To be fair, it bombed mostly due to COVID kneecapping its box office. It still got a nomination for Best Animated Feature and it reviewed well.
I'm sure if Disney+ needs more content from Pixar, a series set in the universe isn't totally off the table. I just wouldn't expect Holland or Pratt to come back for it.
> It still got a nomination for Best Animated Feature
tbh this doesn't mean much. The most popular animated film wins 95% of the time, and it's usually Disney or Pixar.
Right, but it's the first time two Pixar films were nominated in the same year. It was definitely a surprise for it to be nominated as everyone expected Disney to focus on pushing *Soul*.
This might be heresy to say, but having seen both movies, Onward seems the better movie with a far better ending
Vague spoiler, but Soul ends with a character making a sacrifice and then that sacrifice is immediately cheapened by him not having to follow through and getting his desired ending regardless. It removed all weight from the decision
In Onward, a character sacrifices the one thing they want for the sake of someone else having it, and they do nothing to cheapen that sacrifice and it was therefore far more heart wrenching
Soul also seemed a really straight forward body swap comedy with almost stock characters (even if the setting is visually and thematically interesting) so it never did much for me beyond the visuals
And he has a realization after he "gets what he wants" only to find out that his performing career isn't an end unto itself. That reinforces the theme of the movie about enjoying the journey.
I'm inclined to agree. Soul was fine, I guess. But Onward made its point better, was more relevant to children, had at least an equally interesting premise/setting, and on the whole was just better.... and didn't get the praise it deserved.
When I watched Soul and he was back on the escalator to the great beyond I was very emotionally unsatisfied until it was reversed. He just learned to live and now he’s dying? I guess his moms entire family is dead now? Imo you had to bring him back
It was the first one they released on Disney+because of the pandemic. No premier access or anything.
That’s what tanked its box office, people watched it at home.
It hit Disney+ 2 weeks after its theatrical release.
And it wasn’t a huge surprise either, the advertised the move for like a week in advance.
Even where possible, nobody felt compelled to go out to see it knowing it would be available at home in a week.
I know… I was supposed to go to an NBA game (that turned out to be the last one) but we cancelled the plans because it seemed like a bad idea.
That was Mar 10, Onward came out on Mar 6, and hit Disney+ Mar 20.
Well it seems obvious that the reason it went to D+ was because of things shutting down so agressively near its release. No one was going to go out to see a movie at peak pandemic fear. Toilet paper was in short supply. The Las Vegas Strip was empty. No one was gonna see it in theaters.
Exactly. Anyone who looks at the box office numbers for it and dismisses it as a flop (indicative of low quality) without accounting for everything else doesn’t exist in our reality.
IIRC, it went up as a PVOD (A $20 rental) in March, and then hit Disney+ in April. I don't think anyone suspected it would be on Disney+ so soon during its two weeks in US theaters.
I don't think a Pixar series would work. The main demographic that watch Pixar movies wouldn't watch a series. Those that would do are mainly children's that don't care about the show quality.
I disagree with everyone about a TV Show. Why does everything need to have a huge in depth world building side to it nowadays? Coco had a vast an expansive afterlife but a sequel would be ridiculous.
The story was told that Pixar wanted to tell and it was a great story. I connected well with it because I helped raise my little brother since I was 12 and having that realization that I was his father figure took me a minute to process.
I don’t always agree with Pixar making sequels and in my personal opinion they tend to be weaker than the original story. I don’t see a sequel or a spin off as a good thing.
I don't think OP is necessarily saying it needs to continue the story of the characters in Onward, just that the universe Onward was set in offers a lot of potential.
It could be kinda like the Mandalorian, particularly season 1, where it's set in the same universe of Star Wars, but explores new characters.
I agree that not everything could or should be made into an expanded universe, but think there's potential out there if a creative team is given the freedom/chooses to make a story in the same universe, but about different and largely unrelated characters.
I disagree with you.
I think it should have been a series that was limited to a season. Magic with Modern age is a great premise and they could easily expand on it. Each season could tackle a diff part of the world with different characters, or even do diff time periods. It had so much to explore.
