'Turning Red' to have a direct digital release in March

Pixar's upcoming film 'Turning Red' is skipping theatres and will have a direct digital debut exclusively on Disney Plus on March 11. The news was announced by Disney and it will be free for subscribers. The family-friendly animated film follows 'Soul' and 'Luca' as fellow Pixar releases that went straight to the streaming platform during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 'Toy Story' spinoff 'Lightyear', starring Chris Evans, is still slated to release in theatres on June 17, reports variety.com.

"Disney Plus subscribers around the world enthusiastically embraced Pixar's Academy Award-winning 'Soul' and the critically-acclaimed 'Luca' when they premiered exclusively on the service, and we look forward to bringing them Pixar's next incredible feature film 'Turning Red'," said Kareem Daniel, chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in a statement.

"Given the delayed box office recovery, particularly for family films, flexibility remains at the core of our distribution decisions as we prioritise delivering the unparalleled content of The Walt Disney Company to audiences around the world."

'Turning Red' follows Mei Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), a confident, dorky 13-year-old who turns into a giant red panda when she gets overly excited, which is incredibly easy to do as an excitable youngster.

The voice cast includes Sandra Oh, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Orion Lee, Wang Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen and Addie Chandler.

Billish Eilish and Finneas O'Connell wrote original songs for the film, which will be performed by the fictional band 4*Town. O'Connell, Jordan Fisher, Josh Levi, Topher Ngo and Grayson Villenueva play the band members.

Domee Shi, who created the adorable Pixar short 'Bao', directs the film, which is produced by Lindsey Collins.

'Turning Red' marks Shi's directorial debut and also the first Pixar movie to be solo directed by a woman.