Having had a lot of live action remakes and animated sequels recently, Disney is going all-out for new stories in 2020 and the Soul UK release date (more details below) will be its second big film of the year. It’s one of three original animations coming out with Raya And The Last Dragon planned for release over the winter holidays, and Onward around the Easter break, so it’s going to be interesting to see if any of them go on to be instant classics like Frozen, Up and Moana.
While Raya And The Mountain Dragons is a Walt Disney Animated Studios production, Soul is a Disney Pixar film and with Onward on the cards this year too, there’s a lot of original material to look forward to. However, Soul looks like it might be the most unique of the three as it centres on some fairly challenging concepts.
The plot tells the story of middle school music teacher Joe Gardener, so straight away you can tell that it’s not going to be your average animated adventure. His lifelong dream is to play jazz music on stage, but when he finally gets his big break he has an accident that separates his soul from his body, stopping him from making his dream a reality.
If that isn’t heavy enough, he finds himself in soul form in a place called the You Seminar where souls are mentored to get ready to be transferred into a new born baby. It’s pretty surreal, although I guess if you’re a reincarnationist it’s just life. Either way it’s a pretty big topic to pick for the Pixar flick, which should make interesting viewing when the release date rolls around.
Cast
Unlike Raya And The Last Dragon, there are a couple of the main Soul cast that are fairly well-known with Jamie Foxx voicing the lead character Joe Gardener. His You Seminar pal and cynical trapped soul 22 is played by Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock game.
We’ll update you with more details about the cast as they’re confirmed.
Soul UK release date
The Soul UK release date is scheduled for Friday the 19th June 2020, which gives it a very good chance of being the big family film out over the summer, although a lot will depend on how well the afterlife spin goes down. It’s not the only family flick out over the summer as there will also be Minions 2 a few weeks later and the Disney live action film Jungle Cruise, which has a release date later in July.
With the summer on the big screen it’ll then be set up to come out on DVD, Blu-ray and digital release with plenty of time to spare for Christmas 2020.
At the moment, there’s nothing really significant out in cinemas on the same weekend, so Soul has got a pretty clear run at the box office crown. It’s closest big name competition is Wonder Woman 1984, which has a release date of the 5th June 2020, so that shouldn’t be too much of a barrier for the Disney Pixar film.
You can follow us on Twitter to see more news and updates on upcoming animated films, and you can see more on the film in the run up to the release with the official Disney Pixar Twitter page at https://twitter.com/Pixar.
Age rating and parents guide
As a Disney Pixar animated film Soul will probably pick up a U age rating from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in the UK, but that won’t be confirmed until closer to the release date. However, there have been cases of Disney animations getting PG rankings like Frozen, despite the fact that Frozen 2 was a U, and Toy Story, despite all the rest of the sequels picking up U certifications.
The heavier subject matter might push it up, but there doesn’t look like there’s going to be any violence or language issues if the trailer is anything to go by, so it’s doubtful. The biggest consideration from a parents guide point of view is the afterlife subject matter.
We’ll update you with more details on Soul as it gets confirmed by Disney Pixar. You can also check out our movie news section to keep tabs on the latest upcoming flicks, or visit the Pixar website at https://www.pixar.com.