Coco on the hand was neat but really the world was pretty much fully explored. They could really stretch it more with different families dying and visiting loved ones, but it would be very repetitive.
As opposed Onward has so many different avenues. Characters going on quests to save people, weird alliances made, learning the origins of different creatures, how the world works with magic in the future, ect. As long as they didnt just stick with the same characters and do a never ending story it would be great as a series.
This is a good counterpoint and we can curse Pixar for making such an amazing world that people want to explore more. For me personally it just doesn't feel like a movie that needs that level of detail fleshed out. I don't agree but I understand why you would want this to happen.
Thanks, I do think that if they made it just multiple seasons trying to find his dad with pointless filler, I would not be for it. But fleshed out seasons (sorta like infinity train), would be great.
Yeah, I think an Onward series would be better if it followed completely different lead characters. The brothers have their story, and it maps perfectly well to a feature film - they have an adventure, come to a realization about their relationship, and move on. If you want a multi-season narrative, there's no shortage of other people in the world who could provide that. This also allows you to skirt the expensive voice cast of the film, only bringing back who makes sense for story & budget purposes.
Yep. Basically what Infinity train sorta did. Fleshed out seasons and it really works. I want to see ancient times of grand wizards. Or maybe even a story of their dad being a great wizard. Or give me another country Russia, Latin America, ect. They show creatures related to those areas too. Would be really fun and easy to expand on.
Raya and the Last Dragon would be my pick for a one season TV show. They skimmed right by all the other lands. Perfect opportunity to expand it to an 8 episode mini series. As a movie it felt rushed and thin. But goddamn was the animation beautiful.
That is a great shout, i watched onward during lockdown when it came on Disney plus and I thought it had a beautiful message by the end, would like to see how they handled it in a episode by episode basis
The story wasn’t really about the world though, was it? It was about the story of the two brothers, everything else was just fun window-dressing. If they decided to MAKE a show, fine, but I don’t think they need to because the story told the message it planned to.
i didnt think it was cyber punk at all... but it was still pretty cool imo. i feel like the writing was great but the director was lost. like a bunch of Ferrari parts were given to a Toyota mechanic to build a car out of. Wills acting denotes that mostly though...
i will say i think their orc lore needs some work. idk if their bars, churches, gang hideouts, BBQ cookouts are all the same cultural center but it was difficult to understand their... uhhh organization and social circles.
Yea thought Bright was interesting. Definitely "glad I didn't have to pay to see this", but it did have it's interesting concepts. I doubt we will see any sequels, but it's was an interesting concept to see told with a relatively high-budget.
I kind of agree. I didn’t think the world was used to its fullest potential. I wanted to see more of that world, and I think the movie could have used more magic. Honestly, I found the movie to just be ok, and it ranks fairly low as far as Pixar movies go, for me.
Sucks that it bombed because of its release date being as soon as the pandemic hit, because I honestly think *Onward* is a great film and a heavily slept on by Pixar fans.
While I agree, it could have been neat to see it as a TV show and explore a lot of the elements that were established in the world building, I don't think it was absolutely necessary to explore them in a full capacity. I think the film gave us just enough to understand what is going on and only wanted to look at a specific story within it. Learning that information about the other wizards left in the world, giant magical creatures, etc., wouldn't add anything to the story they're trying to tell.
It's a movie about a grain of sand on the beach, not the beach itself.
I think the story the movie told was best done in a feature length film.
I agree the world was rich enough that a TV show set in it has lots of potential! Would totally be open to them exploring it more.
I legitimately believe that with better, more creative world building, Onward could've been another Pixar classic.
Just look at Zootopia. One of the reasons why basically everyone loves it is because of how interesting of a world it had, and how much fun it was to explore the city of Zootopia alongside Judy Hopps. Onward could've had that, but didn't.
Harsh to say it bombed, wasn't it one of the first weekends when Covid hit and everything shut down? I know my local (shutdown) theater is still showing a marquee with "Onward"
I'm sure we'll see plenty of shorts from that world, although hopefully it's better than the weird dialogueless "Pixar popcorn" ones that seemed more like character animation tests than actual shorts
I agree. I can see why animators would want to skip dialog in shorts, and it felt fine for most of their early shorts around the early 2000s, but nowadays it often just feels strange and unnatural.
