Disney and Pixar's Onward will become available to buy digitally tonight, ahead of its premiere on Disney+ in the U.S. in April. Pixar's first original animated feature since Coco in 2017, the movie stars Tom Holland and Chris Pratt as a pair of elf brothers in an urbanized fantasy setting who set out to bring their late father back for a day by completing a magical spell he left behind for them. For the most part, critics and moviegoers agree it's not Pixar's best work, but still has the imagination, humor, and heart people have come to expect from them. Unfortunately, its box office prospects went up in flames when the COVID-19 outbreak rapidly escalated less than a week after it premiered.
With theaters around the world closing down to avoid contributing to the virus' spread, studios have been announcing early release dates for their late February and early March movies left and right over the past week. Disney started the trend last weekend when it released Frozen II on Disney+ three months early and made The Rise of Skywalker available to purchase digitally three days ahead of time. People have been anticipating a similar announcement for Onward - and today, it finally arrived.
In a press release, Disney and Pixar announced that Onward will be available to buy digitally and on Movies Anywhere for $19.99 beginning tonight at 5 pm PST/8 pm EST, ahead of its release on Disney+ on April 3 in the U.S. Onward director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae also issued a statement about the news, which you can read below.
“While we’re looking forward to audiences enjoying our films on the big screen again soon, given the current circumstances, we are pleased to release this fun, adventurous film to digital platforms early for audiences to enjoy from the comfort of their homes."
Given it only opened in theaters two weeks ago, it makes financial sense for Disney to release Onward digitally before making it available for anyone with a Disney+ subscription to watch (again, in the U.S. only) early next month. While it premiered with an unusually low box office opening for a Pixar movie, the film probably would've made it to profitability eventually, had the coronavirus pandemic not struck. Instead, its digital purchases will act to cushion the blow for Disney, commercially speaking. Anyone who's already seen Onward and/or isn't necessarily inclined to buy it, but is already signed up for Disney+, won't have to wait that much longer to watch it from home for "free", either.
However, just because Disney went this route with Onward doesn't mean they're going to be doing the same thing with delayed March, April, and May movies like Mulan and Black Widow. The studio was stuck between a rock and a hard place when it came to Pixar's latest film; having already released Onward in theaters, there wasn't much they could do to improve their profit margin at this point, other than make it available to purchase digitally. Considering something like Black Widow could potentially gross over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, it wouldn't make even remotely financial sense for Disney to drop it on Disney+ and forgo a theatrical run entirely in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. So for now, everyone will have to wait to see the movies delayed by the coronavirus in theaters when things return to normal... whenever that ends up being.
Source: Disney/Pixar