Turning Red

In 2017, Shi had recently completed the Pixar short Bao when Pixar invited her to pitch three ideas for a full-length film. Her proposed concepts were all coming-of-age stories centered on teenage girls. The one that became Turning Red was based on a girl going through a "magical puberty", which Shi wrote based on her own personal experiences. Shi said, "Everyone has been there. Everyone has been thirteen and feeling like they're turning into some wild, hairy, hormonal beast, and I think that's why Pixar was drawn to it".[7] Shi pitched all three concepts, including Turning Red, to Pixar on October 31, 2017.[8] According to Pixar producer Lindsey Collins, who sat in on Shi's pitch meeting, the Pixar staff were drawn to the Turning Red idea as "it was so clear that Domee had such a sense of who these two main characters were, that Mei and Ming were really clear and special and unique, more than any of the other ideas" and that "she had this really personal experience with these two characters that were kind of versions of her own life. That's like the magic equation, right there".[7] The approach of using more personable stories followed from Luca under Pixar's new chief creative officer Pete Docter's oversight, which shifted the direction the studio took with both storytelling and film production.[9] Brenda Hsueh, writer of the subsequent Pixar film Elemental, worked on the film as a consultant to Shi for the ideas.[10]

The film was developed under the working title of Red.[11] Shi was announced as writer and director of an upcoming Pixar full-length film on May 8, 2018, making her the first woman to solely direct a film in the studio.[12][lower-alpha 1] The film's creative leads were also the first all-female team for Pixar, which Pixar's CEO Jim Morris said "happened very organically" rather than by intent.[13] Rona Liu served as production designer, after doing so for Bao. Liu said that working on a feature film was "a dream come true".[14] By November 26, 2018, Shi confirmed that the film was in the early stages of development, with the story still being worked on, and that "[she is] really excited to play in this new 90-minute film format".[15] The title Turning Red was finalized by December 10, 2020.[16][17] According to Morris, Turning Red had one of the fastest development times of a Pixar feature film, taking only four years to complete.[13]

In 2017, Pixar hired Chiang to provide scratch vocals to support the development of the film.[18] Chiang, then only 12 years old, was selected in part because she was a local child actor conveniently based in nearby Fremont, which is only about 35 miles (56 km) from Pixar's Emeryville headquarters.[18] After two years of development, Shi and Collins reached the point where the film was "solid" enough to start casting professional voice actors.[18] Despite listening to various auditions, the two realized they had already fallen in love with Chiang's scratch vocals and could not envision anyone else playing Mei.[18] They escalated the issue to Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter, who personally approved the casting of Chiang in the film's lead role.[18]

During an early 2020 recording session, Shi suddenly surprised Chiang with an additional script page where Shi, reading in character as Ming, offered Chiang the role.[18] This session, right before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, turned out to be their last one conducted in person.[19] To keep production going, Pixar shipped an enormous amount of professional audio equipment to Chiang, who turned one of the rooms in her parents' house into a makeshift recording studio.[19]

Sandra Oh was Shi's top pick for Ming. Besides the fact that Oh was a fellow Canadian, Shi felt Oh could convey the range of complex emotions they wished to portray in Ming.[20]

The film takes place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2002, as confirmed by a production designer in February 2021.[21] As it takes place through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl named Mei Lee, the entire environment has been stylized to convey a specific feeling; Shi described the film's overall look as an "Asian tween fever dream".[2] According to executive producer Dan Scanlon, "It feels more like a very soft, colorful, magical, idyllic, almost youthful version of the city".[4] Shi also considered how video games like Pokémon, EarthBound and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were able to "stylize their world in such an appealing, chunky, cute kind of way".[22] Part of this desired setting was capturing the popularity of boy bands at the turn of the millennium and how teenage girls reacted to them.[23] Pixar animators visited locations around Northern California for inspiration and visual references.[19] They studied red pandas at the San Francisco Zoo, and looked at architecture in Chinatown in San Francisco and the Bok Kai Temple in Marysville.[19]

Shi said that several anime influenced the film, including Sailor Moon, Ranma ½, Fruits Basket, and Inuyasha.[24] To capture these anime influences, hand-drawn 2D animated effects were added atop Pixar's 3D animation.[25] Shi was also inspired by My Neighbor Totoro, in creating an "iconic grabbable giant animal that you just want to rub your face in".[26] Nintendo games, such as Earthbound, Pokémon and The Legend of Zelda, have also been cited as a major influence for the film.[27] Shi also compared the plot of the film to Disney's A Goofy Movie, a similar coming-of-age movie involving a parent and child trying to mend their relationship, with a pop band as part of the film's climax.[26] The film also deals with puberty, though the film does not directly talk of biological changes. For example, Mei's mother mistakes Mei's reaction to her transformation for her first menstruation. Shi said they were "unapologetic" about the discussion of these topics in the film; the title Turning Red is an allegory for menstruation.[28] The color red also reflects other feelings experienced by teenagers, according to Shi, such as embarrassment or lust.[2] Shi and her staff had feared that studio executives would want the scenes referencing puberty removed, but the scenes were accepted.[28]