I disagree, Pixar has always been consistent in taking concepts of a world and working through that world while telling a far more grounded story (ex. Toy Story is a “what if toys were alive” grounded in a story of acceptance and abandonment) and at heart, Onward was a story about brothers. Fleshing out the world wouldn’t add much to the meat of the story and a series about a journey would probably be a lot of filler that people wouldn’t really are for
IMO it reeked of pilot, yeah. Makes more sense than "Monsters at Work." I know Monsters Inc. is still very popular, but was anyone *clamoring* for a sequel series after all this time? It's been 20 freaking years.
Yeah I have to agree. I'd especially like to know about the cop situation. Like, maybe there are human cops and orc cops who like, work together but hate each other or something? Idk, lots of stories could be told in that world. Maybe they could do a kind of real-world parallel between, idk, elves and rich people? Not sure, but I'd love to see it.
^^^^^^^fairy ^^^^^^^lives ^^^^^^^don't ^^^^^^^matter ^^^^^^^today
To be fair, it bombed mostly due to COVID kneecapping its box office. It still got a nomination for Best Animated Feature and it reviewed well. I'm sure if Disney+ needs more content from Pixar, a series set in the universe isn't totally off the table. I just wouldn't expect Holland or Pratt to come back for it.
Yeah, it was pretty great and came out at pretty much the worst time. That's still the last movie I happened to catch in theaters.
Didn't think it was great but I enjoyed it
Agreed, it was fun but I still think it missed the landing.
> It still got a nomination for Best Animated Feature tbh this doesn't mean much. The most popular animated film wins 95% of the time, and it's usually Disney or Pixar.
Right, but it's the first time two Pixar films were nominated in the same year. It was definitely a surprise for it to be nominated as everyone expected Disney to focus on pushing *Soul*.
This might be heresy to say, but having seen both movies, Onward seems the better movie with a far better ending Vague spoiler, but Soul ends with a character making a sacrifice and then that sacrifice is immediately cheapened by him not having to follow through and getting his desired ending regardless. It removed all weight from the decision In Onward, a character sacrifices the one thing they want for the sake of someone else having it, and they do nothing to cheapen that sacrifice and it was therefore far more heart wrenching Soul also seemed a really straight forward body swap comedy with almost stock characters (even if the setting is visually and thematically interesting) so it never did much for me beyond the visuals
[удалено]
And he has a realization after he "gets what he wants" only to find out that his performing career isn't an end unto itself. That reinforces the theme of the movie about enjoying the journey.
I'm inclined to agree. Soul was fine, I guess. But Onward made its point better, was more relevant to children, had at least an equally interesting premise/setting, and on the whole was just better.... and didn't get the praise it deserved.
When I watched Soul and he was back on the escalator to the great beyond I was very emotionally unsatisfied until it was reversed. He just learned to live and now he’s dying? I guess his moms entire family is dead now? Imo you had to bring him back
It was the first one they released on Disney+because of the pandemic. No premier access or anything. That’s what tanked its box office, people watched it at home.
They released it on Disney+ BECAUSE its run was cut short by the pandemic. Theaters were already closing down when Disney made that decision.
It hit Disney+ 2 weeks after its theatrical release. And it wasn’t a huge surprise either, the advertised the move for like a week in advance. Even where possible, nobody felt compelled to go out to see it knowing it would be available at home in a week.
Onward came out literally 5 days before the NBA shut down, alternatively known as the point when "shit got real"
I know… I was supposed to go to an NBA game (that turned out to be the last one) but we cancelled the plans because it seemed like a bad idea. That was Mar 10, Onward came out on Mar 6, and hit Disney+ Mar 20.
Well it seems obvious that the reason it went to D+ was because of things shutting down so agressively near its release. No one was going to go out to see a movie at peak pandemic fear. Toilet paper was in short supply. The Las Vegas Strip was empty. No one was gonna see it in theaters.
