[UPDATE] “Soul”: Pixar’s First Film With Black Leads To Make Exclusive Holiday Debut
“Soul,” the all-new original feature from Pixar Animation Studios, will debut exclusively on Disney+ on December 25, 2020. The film stars Pixar’s first black protagonist and an ensemble featuring an all-star voice cast of Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey alongside Angela Bassett, Questlove, Phylicia Rashad, and Daveed Diggs. The latest movie from Pixar promises to be a bold companion piece to the Oscar-winning ‘Inside Out’ traveling from the adolescent mind to the adult soul.
What is it that makes you…YOU? Pixar Animation Studios’ “Soul” introduces Joe Gardner (voice of Jamie Foxx) – a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before – a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks, and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22 (voice of Tina Fey), who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions.
Watch the new trailer for “Soul”:
“Soul” comes from visionary filmmaker Pete Docter, the Academy Award®-winning director behind “Inside Out” and “Up,” and co-director/writer Kemp Powers, playwright and screenwriter of “One Night in Miami.” It features original jazz music by globally renowned musician Jon Batiste and a score composed by Oscar® winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network”).
“The world can be an exhausting and frustrating place – but it’s also full of unexpected joys, even in seemingly mundane things,” said Docter, director of “Soul” and Chief Creative Officer of Pixar Animation Studios. “ ‘Soul’ investigates what’s really important in our lives, a question we’re all asking these days. I hope it will bring some humor and fun to people at a time when everyone can surely use that.”
Over the last six months, marketplace conditions created by the ongoing pandemic, while difficult in so many ways, have also provided an opportunity for innovation in approaches to content distribution. With over 60 million subscribers within the first year of launch, the Disney+ platform is an ideal destination for families and fans to enjoy a marquee Pixar film in their own homes like never before.
Previously scheduled for theatrical release on June 19, 2020, and then for November 20, 2020, “Soul” will debut on Christmas Day. The film was named an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
Published July 22, 2020
[Extended Trailer] Disney/Pixar First Black-Led Feature “Soul” New Release Date
Although the theatrical debut of Pixar’s “Soul” may have been pushed back from Juneteenth to November 20 due to the pandemic, that didn’t stop Disney from dropping a new trailer (see below), touting the original song, “Parting Ways” (written, produced, and performed by fusion specialist Cody ChesnuTT).
Directed by two-time Academy Award®-winner Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers and produced by Academy Award®-nominee Dana Murray, “Soul” introduces Joe Gardner, a middle-school band teacher whose true passion is playing jazz.
The big-city backdrop proves the perfect place to set a story interwoven with jazz music. Globally renowned musician Jon Batiste composed the jazz score for the New York portion, while Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network”) composed the ethereal score for The Great Before that drifts between the real and soul worlds.
In the film, just when Joe thinks his dream might be in reach, a single unexpected step sends him to a fantastical place where he’s is forced to think again about what it truly means to have ‘soul’. That’s where he meets and ultimately teams up with 22, a soul who doesn’t think life on Earth is all it’s cracked up to be. Jamie Foxx lends his voice to Joe, while Tina Fey voices 22. The predominantly Black cast also includes the voice work of Phylicia Rashad, Angela READ MORE
Published March 16, 2020
[Trailer] Jamie Foxx Is The First Black Lead In A Pixar Movie
For the first time, Pixar is releasing a film with a black lead actor, according to CNN. The name of the movie is Soul and it stars Jamie Foxx alongside Tina Fey, Phylicia Rashad, Daveed Diggs, and Questlove. Soul, which is co-directed by two-time Academy Award winner Pete Doctor and Kemp Powers, is about a middle school band teacher named Joe Gardner, voiced by Foxx, whose real passion is playing jazz. After Gardner falls into a manhole, he ends up in a mystical place and he’s just a soul.
According to The Walt Disney Co. site, Soul introduces Joe Gardner, a middle-school band teacher whose true passion is playing jazz. “I think Joe is having that crisis that all artists have,” says Powers. “He’s increasingly feeling like his lifelong dream of being a jazz musician is not going to pan out and he’s asking himself ‘Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing?’ Joe personifies those questions.”
The film is set in New York City—inviting filmmakers to capture everything they love about the city of dreams. “I was born and raised in New York,” says Powers. “This is the first time Pixar has gone to my hometown and I’ve been so impressed by the amount of energy that goes into making sure that everything is right. When the character’s in Queens, it looks like he’s in Queens. When he’s in Manhattan, it looks like he’s in Manhattan. It’s pretty incredible.”
Disney and Pixar’s “Soul” is slated to debut in theaters on June 19, 2020. The film is produced by Academy Award nominee… READ MORE
Published November 12, 2019
[Trailer] ‘Soul’: Pixar’s First Film With Black Lead Stars Jamie Foxx, Phylicia Rashad
Disney and Pixar have dropped the first trailer for the upcoming animated film, ‘Soul’. The film stars Pixar’s first black protagonist and an ensemble featuring an all-star voice cast of Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey alongside Questlove, Phylicia Rashad, and Daveed Diggs. The latest movie from Pixar promises to be a bold companion piece to the Oscar-winning ‘Inside Out‘ traveling from the adolescent mind to the adult soul.
In ‘Soul’, everyone has their soul trained before they become a person. Middle-school music teacher Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) dreams of becoming a jazz pianist for a band, and, after landing his first gig, he excitedly walks on down a retro-looking New York street and falls into a manhole to another world, where he encounters 22 (Tina Fey), a celestial teenage slacker from You Seminar, who helps him find his way back to Earth.
The timing of the debut couldn’t be better, of course, with Pete Docter succeeding John Lasseter as Pixar’s new chief creative officer, … READ MORE