Liu oversaw the production of the food scenes, as she had done for Bao. They partnered with the non-profit organization Gold House that specializes in promotion of Asian and Pacific cultures to identify what foods to include. For rendering the foods, they were inspired by the approach that Studio Ghibli had done with foods in their works, as well as exaggerating their look in the same manner that Sanrio uses to bring cuteness into their products, and the way the film The God of Cookery showed food in a "dream glow".[29]

The film's music is scored by Ludwig Göransson in his first animated film project, and was recorded within a two-week period after COVID-19 lockdown relaxations.[30][31] The film also featured three original songs written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell: "Nobody Like U," "1 True Love," and "U Know What's Up." These songs were performed in the film by the fictional boy band 4*Town, which O'Connell was a part of. Producer Lindsey Collins said that her child was a fan of Eilish's music, which inspired her to approach Eilish and O'Connell at the start of production. Collins had pitched to their pair using a scrapbook featuring scenes from the film and cutouts of the duo.[32] Walt Disney Records released the soundtrack album digitally and on CD on March 11, 2022.[33] Subsequently, tracks from 4*Town appeared in multiple languages, some of which were performed by boy bands such as Da-iCE (Japanese)[34] and W0LF(S) (Mandarin).[35] The album debuted at number 187 on the Billboard 200 chart on the week of March 21, 2022,[36] and peaked at #87 on the week of April 9, 2022.[37]

Statue of Mei as a red panda inside the CN Tower in Toronto

A first look of the film was shown at the Disney Investor Day on December 10, 2020.[38] The teaser trailer premiered on July 13, 2021, as the official trailer premiered on November 17, 2021.[39][40] In the lead up to the film's release, Disney partnered with Mozilla to promote the film via the Firefox web browser, as red pandas are also known as "firefoxes". Users on mobile and desktop are able to apply custom backgrounds and themes within the browser, respectively. According to Mozilla's chief marketing office Lindsey Shepard, the collaboration gives Mozilla the opportunity "to bring [the] Mozilla ethos to the new generation".[41] One of the red pandas at the San Francisco Zoo was renamed Meilin on the day of the film's release.[42] Air Canada decorated an Airbus A220 with images of Mei and her "red panda form" to fly over Canada promoting the film, and also had a contest for the public to attend the premiere in Toronto and win special prizes.[43] A large statue of Mei as a red panda was placed in Toronto next to the CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium, Roundhouse Park, Scotiabank Arena and the Rogers Centre (formerly known as Air Canada Centre and the Skydome, respectively) where passerby could have their photos taken with the statue.[44] iSpot.tv reported that Disney had spent $23 million on television spots for Turning Red, which was more than what the studio spent on Black Widow, Jungle Cruise ($19.5 million), and Cruella ($12.6 million), and what Netflix spent on its most-watched film, Red Notice ($3.3 million). Since February 21, 2022, the trailer for the film had been the 16th-most-seen TV spot of all time.[45]

Disney licensed several books based on the film, which were released both before and after the U.S. premiere, including novelizations, short stories, a sticker album, a behind-the-scenes book and coloring books.[46] A manga focused on 4*Town, titled 4*Town 4*Real, was released by Viz Media on April 25, 2023.[47][48] On February 27, 2023, it was announced that Red Panda Mei would become a meet-and-greet character at Shanghai Disneyland for a limited time, from March 1 to May 31, 2023.[49]

Turning Red had special screenings that took place in London at Everyman Borough Yards on February 21, 2022, and in Toronto at TIFF Bell Lightbox on March 8, 2022.[50][51] It premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on March 1, 2022.[52] It was originally scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on March 11, 2022, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.[53][54][55] On June 17, 2021, a Pixar insider reaffirmed the film would have a theatrical release after both Soul (2020) and Luca (2021) were assigned direct-to-streaming releases on Disney+ in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[56] However, as the Omicron variant cases rose, on January 7, 2022, the decision was made to shift the film from its theatrical release to its direct-to-streaming release on Disney+ as a Disney+ original. In international markets where Disney+ was not available, it was released theatrically.[57] In February 2022, it was announced that it would play a one-week theatrical engagement at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre from March 11–17, 2022.[58] It also began playing at Manhattan's AMC Empire 25 and Oakland's Grand Lake Theatre the same day it was released to Disney+,[59][60] as well as several Showcase Cinema de Lux venues across the United Kingdom.[61] Disney canceled the Russian release in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 28, 2022.[62] Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red, a 48-minute documentary about the film especially focusing on its all-female creative team, was released on Disney+ the same day.[63][64]

Turning Red was released on digital services on April 26, 2022, and by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on May 3, 2022.[65]

As of September 2022, Turning Red has earned $20.1 million outside the U.S. and Canada.[3] It earned $3.8 million from 12 international markets in the opening weekend, with second-place openings in Saudi Arabia ($920,000), Poland ($430,000) and the United Arab Emirates ($420,000).[66] It earned $2.8 million in its second weekend[67] and $1.7 million in its third.[68] The film is ranked first on the list of "Biggest Money Losers, Based on Absolute Loss on Worldwide Earnings" by film industry data website The Numbers.[69]