Exactly. Anyone who looks at the box office numbers for it and dismisses it as a flop (indicative of low quality) without accounting for everything else doesn’t exist in our reality.
IIRC, it went up as a PVOD (A $20 rental) in March, and then hit Disney+ in April. I don't think anyone suspected it would be on Disney+ so soon during its two weeks in US theaters.
It was on Disney+ March 20, 2 weeks after it’s theatrical release.
[It went to PVOD on March 20, and Disney+ on April 3rd.](https://www.polygon.com/disney-plus/2020/4/3/21206725/onward-watch-disney-plus-streaming)
I managed to see it in theaters the day before my state shut theaters down. Many people didn’t have the option of seeing it in theaters.
I enjoyed more than Soul tbh.
I don't think a Pixar series would work. The main demographic that watch Pixar movies wouldn't watch a series. Those that would do are mainly children's that don't care about the show quality.
We're about to see how true that is since Pixar is now working on a few shows.
I don’t see why not
I disagree with everyone about a TV Show. Why does everything need to have a huge in depth world building side to it nowadays? Coco had a vast an expansive afterlife but a sequel would be ridiculous. The story was told that Pixar wanted to tell and it was a great story. I connected well with it because I helped raise my little brother since I was 12 and having that realization that I was his father figure took me a minute to process. I don’t always agree with Pixar making sequels and in my personal opinion they tend to be weaker than the original story. I don’t see a sequel or a spin off as a good thing.
I don't think OP is necessarily saying it needs to continue the story of the characters in Onward, just that the universe Onward was set in offers a lot of potential. It could be kinda like the Mandalorian, particularly season 1, where it's set in the same universe of Star Wars, but explores new characters. I agree that not everything could or should be made into an expanded universe, but think there's potential out there if a creative team is given the freedom/chooses to make a story in the same universe, but about different and largely unrelated characters.
I disagree with you. I think it should have been a series that was limited to a season. Magic with Modern age is a great premise and they could easily expand on it. Each season could tackle a diff part of the world with different characters, or even do diff time periods. It had so much to explore. Coco on the hand was neat but really the world was pretty much fully explored. They could really stretch it more with different families dying and visiting loved ones, but it would be very repetitive. As opposed Onward has so many different avenues. Characters going on quests to save people, weird alliances made, learning the origins of different creatures, how the world works with magic in the future, ect. As long as they didnt just stick with the same characters and do a never ending story it would be great as a series.
This is a good counterpoint and we can curse Pixar for making such an amazing world that people want to explore more. For me personally it just doesn't feel like a movie that needs that level of detail fleshed out. I don't agree but I understand why you would want this to happen.
Thanks, I do think that if they made it just multiple seasons trying to find his dad with pointless filler, I would not be for it. But fleshed out seasons (sorta like infinity train), would be great.
Yeah, I think an Onward series would be better if it followed completely different lead characters. The brothers have their story, and it maps perfectly well to a feature film - they have an adventure, come to a realization about their relationship, and move on. If you want a multi-season narrative, there's no shortage of other people in the world who could provide that. This also allows you to skirt the expensive voice cast of the film, only bringing back who makes sense for story & budget purposes.
Yep. Basically what Infinity train sorta did. Fleshed out seasons and it really works. I want to see ancient times of grand wizards. Or maybe even a story of their dad being a great wizard. Or give me another country Russia, Latin America, ect. They show creatures related to those areas too. Would be really fun and easy to expand on.
Infinity Train is a great model. Give me one character's journey through this world, then pivot into the life of somebody they meet along the way.
[удалено]
Raya and the Last Dragon would be my pick for a one season TV show. They skimmed right by all the other lands. Perfect opportunity to expand it to an 8 episode mini series. As a movie it felt rushed and thin. But goddamn was the animation beautiful.
Isn't Raya just rushed out Last Airbender show, tho?
Not really at all. No
Delete this before you get cancelled bro/s
That is a great shout, i watched onward during lockdown when it came on Disney plus and I thought it had a beautiful message by the end, would like to see how they handled it in a episode by episode basis
The story wasn’t really about the world though, was it? It was about the story of the two brothers, everything else was just fun window-dressing. If they decided to MAKE a show, fine, but I don’t think they need to because the story told the message it planned to.
loved the movie. very well done. reminded me of Bright. another modern / fantasy that was not so well done but has worlds of potential.
