NEW YORK – The Pixar film “Soul” will skip theaters and instead premiere on Disney+ on Christmas, the Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday, sending one of the fall’s last big movies straight to streaming.
The successive delays of the film industry's would-be blockbusters has only made the dire circumstances of movie theaters more acute.
Without aid, the organization said, 69% of small and mid-sized movie theater companies will close or go bankrupt.
“The stark reality is that many movie theaters will not be able to open again if they don’t receive government help,” says Esther Baruh, director of government relations for the association.
It recently announced that it would lay off 28,000 workers, most of them at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.