Pixar's 'Soul' Will Now Premiere In November Due To Coronavirus Concerns
The entertainment industry continues to reel from the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic, with Pixar being the latest casualty as it has been forced to move the premiere of their latest movie, “Soul.”
According to Variety, the theatrical release of “Soul” was originally going to be in June. However, theater closures brought about by the coronavirus pandemic has forced the studio to move the movie’s premiere to Nov. 20 instead. Because of the move, another Pixar film, “Raya and the Last Dragon,” has also had to change its release date. What was initially meant to be a Nov. 25 premiere has now been moved to Mar. 12, 2021.
This is the latest shuffling Disney has had to do in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from moving the release dates of “Soul” and “Raya and the Last Dragon,” Disney has also pushed “Mulan,” “Black Widow,” and “The Eternals” to later dates. The new premiere date for “Mulan” is now Jul. 24; “Black Widow” is not set to premiere on Nov. 7. “The Eternals” will now premiere on Feb 2021.
Disney isn’t the only entertainment company that has been forced to move things around when it comes to film releases. Warner Bros. has had to move “In the Heights” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” while Sony has had to move “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “Morbius.” “F9” from Universal and “Top Gun: Maverick” from Paramount have also been moved.
Deadline reports that there were already speculations about changing the release date for “Soul.” since the week before. The outlet also believes the July date for “Mulan” is because Disney believes cinemas will remain closed until July.
This change of premiere date for “Soul” is another blow for Disney. The company has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, hard enough for them to institute far-reaching base salary cuts that are now causing unrest among executives. Disney World has also been forced to furlough 43,000 staffers as the theme park is now indefinitely closed due to the pandemic. Also indefinitely closed is California’s Disneyland.
The entertainment industry, in general, has also been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with the North American box office suffering a $600 million deficit because of theater closures brought about by COVID-19. The global film industry is also likely to lose $5 billion because large markets like South Korea and Japan have had to close moviehouses to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The continued spread of the coronavirus might also mean that there are still tougher times ahead for the entertainment industry/. As per the Apr. 13 report by the World Health Organization, there are now 1,773,084 confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world, with 76,498 of those being new cases.