Disney's 'Turning Red' Streaming Announcement Left Pixar Staff In Shock And Disappointed

Los Angeles, January 11 - Walt Disney Company once again left the exhibition sector disappointed by announcing the exclusive Disney+ release of Pixar's upcoming film "Turning Red". On Friday, the studio made it clear that the Pixar movie would be its third title since the pandemic to skip theaters and premiere exclusively on its streaming service Disney+.

"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 and we look forward to bringing them Pixar's next incredible feature film 'Turning Red'", said Kareem Daniel, Chairman, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution in a statement to media.



This is Disney's exclusive streaming film after Pixar's Academy Award-winning "Soul" and the critically-acclaimed "Luca". The decision of making "Turning Red" an exclusive Disney+ feature has not only left exhibitors in utter shock but also left the staff at Pixar disappointed and cheated once again.

"It's safe to say that we're all feeling extremely disappointed," one Pixar staffer told Insider and added, "Until today, we all thought 'Turning Red' would be our return to the big screen, and everyone at the studio was so excited about it being this film in particular. It was quite a blow".

Before "Turning Red", Pixar's "Soul" (2020) was the first film in the company's 26-year history to not open in theaters. During that time, the staff of Pixar, including CCO Pete Docter (who is also the director of Oscar-winner "Soul") were not happy that their recent movies weren't getting theatrical releases.

"Turning Red", which is the first Pixar film to be solely directed by a woman, Domee Shi, is slated to premiere on Disney+ on March 11. In India, it will stream on Disney+Hotstar on the same day in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam languages.

Stay tuned...