Disney Delays ‘Soul’ to November, ‘Raya’ to March 2021

Our visit to the cosmic realm and the fantastical land of Kumandra will have to wait a bit longer. In response to the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Disney (via Deadline) is postponing two high-profile animated releases with Pixar’s Soul and Disney Animation’s Raya and the Last Dragon.

Soul, the newest animated think piece from Inside Out‘s Pete Docter, was pushed back five months from its original June release to Thanksgiving on November 20, 2020. The picture will be going up against some strong blockbuster competition during that month including MGM’s No Time to Die and Warner Bros.’ Godzilla vs. Kong.

The new Thanksgiving date was originally for Disney Animation’s fantasy epic Raya and the Last Dragon, which that has been rescheduled of March 12, 2021. This makes a new addition to an increasingly crowded animated spring session, having to currently compete with the likes of Locksmith’s Ron’s Gone Wrong, Skydance’s Luck, and DreamWorks’ The Boss Baby 2.

Raya‘s new release date will make 2021 another instance where Walt Disney Animation Studios releases two animated features in one year, with the second release for an untitled film scheduled for November 24, 2021. We previously saw this release pattern in 2016, with the March release of Zootopia, and the November release of Moana.

In similar news, Deadline also reported that Paramount/Nickelodeon’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run got an additional delay, this time only by one week. That film now releases on August 7, 2020, after Paramount pushed their Mark Wahlberg action flick Infinite to Memorial Day weekend 2021. As of now, Sponge on the Run is the only theatrical animated summer release of 2020.

Please visit our frequently-updated Animation Calendar to keep informed on animated feature delays.

How do you feel about the delays of Soul and Raya and the Last Dragon?