Pixar’s Turning Red breaks the Disney+ global viewership opening record within three days of making its premiere on the streaming platform.
Pixar’s Turning Red breaks the Disney+ global viewership opening record within three days of making its premiere on the streaming platform. Hailing from Bao writer/director Domee Shi in her feature directorial debut, the coming-of-age film centers on Meilin «Mei» Lee, a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl living in Toronto attempting to navigate the struggles of puberty and her strict family. Mei’s life becomes further complicated when one day she transforms into a giant red panda and finds this occurs any time she experiences a state of strong emotion.
Rosalie Chiang leads the cast of Turning Red as Mei alongside Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen and James Hong. Development on the film was first announced in 2018 as Shi was set to write and direct the then-untitled project, making her the first woman and filmmaker in general to solely direct a Pixar film. Turning Red recently debuted on Disney+ to rave reviews from critics and audiences alike and has now set a new bar for the streaming platform thanks to the latter.
Nearly a week after the film first premiered, Disney has revealed that Turning Red has broken the Disney+ global viewership opening record. The streaming platform determines this record based on the total number of hours watched in the first three days. Check out the exciting announcement below:
Thank you to all of the fans around the world who embraced their panda and made Disney and Pixar’s #TurningRed the #1 film premiere on Disney+ around the world! pic.twitter.com/AUNsRVmD37
— Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red (@PixarTurningRed) March 16, 2022
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The reveal that Turning Red has broken Disney+’s global viewership opening record should come as exciting news for those who fell in love with Pixar’s latest but also may not come as much of a surprise. While The Batman continues to dominate at the box office two weeks after its release, theaters have been devoid of any family friendly movies since the new year kicked off, the closest being Channing Tatum’s Dog, though its emotionally heavy experience may have kept many parents feeling weary of taking their children to the film. Additionally, with fellow streaming competition The Adam Project having Ryan Reynolds as its lead, some may have held concerns of material too risqué or hard to follow for their younger viewers.
Turning Red breaking Disney+’s global viewership opening record does also raise a point of curiosity as to how the film would’ve performed if released solely in theaters. With many Pixar employees expressing frustration over its streaming-only release upon its initial announcement, some may find themselves questioning whether the film would’ve reached a larger audience on the big screen or if its Disney+ home was ultimately the better decision for its debut. Regardless of the answer, Turning Red has proven to be another hit for Pixar and will likely continue to grow in its viewership as it is now streaming on Disney+.
Source: Disney/Twitter
