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All three films went straight to Disney+ during the early 2020s.
By Carolyn Giardina
Tech Editor
Pixar‘s Soul, Luca and Turning Red — which bypassed the big screen and went straight to Disney+ because of the pandemic — will play in theaters for the first time, Disney announced Wednesday.
Soul, Pete Docter’s Oscar-winning 2020 animated film about a middle-school band teacher who is transported to the “Great Before,” will be released in cinemas on Jan. 12. Turning Red, Domee Shi’s 2022 Oscar-nominated movie about a teen who turns into a red panda, debuts Feb. 9, followed by Enrico Casarosa’s Oscar-nominated sea monster story Luca on March 22.
Luca will be paired with Pixar’s classic short For the Birds (2000), which won an Oscar for best animated short. Soul will be preceded by Pixar’s Oscar-nominated 2020 SparkShort Burrow; and Turning Red, with Academy-Award-nominated 2019 SparkShort Kitbull.
Pixar’s first post-pandemic theatrical release was Lightyear in 2022, followed by last spring’s Elemental.
The studio’s next theatrical release will be Inside Out 2, the sequel to its 2015 Oscar-winning film about what goes on inside a child’s head, which is slated to open in June. In the sequel, Riley is now a teen confronted with new emotions.
Disney insiders say there were several reasons for decision to give the three films a theatrical release, including an slowdown in family product next year because of the strikes. It also provides a prime opportunity to plug Inside Out 2.
Pamela McClintock contributed to this report.
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