Disney+ Soul (Pixar) (2020)

[Jake Lipson]

Title: Pixar's Soul

Genre: Comedy, Family

Director: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers

Cast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Ahmir-Khalib Thompson, Phylicia Rashād, Daveed Diggs

Release: 2020-12-25

Plot: Ever wonder where your passion, your dreams and your interests come from? What is it that makes you … you? Directed by two-time Oscar winner Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out), the film takes place between New York City and the cosmic realms.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Entertainment Weekly has an interview with the creative team of Soul as well as first look photos from it. This is Pixar's June 2020 release. It is being directed by Pete Docter, who previously directed Monsters, Inc., Up and Inside Out. He is also now the chief creative officer running all of Pixar.

https://ew.com/movies/2019/11/06/pixar-soul-photo-jamie-foxx-tina-fey/

Soul will be Pixar's second movie next year after Onward which releases in March. Although they have had two movies in a year before, the previous ones have been more separated (Inside Out in June and The Good Dinosaur in November 2015, Cars 3 in June and Coco in November 2017.) It will be interesting to see if releasing two of them so close together will have any impact on the box office for either one.

 

[TravisR]

It's the obvious choice but Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are doing the score for this movie.

 

[Jake Lipson]

What makes them the obvious choice? Docter has used Randy Newman for Monsters, Inc. and Michael Giacchino for Up and Inside Out. If anything, the fact that he is bringing them in is interesting because they've never worked for Pixar before.

 

[TravisR]

What makes them the obvious choice? Docter has used Randy Newman for Monsters, Inc. and Michael Giacchino for Up and Inside Out. If anything, the fact that he is bringing them in is interesting because they've never worked for Pixar before.

I was joking because they seem like the last guys you'd imagine scoring a $150 million (?) family cartoon. For the record, I think they're two of the best composers working today and can't wait to hear what they turn out when given a chance to do a different kind of movie.

 

[Jake Lipson]

 

[Chris Will]

I know it's just a teaser but, that looks far more interesting than Onward.

 

[SamT]

The trailer doesn't reveal much. Could be 2 hours of 2 ghosts against a background. I suppose we don't see the city much?

 

[Jake Lipson]

The trailer doesn't reveal much.

Well, it is just the teaser and the movie isn't out until June. They'll obviously have a longer one next spring, probably on Onward. This one just functions to announce it for people who didn't already know what was and to get all the eyeballs on it who will see Frozen II, where I am sure it will be attached.

Could be 2 hours of 2 ghosts against a background.

I doubt that very much.

I suppose we don't see the city much?

It seems to me that it will go back and forth, like how Inside Out was both inside Riley's mind and we also saw the outside perspective. The blurb they released does say "the film takes place between New York City and the cosmic realms," which would suggest both are important.

 

[Jake Lipson]

 

[Jake Lipson]

New trailer tomorrow, which if you ask me should have debuted with Onward. So weird.

 

[Sam Favate]

I did see a trailer for this with Onward. Will there be yet another one?

EDIT: Yes, I saw the teaser trailer. Here is the new trailer:



PS It looks great!

 

[Edwin-S]

Damn. That is looking good. Is the release being delayed? It would be too bad to see the box office for the film cremated because of the Covid 19 scare.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Is the release being delayed?

Not as of yet. Disney announced the delays of Mulan, The New Mutants and Antlers. Their summer slate, including Black Widow and Soul, are staying put for now. I think they are hoping that the virus will have been contained by then. If that is not the case, I would expect them to make more moves later, but Soul is scheduled to come out in June. A lot can happen by then. It doesn't make sense for Disney to give up a prime summer date so far in advance until they know what happens with the virus closer to the date, though I'm sure they will be discussing a move if things don't improve by the summer.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Well, since I last posted in this thread a month ago, as we know almost all movie theaters have closed and Disney has delayed the release of the rest of their spring and summer slate. But Soul is standing firm on June 19 as the only film originally dated for that month which hasn't moved off its date.

This seems bizarre to me at this point. I understand that they would like to keep the date if possible, but June 19 is only 68 days away. At this point, it seems very unlikely that theaters will be open by then, and even if they are, putting Soul out then wouldn't really make a lot of sense. Pixar is coming off of Onward, which had the unfortunate position of being the last really big movie to come out before the pandemic shut everything down, which prevented it from establishing any legs In the theatrical marketplace. Although its early arrival at home is a boon to Disney+ because they have something shiny and new to present to lure subscribers, there is no question that Onward lost money relative to its production costs due to having its theatrical release cut short. There is nothing that could be done about this, but it is an unfortunate side effect of the pandemic.

Given that they are taking a loss on Onward due to the pandemic, I personally would not want to make the next Pixar film the very first thing that comes out after theaters reopen. Pixar is one of their big brands, and even though everyone knows why, Onward is still their lowest-grossing film by a very wide margin. If I were Disney, I would want to do everything possible to protect Soul because it is the next film from that brand and make sure it is slotted in a period where people are comfortable returning to theaters. It would not be good for them to take major losses on two Pixar films in one year.

I suppose they just don't want to announce yet because they don't want to put out more bad news at this time, but I can't see how Soul keeps its date now. Even re-dating Mulan into July seems optimistic to me, and I was just saying in another thread that I need to believe Wonder Woman and Bond are coming out on their new dates to keep myself from going nuts right now.

We'll see what happens.

 

[TravisR]

I suppose they just don't want to announce yet because they don't want to put out more bad news at this time, but I can't see how Soul keeps its date now.

Yeah, I'm sure Disney has already moved it internally but they're waiting to get closer to the date before officially announcing it. My thought is that they haven't announced a date change because it's not hurting anything and just in case the pandemic miraculously goes away. Of course that isn't going to happen but as long as they don't spend any money on advertising, there's no problem with them waiting until June 18 to say it's moving.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Soul will now open on Friday, November 20 in the week prior to Thanksgiving. Last year, Disney used this slot for Frozen II. The most recent Pixar film to open in November was Coco in 2017.

https://deadline.com/2020/04/soul-d...ease-in-wake-of-distribution-cuts-1202907103/

Currently, Godzilla v. Kong is also set for November 20. For reference, No Time to Die follows on Wednesday, November 25.

Also, Raya and the Last Dragon, their Disney Animation film that was scheduled for November 25, will now open March 12, 2021 instead.

 

[Jake Lipson]

It didn't take long for Disney's marketing team to revise the poster with the new date:

 

[Jake Lipson]

A new ad, sticking with the November 20 date. That feels optimistic at this point.

 

[TravisR]

A new ad, sticking with the November 20 date. That feels optimistic at this point.

Yep. I think theaters will be reopen by November but I also think Mulan will continue to get moved and that will force Soul to move to spring or summer.