I had planned to go see TURNING RED. I had figured to cover it for this site, dealing as it does with the subject of lycanthropy. Yes, the lead character transforms not into a wolf but into a giant red panda, but it still qualifies as lycanthropy. But now it looks less likely that I will be seeing the movie, at least not as soon as I’d planned, and as I won’t be seeing it as planned, I won’t be able to review it here on this site. Disney has decided not to release the movie to theaters but to send it straight to livestreaming.
The folks at Pixar are reportedly quite unhappy with their parent company over this decision. “It’s safe to say that we’re all feeling extremely disappointed…Until today, we all thought ‘Turning Red’ would be our return to the big screen, and everyone at the studio was so excited about it being this film in particular. It was quite a blow.” So said an unnamed employee. I don’t blame him/her for feeling that way.
They’re going to try to spin this, to blame it on the Ronacrona. Don’t buy that bullshit. SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME put that whole “people won’t go to the theater right now” thing in its grave. Disney made this decision for no other reason than trying to pimp its streaming service, sacrificing the money they would’ve made at the box office in a gamble that they’ll make it back in terms of new subscribers to Disney+. I hope the move backfires spectacularly. Like, WEST SIDE STORY spectacularly. If they lose enough money maybe the House of the Mouse will stop screwing theater owners and fans alike.