According to Samba TV, Turning Red was streamed in 2.5 million U.S. households over its opening weekend, the most-ever for a Disney+ original title.[70] According to Nielsen, Turning Red was the most watched program across all streaming services in the U.S. with 1.7 billion minutes viewed for the week of March 7 to 13, 2022.[71] It continued to hold the top position during March 14 to 20, 2022, with 1.675 billion minutes.[72] According to Nielsen, Turning Red became the second most-watched movie on U.S. streaming services in 2022 with 11.4 billion minutes viewed.[73]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 282 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's consensus reads, "Heartwarming, humorous, beautifully animated, and culturally expansive, Turning Red extends Pixar's long list of family-friendly triumphs".[74] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100 based on 52 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[75]

The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan gave 4 stars out of 4 and concludes: "[The film] delivers a bigger, and in some ways more universal message: It's okay to not always be in control, to let your freak flag fly. To paraphrase Sigmund Freud, sometimes a red panda is just a red panda. And sometimes it's a metaphor for that inner spark of creativity, the flame of originality that is to be cherished, not extinguished. With 'Turning Red,' Shi demonstrates that she's got it, in spades".[76] IGN's Siddhant Adlakha gave a rating of 9 out of 10 and concludes: "A story of magical transformation as a metaphor for personal and cultural change, Turning Red (from Bao director Domee Shi) is Pixar's funniest and most imaginative film in years. It captures the wild energy of adolescence, uses pop stars as a timeless window into puberty, and tells a tale of friendship and family in the most delightfully kid-friendly way".[77] Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson commented that "The film often seems squarely, deliberately, aimed at ... parents instead, offering them a gentle (if busy) reminder that they were young once too, once bursting at the seams with enthusiasm and curiosity and, yes, budding lust."[78] The film was also praised for its realistic depiction of female friendships and their ups and downs,[79] which producer Lindsey Collins credited to having mostly women on the creative team.[80]

The Guardian's Benjamin Lee gave 3 stars out of 5 and concludes: "The journey is slick and diverting, and at times incisive, but Turning Red is yet another Pixar film that coasts rather than glides. Hopefully its next offering can turn into something more".[81] Chicago Sun-Times' Richard Roeper gave 2.5 stars out of 4 and comments that "The problems are mostly with the script, which often requires Meilin to be almost irritatingly obnoxious. Meanwhile, her mother behaves like a monster for much of the story, which takes on an increasingly supernatural element to the point where there's a 'Ghostbusters' homage".[82] World's Collin Carbarino comments that "With Turning Red, Pixar abandons decades of nuanced storytelling and warms over Disney's clichéd advice to follow your heart."[83] The Gospel Coalition's Brett McCracken said that "For all of its merits, the film ultimately advocates a wrongheaded central message under the guise of empowerment: embrace who you are, even your reckless vices and dangerous impulses, and don't let anyone stop you."[84]

CinemaBlend's Sean O'Connell called the focus on a Chinese Canadian girl as "limiting" to a broad audience: "By rooting Turning Red very specifically in the Asian community of Toronto, the film legitimately feels like it was made for Domee Shi's friends and immediate family members. Which is fine – but also, a tad limiting in its scope".[85] The New Yorker's Jane Hu echoed O'Connell's views, accusing the film of relying on Asian stereotypes and of being "hyper-specific and alienating."[86] The review received backlash by members of the press on social media, who called it "sexist" and "racist"; crew and cast members of the movie eventually spoke up on the case. Lead voice actor Rosalie Chiang said the film was meant to appeal to all: "This is a coming of age film, everyone goes through this change ... I think different people of different cultures are going to go through it differently, but at the end of the day, the core messiness and change is something everyone can relate to". As a result of the pushback, CinemaBlend's editor-in-chief Mack Rawden pulled O'Connell's review and apologized publicly for it and that the site had "failed to properly edit" the review before posting; O'Connell also posted his own apology for the review.[87]

The attention drawn by O'Connell's review led to parents and other audience critics to raise further issues with the film due to the character specificity, bringing up concerns that the film, aimed at a family audience, brings up the issues of menstruation, teenage crushes and sexuality, and disobedience towards one's parents, which these people felt were topics best left for parents to discuss with their children on their own.[88][89] Movie critics for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, and Vox argued that these are natural topics that reflect the realities of 13-year-old girls and should not be considered taboo, and praised the film for its honest portrayal of these behaviors.[88][90][89][91]

In 2023, Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail named the film as one of the 23 best Canadian comedy films ever made, acknowledging that it was not a Canadian production but writing that "Turning Red gets a pass because it not only reminds audiences of what Pixar can do when it's not in an Elemental-y slump, but showcases one of this country's brightest, funniest filmmakers, who is surely just getting started."[92]

At the 95th Academy Awards, Turning Red received a nomination for Best Animated Feature.[93] The film's other nominations include seven Annie Awards,[94] a British Academy Film Award,[95] a Critics' Choice Movie Award,[96] and a Golden Globe Award.[97]