Lightyear is coming to Disney+ in August, and while it hasn’t been a success in theaters, it could have a much brighter future on the platform, although that’s also a problem for Pixar. Various studios have sprung up in the animation world over the years, but Pixar is still the leader in this field. The studio continues to offer its audience at least one movie a year, and in 2022 there were two completely different releases: Turning Red, which was released directly on Disney+, and Lightyear, the first Pixar film released in theaters after Onward in 2020. .
There was a lot of speculation and confusion about how Lightyear is related to the Toy Story series, since it does not include the rest of the toys and focuses only on Buzz Lightyear, but the introductory title page quickly clarified this by showing that Lightyear is a movie that young Andy watched in 1995 and made it a fan of Buzz Lightyear. Thus, the film tells the story of space ranger Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans), who is trying to find his way home after being landed on a hostile planet with his commander and crew. His attempts to return home force him to jump many years into the future, where he meets a new team and meets the evil Emperor Zurg (James Brolin).
Related: Lightyear Makes the Buzz/Zurg Storyline from “Toy Story 2” Weirder
Unfortunately, Lightyear didn’t have the success Pixar had hoped for, and even its connection to the Toy Story saga didn’t help its box office. “Light Year” is the lowest—rated movie in the Toy Toys series, and it also didn’t have box office receipts, but it could have a much better future on Disney+, and it really will be a hit, although it will be a problem for Pixar after its last four films. the films were sent to Disney+ and found great success there.
Pixar deserves to be bigger than the Disney+ studio (but can it be now?)
Lightyear became a box office bomb due to various factors, such as a story unrelated to the audience and its references to “Toy Story” that seem strained, but it may also be that people just didn’t want to watch it in theaters after the last part. Four Pixar films have been released straight to streaming. Thus, Lightyear may finally find its audience when it comes out on Disney+ on August 3, and while this will obviously be beneficial for Lightyear, it will only exacerbate Pixar’s current problem, and it will be harder to deal with. As mentioned earlier, Pixar’s most recent films have been shipped directly to Disney+ due to the coronavirus pandemic, starting with “Forward,” which was released digitally just two weeks after its theatrical debut. Soul, Luca and Turning Red either missed the theatrical release entirely or got a limited release, but its biggest audience was found on Disney+. So Lightyear was supposed to be Pixar’s triumphant return to the big screen, but things didn’t go as planned.
Unlike other Disney+ releases, such as “Mulan”, “Black Widow” and “Cruella”, Pixar films were not released in Premier Access and were free for all subscribers, which was definitely much more convenient and accessible for viewers. The release of Pixar films on Disney+ has worked well so far, but this has prevented their return to theaters, as seen with Lightyear, which did not seem necessary as a theatrical run, leading to it becoming one of the few box office bombs for Pixar. While streaming won’t kill theatrical releases, Pixar is facing a big problem due to its increasing focus on Disney+, which is unfair to a studio that has been a pioneer in the animation world and has consistently produced high-quality films and short films. for decades. While it may be difficult for Pixar to recover and successfully return to theaters after Lightyear, it’s not too late for that, but it will take time for viewers to get used to watching Pixar movies on the big screen and remember that these are stories created for viewing in theaters as a full-fledged cinematic experience.
