiered on the streaming service Disney+ between 2020 and 2022. Soul will be in theaters on January 12, followed by Turning Red on February 9, and then Luca on March 22. The films will be joining the stacked slate of upcoming Disney animated releases.
Soul, Turning Red, and Luca were just three of many films that took a hit from the COVID-19 lockdown. With movie theaters shut down around the world, studios were forced to pivot their plans for most projects slated between 2020 and 2022. Soul, Turning Red, and Luca were thus all made straight-to-streaming films, which ultimately affected the Pixar movies’ relatively poor box office performances. However, Disney’s 2024 release plan means there will be theatrical premieres for these three Pixar titles after all, with the studio beating competitors like Universal and Paramount in an unexpected Hollywood race.
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According to a popular theory, all Pixar movies take place in the same universe. Here’s when each movie is set chronologically, including Turning Red.
Disney Is The First Studio To Release Streaming Movies From The Pandemic In Theaters
Disney is attempting an industry first with the theatrical releases of Soul, Turning Red, and Luca. There have been films from the pandemic period such as Black Widow and Nomadland that can technically be considered streaming films, but they also received simultaneous theatrical runs. Until now, no straight-to-streaming film from this period has received an eventual theater debut in the US. This 2024 experiment will not only be a first for Disney, but it’ll be a first for any film studio.
Hollywood is no stranger to re-releasing movies in theaters, whether it be a slightly altered version of a movie or the re-release of a classic film. However, this will be the first time a film released exclusively on a streaming service during the pandemic era will get a theater slot sometime after its original premiere. It is a risky experiment for Disney, however, as there’s no telling how audiences will react or if a theatrical release will be worth it for future streaming films. Still, it is at least a chance for Soul, Turning Red, and Luca to be viewed on the big screen as they were intended to be seen.
How Disney Is Trying To Correct Its Mistakes Of The Past Few Years
Theaters have mostly recovered from the hits taken during COVID, but Disney has struggled more than most on this front. With the target audience of family-friendly films, the lockdown period conditioned a lot of parents to simply wait for a film to be released on Disney+ rather than take their kids to the theater. Even though streaming can save money, the theatrical experience is unparalleled. For those who do choose to see Soul, Turning Red, and Luca when they are in theaters, they may realize that family-friendly films are still worth making the trip to the theater due to the outstanding visual and audio quality alone.
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Pixar movies were once guaranteed to be hits and succeed at the box office, but the animation studio’s projects have lost momentum in recent years.
Disney may be the first studio to attempt to put straight-to-streaming films in theaters years after their initial releases, but their new strategy could inspire other studios to do the same. The COVID-19 pandemic was a huge hit to movie theaters, and although the industry has widely recovered, family-friendly films still generally struggle to garner big box office numbers. The release of Pixar’s Soul, Turning Red, and Luca in theaters should be a worthwhile experiment for Disney in an attempt to correct their past mistakes, while also giving these films the big-screen treatment they deserve.
