The news of movies being delayed due to the ongoing global situation has become quite commonplace and even expected, these days. The latest movie to be added to the ever-growing list is Disney and Pixar’s much-anticipatedSoul, which has been moved from the original release date of June 19 and will now debut later this year on November 20.
Soulis centered onJoe Gardner, a middle school music teacher, who has long dreamed of performing jazz music on stage, and finally gets a chance after impressing other jazz musicians during an opening act at the Half Note Club. However, an untimely accident causes Gardner’s soul to be separated from his body and he begins to proceed to a place called The Great Beyond.
Gardner manages to escape to a different place known asThe Great Before, a world where souls develop personalities, quirks, and traits before being sent off to Earth to begin a new life. There, Gardner must work with souls in training at The Great Before, such as 22, a soul with a dim view on the concept of life, in order to return to Earth before his body dies.
Soulis written and directed byUpandInside Out’sPete Docter, and has been co-written and co-directed by Kemp Powers. The moviestars the voices of Jamie Foxxas Joe Gardner, and Tina Fey as 22, as well as Questlove, Phylicia Rashad, Daveed Diggs, and Angela Bassett.
The movie looks to be bringing us a version of the afterlife that only Pixar can, and with an injection of jazz music,Soullooks like another delightful animated venture from the masterful studio. From the sounds of it,Soulwill also be adding itself to the list of Pixar movies that reminded us all we have feelings and that those feelings can sometimes hurt quite a lot.
Disneyhas also announced recently that the upcoming fantasy flickRaya and the Last Dragonwill also be pushed back from November 25 all the way to next year and will now be released on August 15, 2025. An untitled live-action movie that was initially scheduled for that date has now also been removed from Disney’s schedule.
With this scheduling announcement from Disney and the postponement ofSoul, a major movie is now not due to open in theaters until the end of July. Last month, Disney shuffled their release calendar for most of its upcoming movies, pushing the live-action remake ofMulanback to July 24, as well as pushing both of Marvel’s upcoming adventuresBlack WidowandThe Eternalsback to November 7 and February 2021, respectively.
Soulwas, of course, supposed to be the second Pixar movie to debut this year following the urban fantasyOnward, starring Tom Holland and Chris Pratt. Unfortunately, not long after hitting theaters, self-isolation sanctions forced cinemas to close their doors and thusOnwardwas not given the chance to should have been to make an impact. The movie was met with a glowing response from critics and has now been released digitally to Disney+. This comes to us courtesy ofPixar.
