Pixar’s third straight-to-streaming film has “everyone really bummed out.”

During earnings call a year ago, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Chapek lauded Pixar’s Soul as an “artistic success” and said he was “extremely happy” with the outcomes of releasing the picture straight to Disney+ in the United States during the epidemic. In 2020, Soul’s arrival on the service on Christmas Day helped to attract new users and reduce churn. In only one month, Disney+ attracted 8.1 million new subscribers.

However, with the decision to send the third Pixar film on Disney+ in a row, following Soul and Luca, some are wondering if Chapek and his colleagues are undermining the legendary animation studio. Turning Red, a coming-of-age story directed by Domee Shi about a young Chinese Canadian girl who transforms into a red panda when she becomes very happy or agitated, was supposed to be released in theatres on March 11th. The development of the Omicron variety and another jump in COVID-19 cases, according to Disney, thwarted their objectives. (During these trying circumstances, Chapek has emphasised the importance of flexibility.)

Several people are wondering if the Pixar artists are irritated by the Jan. 7 news. That is not the case, according to many insiders with intimate links to Pixar. Disappointment, not indignation, is a better word. “Everyone is disappointed, but most of us understand.” “Families simply aren’t going to the cinema,” says one Pixar employee.

After children above the age of five were vaccinated, family film grosses improved somewhat this past fall. Despite being viewed as hits, Walt Disney Animation’s Thanksgiving offering, Encanto, and Universal/Christmas Illumination’s sequel, sing 2, did a small fraction of pre-pandemic commerce. Faced with a poor box office, Universal released Sing 2 on premium VOD on Jan. 7, many weeks ahead of schedule.

PVOD has a separate version at Disney. Raya and the Last Dragon, a Walt Disney Animation film, was released in cinemas and on Disney+ Premier Access for a $30 price in March. Turning Red’s different distribution approach — making it accessible at no additional cost, like with Soul and Luca — lets Disney to leverage on the iconic Pixar brand in order to build the service at a time when every streaming service is seeing subscriber growth decrease.

After Turning Red, Pixar will release Lightyear, a Toy Story spinoff centered on the iconic character Buzz Lightyear. Disney has already begun its marketing effort for the summer 2022 tentpole, which includes a teaser that will be shown before Spider-Man: No Way Home. If the epidemic continues, the suppressed sadness among Pixar employees over Turning Red’s rescheduled release date would most certainly turn into a different type of feeling if Lightyear isn’t given a theatrical premiere.