Disney Pixar's Turning Red

[Ben]

Kind of cool, but also kind of too little too late? Or maybe all too soon? One a month when you can already see them on D+? I mean *great* that they finally get legit cinema releases, but I can’t see any of these adding much more than $20m — if that — to their takes.

[EricJ]

More like "So it isn't a total loss...", for those who never had D+, and to make them "official" theatrical movies, even though most of them are on disc now.

Still, it's the same problem when Fantasia 2000 opened in regular theaters in June '00:
Everyone had knocked themselves out seeing it in the IMAX theaters from Jan-April, there were few enough left who hadn't, and critics had already reviewed it the first time, so there was no release hype.

But looks like it's just a special IMAX re-release anyway, which is one step away from the Fathom anime screenings.
We don't even get to put the "Would Turning Red really have made money in theaters?" debate to the test.

[Randall]

I think it's great, regardless. Yes, it's late, but it's the best that can be done given the circumstances. Good to see them coming to theaters, however it can happen.

[Daniel]

I don't see anything saying these are for IMAX. Think it's pretty cool considering they were robbed of it. Will be interesting to see how much coin they bring.

[Ben]

More like "So it isn't a total loss...", for those who never had D+, and to make them "official" theatrical movies, even though most of them are on disc now.

They’ve *all* been on disc for over a year now, so I’m not sure this helps those without D+, since we’re talking about movies that are one to two years old, and also already been available via PPV and other subscription services (at least here), so plenty of opportunities to see them without D+.

I think this is more about a lack of product and a hope to squeeze whatever revenue can be mined from the three highest profile studio "casualties" of Disney's pandemic woes and, yes, give them some kind of legit cinema release, even though they did have premiere dates and qualifying awards runs, so these would rightly be seen as reissues and not theatrical debuts.

Yes, it’s great for fans to see them on the big screen, if not Imax — which again is not an acronym so no need to shout — but must admit it all feels a little "odd" and kind of piecemeal. "Nice", but also just a little bit of a random drop.

[gaastra]

Well, scoob was released in theatres a year after it was on dvd and hbo max and made $28.5m domestic. Better than the $0 it would have made only a tv movie. Hotel Transylvania 4, connected (Micheals vs the machines) and spongebob 3 all got theatres releases later after vod also. Gijoe the movie took around 30 years after vhs release to make it to american theatres!

If the marketing is not much cost this could bring in a few extra bucks and people have the chance to see them in theatres!

[Ben]

Yeah, good points on the other stream/VOD titles that later got cinema issues. That was still when there were lacks of product and low audience numbers, though. I how much momentum Disney can rustle up given I can’t see many families going through major theatre outings three months in a row…? I reckon Red and Luca will probably do the best out of them.

[Daniel]

If they temporary remove them for streaming that could help!

[Bill1978]

The crazy thing it feels like those movies were released years ago but also only yesterday. I swear the pandemic has distorted my reality of time and conflated 3 years into 'last month'

Out of the 3 if I were to see any in the cinema it would be Luca.

[Daniel]

Same, though I'm oddly tempted for all three. Aside from home video releases, I can imagine a lot of people haven't gotten around to viewing these. Not everyone has a smart TV, and maybe have only seen them on their phones/tablets. (If that, many might not even have Disney+) Those three titles have also yet to have a linear showing on broadcast and cable, unlike Raya, Onward and Encanto. There's also fans who were crushed their Pixar theatrical viewing streak ended. Seriously, with good promotion I think these will do real bank!

[Daniel]

Maybe Disney learned from Soul, I've already seen three commercials and one of the channels wasn't Disney owned! Opens this Friday. Hopefully it does better... and they don't show it on TV!

[Ben]

Out of them all I had thought Red would have done the best out of these, though am I right in thinking that it did come the closest to getting some limited cinema releases at the time? That may go against it in terms of picking up new audiences, though all three of these seem a bit bonkers to me without creating some kind of "special limited engagement" branding and, especially, pulling them from small screen showings!

[Daniel]

Yeah, it had a one week limited engagement at El Capitan.

[Ben]

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it made some screens here, too, though not many people braved it, especially knowing it was coming to D+ so soon…

[gaastra]

Turning red, luca and chip and dale rescue rangers all played in LA and new york to count for oscars for about a weekend. All three "count" as big-screen movies. Ironic rescue rangers won best "tv movie" at another award show.