By now you’ve heard that Disney has yanked Pixar’s Turning Red from theatres and is making it exclusively available on DisneyPlus. Red is yet another casualty of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has roared back to life thanks to the Omicron variant. Cases are jumping into the stratosphere, health care systems are buckling once again and most of us have responded by calling each other names on the Internet (it’s why we can’t have nice things).
Turning Red is the third consecutive Pixar movie Disney has moved to DisneyPlus since the beginning of the Pandemic. Soul was moved to Mickey’s streaming service for Christmas of 2020 and Luca followed last summer. And while fans had to pay an additional premium to watch other new movies on DisneyPlus, Pixar’s offerings have all been free.
On the face of it, this move looks like a lot of sense. Movie theatres have again become a place to avoid as Omicron has torn the world up the last few weeks. Recent polls have suggested a huge chunk of North American moviegoers have skipped the theatrical experience despite mass vaccination campaigns and commitments by exhibitors to public safety. Those same polls have suggested it could be some time before those same moviegoers return to theatres (if at all). And Red’s primary target market is kids; kids whose parents will likely decide keeping them home is the safest course of action (especially if they can see new animated movies free on DisneyPlus).
But there’s one reason why this move may be premature and one reason why it could very well backfire on Disney in the not so long run.
No one knows what the world will look like in March. Omicron came out of nowhere in late November and changed the entire world in a matter of weeks. People went from planning big Christmas get togethers to hunkering down in the face COVID-19 again. Lockdown measures (including curfews) returned with a vengeance to cities, provinces and even entire countries. Schools everywhere added extra weeks onto holiday breaks for students, borders closed and travellers were stranded (again). And all of this happened seemingly overnight.
Some people (including some who know what they’re talking about) have pointed to South Africa-where Omicron was first identified-as a possible future for the rest of us. Omicron exploded on the scene before receding almost as fast as it appeared. If that indeed does happen everywhere else, the world could look much better come March.
(There’s also an equally good chance it could look the same or worse, so keep those hopes in check).
By committing Turning Red to streaming now, Disney could be robbing the movie of tens of millions of box office dollars. They could have followed Sony’s lead and moved it back a few weeks or even a month (Sony moved Morbius from the end of January to April 1st). It just feels like Disney, who released seven movies to theatres in the last half of 2021, jumped the gun a little.
But remember when we said this was the third consecutive Pixar movie shoved directly to DisneyPlus free of charge? No other brand under Disney’s corporate umbrella has seen that kind of movement. It did move a few other movies directly to streaming when it looked like there wouldn’t be a movie going public to buy tickets for them (Artemis Fowl, The One and Only Ivan), but no studio has seen as much of it’s work skip theatres as Pixar. And worse yet, Pixar seems to be getting treated as a second class Pandemic citizen by Disney’s powers that be.
Black Widow, Cruella and Jungle Cruise were all released to theatres the same day they were made available on DisneyPlus. But if you wanted to stay home and watch them on streaming, it was an extra thirty U.S. bucks. Both Widow and Cruise made eight figures from streaming alone. Disney did the same with Raya and the Last Dragon-a product from their own in house animation branch-last spring. Raya was available to stream for a fee but it also grossed nearly 55 million dollars domestically and a little over 130 million worldwide. Disney even gave Encanto a month in theatres before moving it to DisneyPlus in time for Christmas (it grossed over 92 million domestically and around 216 million worldwide).
So why has Pixar, one of Disney’s most important content producers (arguably second only to Marvel) been forced to skip theatres three times in a row? And worse yet, why have they given their product away for free each time? Does Disney not see the double standard?
Because you know who does? Pixar employees. It’s well known how much new Disney CEO Bob Chapek is rubbing his creatives the wrong way and word is morale at Pixar was already bruised over the cavalier treatment their work was getting before this decision. This will only make matters worse.
Yes, these are more than trying times, but Pixar’s work is currently being given the same weight as cheesy direct to home movies used to be. And you also have to ask yourself, if Disney’s bean counters are sure this is the best way to use the product in the current global climate, why aren’t they at least charging a premium fee for these movies like they successfully did with others (including work from Disney’s own animation branch). No one says they have to charge thirty dollars again, but something-anything-would validate not only the work of currently demoralized employees, but the value of the product itself.
You also have to ask yourself; would Disney be so willing to give their big summer release Lightyear away for free too? Because if they do, how many DisneyPlus subscribers will just assume that ALL Pixar stuff will be free in the future? Disney is eroding the perceived quality of the Pixar brand. And while the consuming public in general may not see it just yet, Pixar’s employees-some of the world’s best in animation-already are.
Now the question becomes how many might begin to look for pastures kept greener by other employers.
Image via www.themeparkmojo.com
