The animated Simpsons short "Playdate with Destiny" begins streaming on Disney+ this week, following its premiere in theaters with Onward. In the 25 years since Pixar released the original Toy Story, audiences have come to expect one of the studio's animates shorts to play before their films in theaters. There've been exceptions, of course; infamously, 2017's Coco was proceeded by the holiday special Olaf's Frozen Adventure before Disney pulled it after numerous complaints. However, the biggest surprise for some may've come with last month's Onward, which arrived with a Simpsons short attached thanks to Disney's purchase of Fox's movie and TV show assets last year.
Titled "Playdate with Destiny", the short revolves around infant Maggie Simpson and her "romance" with another baby she encounters on one of her regular day trips to the local park playground. Like Onward, the short only screened for a brief amount of time before theaters across the world closed down over safety concerns about the coronavirus. Fortunately, those who missed it, but still want to check it, out will be able to do so this weekend... assuming you're subscribed to Disney+, that is.
Disney+ has confirmed "Playdate with Destiny" will stream globally on the service beginning tomorrow, April 10, followed by the release of its predecessor, the 2012 Oscar-nominated Maggie Simpson short "The Longest Daycare", later this month. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has also shared a hand-written note commemorating the event, as you can see below.
Obviously, with theaters shut down because of the ongoing health crisis, it makes sense for Disney to make "Playdate with Destiny" available earlier than expected for those looking for additional entertainment options to stream at home. Onward similarly premiered on Disney+ a week ago and is already doing better than ever on the platform, assuming Google searches and social media trends are anything to go by. The Simpsons brand at large had a rough start on Disney + when it launched in the U.S. last fall, with the show's earlier episodes streaming in the wrong aspect ratio (cropping out many of their best visual gags). While it took longer than many users would've preferred, the streamer now expects to have the problem corrected by sometime next month.
Between that and both "Playdate with Destiny" and "The Longest Daycare" hitting Disney+ this month, Simpsons fans thankfully have something to get excited about while they social distance and self-quarantine at home. They might even have another feature-length film to look forward to at some point in the next couple years. Groening's on the record saying he believes Disney will make another Simpsons movie in the future, and with fair reason; the first one made over half a billion dollars at the box office in 2007. In the meantime, fans still have the actual series and theatrical spinoffs to enjoy.
Source: Disney+