Pixar's newest creation, "Turning Red," released only on Disney+

Monday, March 14, 2022, at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., 16 year old actress Rosalie Chiang, the voice of main character Meilin Lee in Pixar's latest animated feature film, "Turning Red," stands with a cardboard cutout of the red panda, the alter ego of her films character. (Josh Hogan | The Corsair)

Disney and Pixar’s new coming-of-age animated film “Turning Red,” was slated to be Pixar’s first theatrical release since “Onward” in 2020. Throughout December, 2021, COVID Omicron cases were on the rise. Disney cited this as cause for their January, 2022 announcement that “Turning Red'' would no longer be a theatrical release, but instead, keep its March 11 release date exclusively as a direct-to-streaming release on the Disney + streaming platform.

Pixar Studios believed “Turning Red,” its 25th animated feature film, would be their smash-hit return to the big screen after 2 years of being confined to streaming. Instead, the production is the third Pixar film, after “Soul” (2020) and “Luca” (2021), to be removed from theatrical release and reset for a streaming-only Disney+ release.

The film was directed by Chinese-Canadian animator, director and screenwriter Domee Shi, who has worked on Pixar features such as “Inside out,” “Incredibles 2,” and “Toy Story 4.” Shi became the first woman to direct a Pixar short, “Bao,” for which she won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. She is also the first woman to have sole director's credit on a Pixar feature film.

“Turning Red'' was inspired by feelings from Shi’s own adolescence. The story looks into the life of a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl, Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang), who struggles between continuing to be a high-achieving perfect child, obediently in line with the expectations and culture of her perfectionist mother (Sandra Oh), versus letting herself dive into the messy craziness of unpredictable adolescence. Her ancestors have mystical ties to the red panda and whenever Mei gets excited or stressed out — adolescent feelings — she uncontrollably turns into a giant red panda.

Although it was a direct-to-stream Disney+ platform release, the film had a one-week theatrical run at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre. “Turning Red” lead voice actor, Rosalie Chiang, made an appearance during a March 14, El Capitan showing. About working with Pixar, 16 year old Chiang said, “it's such a dream come true, it's such an amazing campus, it's so big and spacious and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.”

Sharing what inspired her to start acting, Chiang said, “Just watching Disney Channel and just watching TV and seeing all the other kids my age being really fun and energetic and having a good time on TV and that's what I wanted to do.”

Ludwig Goransson, composer for “Black Panther”, “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett” series, among others, composed the film’s score. Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell wrote three original songs that were performed by the film’s fictional boy band 4*town, with two of the band members voiced by Jordan Fischer and Finneas.

Disney simultaneously released “Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red,” a documentary focusing on the film’s all-female creative team.

Disney’s decision to pull “Turning Red” from theaters had audiences and Pixar staffers disappointed. Although Disney cited Omicron health and safety concerns as their reason for pulling the film from theaters, a January 2022 study by MorningConsultant.com showed 64 percent of younger audiences said they felt safe and had already returned to theaters. Boxofficemojo.com reported that the top four box office earners in December 2021, were “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Sing 2,” “Encanto,” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,'' proving that audiences for animated and family-friendly films had returned to theaters.

Pixar may finally be granted its chance to return to the big screen, with plans to release the Toy Story spin-off prequel film, "Lightyear," the origin story of Buzz Lightyear, in June 2022.

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