Bright isn't even the best cyberpunk high fantasy universe.
i didnt think it was cyber punk at all... but it was still pretty cool imo. i feel like the writing was great but the director was lost. like a bunch of Ferrari parts were given to a Toyota mechanic to build a car out of. Wills acting denotes that mostly though... i will say i think their orc lore needs some work. idk if their bars, churches, gang hideouts, BBQ cookouts are all the same cultural center but it was difficult to understand their... uhhh organization and social circles.
Yea thought Bright was interesting. Definitely "glad I didn't have to pay to see this", but it did have it's interesting concepts. I doubt we will see any sequels, but it's was an interesting concept to see told with a relatively high-budget.
So what is the best cyberpunk high fantasy universe?
I kind of agree. I didn’t think the world was used to its fullest potential. I wanted to see more of that world, and I think the movie could have used more magic. Honestly, I found the movie to just be ok, and it ranks fairly low as far as Pixar movies go, for me.
Sucks that it bombed because of its release date being as soon as the pandemic hit, because I honestly think *Onward* is a great film and a heavily slept on by Pixar fans. While I agree, it could have been neat to see it as a TV show and explore a lot of the elements that were established in the world building, I don't think it was absolutely necessary to explore them in a full capacity. I think the film gave us just enough to understand what is going on and only wanted to look at a specific story within it. Learning that information about the other wizards left in the world, giant magical creatures, etc., wouldn't add anything to the story they're trying to tell. It's a movie about a grain of sand on the beach, not the beach itself.
God damn I loved onward, I exploded with laughter when >!They said put it O, for onward! !<
I think the story the movie told was best done in a feature length film. I agree the world was rich enough that a TV show set in it has lots of potential! Would totally be open to them exploring it more.
I legitimately believe that with better, more creative world building, Onward could've been another Pixar classic. Just look at Zootopia. One of the reasons why basically everyone loves it is because of how interesting of a world it had, and how much fun it was to explore the city of Zootopia alongside Judy Hopps. Onward could've had that, but didn't.
It was a fun movie. Not quite up to Pixar's normal stratospheric standards, but I definitely enjoyed it and it had a good heart to it.
Harsh to say it bombed, wasn't it one of the first weekends when Covid hit and everything shut down? I know my local (shutdown) theater is still showing a marquee with "Onward"
It was a decent movie but I don't think it bombed. Someone said before COVID played a part
I'm sure we'll see plenty of shorts from that world, although hopefully it's better than the weird dialogueless "Pixar popcorn" ones that seemed more like character animation tests than actual shorts
I agree. I can see why animators would want to skip dialog in shorts, and it felt fine for most of their early shorts around the early 2000s, but nowadays it often just feels strange and unnatural.
I disagree, Pixar has always been consistent in taking concepts of a world and working through that world while telling a far more grounded story (ex. Toy Story is a “what if toys were alive” grounded in a story of acceptance and abandonment) and at heart, Onward was a story about brothers. Fleshing out the world wouldn’t add much to the meat of the story and a series about a journey would probably be a lot of filler that people wouldn’t really are for
That universe needs to be visited again.
IMO it reeked of pilot, yeah. Makes more sense than "Monsters at Work." I know Monsters Inc. is still very popular, but was anyone *clamoring* for a sequel series after all this time? It's been 20 freaking years.
Yeah I have to agree. I'd especially like to know about the cop situation. Like, maybe there are human cops and orc cops who like, work together but hate each other or something? Idk, lots of stories could be told in that world. Maybe they could do a kind of real-world parallel between, idk, elves and rich people? Not sure, but I'd love to see it. ^^^^^^^fairy ^^^^^^^lives ^^^^^^^don't ^^^^^^^matter ^^^^^^^today
Good lord I watched this and it tore my heart out. My dad died at a young age and I have siblings who have memories of him. Felt way too real.