STREAMLAND The Murky Fate of Pixar
Disney’s recent announcement regarding its upcoming releases has some worrying implications.
Yesterday, Disney made some announcements concerning its upcoming theatrical releases. Specifically, a few movies got pushed back (Death on the Nile, originally scheduled for late 2020, is now supposed to open in February 2022) and others had their release strategy altered: Cruella and Black Widow will now adopt the same hybrid strategy as Raya and the Last Dragon, in theaters and on Disney+ (with Premier Access) at the same time.
Pixar’s Luca, on the other hand, will be a Disney+ exclusive (save for countries where the service isn’t available), much like Soul a few months ago, making this the second film from the studio to completely forgo a traditional global theatrical release, with only select countries or events making them available in cinemas (Luca could potentially play at the Annecy festival in June, but it remains to be seen if the physical edition will take place).
Back in October, the decision to make Soul a Disney+ release raised a few eyebrows (in Italy, some called for the Rome Film Fest to drop the movie as its opening event), although it turned out to be a wise choice with hindsight, since cinemas are, at the time of writing, still widely closed in most countries. It was also – let’s be honest – a sound marketing strategy for the service, which was expanding to Latin America in late 2020 and benefited from the boost of a new Pixar movie.
Additionally, at the time it was the only viable option aside from postponing the release, since US exhibitors were still very much opposed to a day-and-date option for big studio productions (the controversial HBO Max strategy was still two months away). Now, however, it makes little sense for Luca to be a streaming-only title, since Premier Access, while not popular in some circles (but necessary as it keeps the theatrical window intact until the specific film becomes freely available to all Disney+ subscribers), makes the cinema/online coexistence possible in a fairly reasonable manner.
Especially worrying is the fact the decision to skip theaters altogether has only applied to Pixar so far, at least in terms of high-profile releases (apologies to Artemis Fowl and The One and Only Ivan). A curious phenomenon, given Pixar’s importance to the overall Disney corporate brand: back in 2006, newly appointed CEO Bob Iger decided to purchase the studio – which was in the process of looking for a new distribution partner after the original deal expired – because he realized that Pixar had surpassed Walt Disney Animation Studios in popularity and memorable characters.
Disney was not in a healthy place financially, to the extent that Comcast, which then went on to purchase Universal Pictures, actually tried to buy the entire company. As far as movies go, the only things generating reliable revenue at that point were Pixar and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, while the flagship animation studio was in a dark place (of the ten movies released between 2000 and 2007, only four were theatrical successes).
So crucial was the smaller studio specializing in computer animation that John Lasseter, then one of the biggest names in Hollywood, was appointed Chief Creative Officer of both Pixar and Disney Animation. Under his stewardship, both studios had a successful output, and he sought to undo some of the damage that had been done to the Disney brand (specifically, he put an end to the increasingly mediocre direct-to-video sequels).
Fifteen years later, it appears the tables have turned, at least in terms of how the individual units of the Walt Disney Company are being treated under these very unusual circumstances. Marvel and the main Disney brand (both animation and live-action) are allowed to remain theatrical only or receive a hybrid release, and the same goes for 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures (although in those two cases it’s mainly a legal issue, since any film that was actively in production before the Fox-Disney merger would end up on HBO Max as opposed to Disney+ or Hulu if it were to go straight to streaming). Lucasfilm doesn’t have any films scheduled prior to July 2022, so it’s not a major issue at this stage.
And then there’s Pixar, formerly the animation empire’s saving grace, now reduced to a sort of footnote, being denied a theatrical rollout except for countries where Disney+ is not available. We have gone from The Incredibles to something incredibly sad.