Last Friday, news has come out that Disney was pulling the theatrical release of Turning Red to have the movie come exclusively to Disney+, and while this might make sense because of the rise of the Omicron variant, one party ultimately got the short end of the stick—the artists at Pixar.
Echoing their disappointment when Disney decided to move Luca straight to streaming last year, staffers are Pixar are once again disappointed that another film that they were excited to share, Turning Red, was going in a different direction.
Talking to Insider, one staffer says, “It’s safe to say that we’re all feeling extremely disappointed… 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.”
Despite the disappointment, the case of the pandemic has others more understandable of the situation. One Turning Red staffer said, “Sucks, but I get it,” and another commented, “With Omicron infections so high, I haven’t heard anyone say the decision to pivot to streaming is wrong,”
If anything, some fans are pointing out at the success of Encanto. Though Disney had released the movie exclusively at theaters, the movie didn’t really get any buzz until it came out on Disney+; maybe skipping theaters will save Turning Red the disappointment? While movies like Shang-Chi and Spider-Man: No Way Home have made bank at the box office, it’s just a harsh truth that audiences aren’t willing to risk as much for other kinds of films.
Catch Turning Red when it hits Disney+ on March 11.
