Pixar Movie “Turning Red” Skips Theaters in Favor of Streaming Only

Pixar’s animated film “Turning Red” is the latest movie to skip theaters and go exclusively to streaming on Disney+ in March, the company announced Friday (Jan. 7).

The film centers around a young girl that turns into a giant red panda when she gets excited. The movie was directed by Domee Shi, who also made the Pixar short “Bao,” and CNBC reports that “Turning Red” will make the first time a Pixar project was solely directed by a woman.

Other Disney films “Soul” and “Luca” also debuted exclusively on streaming during the pandemic. The recovery of in-person movie theaters has been sluggish, even after children were able to get vaccines.

“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,” Kareem Daniel, chairman of Disney’s media and entertainment distribution, said in the announcement.

CNBC notes that there hasn’t been any animated film to surpass $100 million domestically since March 2020, though some big earners have included Universal’s “Sing 2” with ticket sales totaling $97 million and Disney’s “Encanto” with $92 million in sales.

PYMNTS writes that Disney+ is among other streamers that will spend $115 billion on new content, even in spite of sometimes losing money.

See also: With Subscriber Growth Slowing, Media Groups Spend $115B on Streaming Content

A number of subscribers have joined streaming platforms throughout the pandemic, spurred by periods of lockdown and quarantine. There might not be anywhere else to go in terms of growth, but according to media analyst Michael Nathanson, the way forward would likely consist of more buying and greenlighting of streaming content.

That said, most of the big companies, including Disney, will see losses on streaming units, with spending hitting $140 billion including sports.

Disney’s investments are likely to grow 35-40% in 2022, with new movies and TV making up $23 billion in spending.