Pixar's 'Soul' Pushed Back to November

Pixar's next feature film, Soul, is getting pushed back to November 20th. No big surprise, as many other Disney movies were delayed as well. The next animated Disney movie after that, Raya and the Last Dragon, was originally premiering in November but will now premiere March 2021.

With Onward, the latest Pixar release, the studio only made about half of it's budget in box office due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Though the digital release was very popular, I doubt it would be able to make up for the money lost. Their merchandise sales for the film may also plummet due to increasing unemployment. Hopefully they can recover some of the costs from new subscribers to Disney+.

Pixar may be trying to prevent this course of events or any loss of sales for Soul. Though some people are optimistic about quarantine being lifted by the end of May, no one knows for certain when social distancing will truly be over. Even after we are in the clear, movie theater attendance may decline after reopening.

This decision may hurt Disney and Pixar in the long run, as June has been a huge success month for previous animated films like Toy Story 4 and Incredibles 2. However, due to production being halted on many other projects, it's very possible that Soul would not be ready for audiences by June. The November release date may turn out to be as big of a success story as Coco, another Pixar film released in that month that made 807 million worldwide.

Who's to say what the "right" decision is in the long run for these production companies, but it will definitely be interesting to see what comes next.

Source: ScreenRant