Untitled Pixar Musical

[bulgaross]

The studio is also developing its first-ever musical, from “Turning Red” director Domee Shi.
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/mons ... 236681473/

[Sotiris]

Pixar is also developing its first ever musical, from “Turning Red” director Domee Shi, according to people familiar with the matter. “One of the things that brought the initial group together here was a desire to rebel against the traditional Disney musical,” said Collins. “This next generation grew up on Pixar and they’re figuring out their version of rebellion.”

Source: https://www.wsj.com/business/media/pixa ... r-80c57f9d

Q: Is there a title yet for Domee Shi's musical? Perhaps a tentative or internal title?

Ben Fritz: If there is, I wasn't able to find it out unfortunately.

Source: https://x.com/benfritz/status/2030488321949135082

[PatchofBlue]

This is interesting. I feel like this genre barrier was one of the last standing stylistic divisions between the two studios, and now that we're doing away with it at last, it does kind of feel like we're in the wild, wild west.

(Huh. Should Pixar do a western too? ...)

[Disney Duster]

Pixar can do whatever they want. As long as it was cooked up at their studio with their team, it’s theirs. Why not let Pixar try its hand at everything?

Of course, the one thing they should never do is be folded into Walt Disney Animation Studios. That is blasphemy. Sacrilege. I know some people feel differently. But it’s like…well, it just means Disney feature animation is not…sacred to you. I get you don’t feel it’s sacred, but that to me is like when someone doesn’t hold religion sacred so they say God is evil and such.

Not that today’s Disney didn’t already commit sacrilege already with the package features or Dinosaur being made Disney Animated Classics. And then Moana 2 and such. But I will be vocal against further sacrilage.

[DisneyFan09]

Pixar can do whatever they want. As long as it was cooked up at their studio with their team, it’s theirs. Why not let Pixar try its hand at everything?

Of course, the one thing they should never do is be folded into Walt Disney Animation Studios. That is blasphemy. Sacrilege. I know some people feel differently. But it’s like…well, it just means Disney feature animation is not…sacred to you. I get you don’t feel it’s sacred, but that to me is like when someone doesn’t hold religion sacred so they say God is evil and such.

Not that today’s Disney didn’t already commit sacrilege already with the package features or Dinosaur being made Disney Animated Classics. And then Moana 2 and such. But I will be vocal against further sacrilage.

True, Pixar could do anything they want. But remember how the purists whined when Pixar tried to venture into Disney`s territory with Brave a decade ago? How naysayers whined about how it was a proof of how Disney had destroyed Pixar, when the truth was much more complicated than that?

But remember that Disney has done their own blasphemy various times. And the list goes on and on with that.

[Disney's Divinity]

I'm glad Shi is involved. Not only because I like her, but it's a good test for her in the case they ever did just fold PIXAR into WDAS as jusy a sub that produced any further sequels for PIXAR IP. Because those there could work on original films at WDAS instead, as long as they can fit the different vibe. I was thinking the other day that, who knows, Domee Shi on a Disney musical film could be as magical as most of M&C's films were. They had a very creative outlook with a zany sense of humor, too, which made TLM, Aladdin, Hercules, and TP&TF so interesting. Part of it was they approached their films AS films, not "This a girl's film so we have to do this" or "This is a princess musical, so it has to be this." They were inventive within the confines of that type of film, which made them fit with the old films while also feeling fresh and new at the same time.

But they need to have good composers / songwriters, like the Lopezes. P&P were really good on Aladdin and SW. SW in particular makes me think they might be okay solo on an animated Disney musical. Before that, they had a couple songs I liked ("Million Dreams," "Never Enough," "This Is Me," "Speechless"), but they always felt more good in the way a song playing on the radio is good, not really theatrical. "Waiting On a Wish," "Princess Problems," etc. felt much more theatrical than I thought they were capable of. If they could stay more in that lane, I could see them working on an animated musical almost as well as the Lopezes and to a lesser degree Miranda (really more Encanto than Moana).

[Disney Duster]

DisneyFan09, yes, people said Pixar shouldn’t do Brave, but they were wrong, Pixar doesn’t have to listen.

Divinity, Alan Menken said in an interview “Speechless” was his “baby” so I think he wrote that, not Pasek and Paul.

[DisneyFan09]

DisneyFan09, yes, people said Pixar shouldn’t do Brave, but they were wrong, Pixar doesn’t have to listen.

Agreed. People and purists whined about Pixar doing a fairy tale for the sake that it simply wasn`t Pixar`s territory. But so what? Does it mean that Pixar aren`t allowed to make a fairy tale with a Princess? No, Pixar are completely allowed to do so and there`s absolutely nothing wrong by them to make one. And it never meant that Disney destroyed them.

[Disney Duster]

I totally agree, DisneyFan09.

[PatchofBlue]

"Brave" wouldn't be a very effective point of argument to sell me on Pixar borrowing Disney's toys. It doesn't score high on my Pixar ranking at all.

Mind you, I don't think that actually had much to do with Pixar using a more Disney-esque template. I think that a fairy-tale style story under the hand of Pixar might have worked really well, but the end product has some of the sloppiest writing to come out of the studio, and so the whole experiment was just kind of wasted.

I guess we can hope with this film that they won't fire Shi and replace her with some dude who's going to fill the movie with boob and butt jokes.

[Disney Duster]

I didn’t think Brave was that good either, but I’m curious to know what you say is the sloppy writing.