Pixar’s Pandemic-Era Movies ‘Soul,’ ‘Turning Red’ and ‘Luca’ to Get 2024 Theatrical Releases

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.

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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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