Onward (film)

In July 2017, Pixar announced a "suburban fantasy world" film at the D23 Expo, with Scanlon directing and Rae producing.[6] The film was inspired by the death of Scanlon's father, when he and his brother were younger, and their relationship. He decided to write the story after hearing an audio clip of his father.[15] On December 12, 2018, the title was revealed.[16] In 2019, Headley and Bunin were hired to rewrite the screenplay and story.

On December 12, 2018, Holland, Pratt, Louis-Dreyfus and Spencer were announced as starring in the film.[17] While having recorded most of their lines separately, Holland and Pratt did some of their recording sessions together since, according to Scanlon, "they've worked together before and hung out together".[18] According to Rae, Holland and Pratt improvised some of their lines while recording together.[19] On December 17, 2019, Wong, Waithe and Rodriguez joined the cast of the film.[11] On February 18, 2020, Valderrama, Ullman, Bornheimer, Psarras and Ratzenberger were revealed to have been cast in the film.[12]

On April 16, 2019, Mychael and Jeff Danna were revealed to be the film's composers.[1] On February 12, 2020, Brandi Carlile revealed she recorded the song "Carried Me With You" for the film's end credits. She co-wrote it with Phil and Tim Hanseroth.[20] The film's soundtrack was released on February 28, 2020.[20]

All music is composed by the Dannas, except where noted.

There was a storyboard scene where Ian, Barley, and Wilden are joined with a goat girl in the journey. Ian and the goat girl come across a booth hosted by three evil mermaids. The mermaids sing their mesmerizing song to lure the two into staying in one of three houses put for rent. Ian tries to silence them with the staff but the spell is too weak. When Ian and the goat girl are finally in a trance, the mermaids place them in one of the houses. The house they are in starts to sink into the ground.

The goat girl was omitted because the filmmakers want the film to focus on the relationship between Ian and Barley. The scene itself was removed because the filmmakers felt it was too grim.[21][22]

Onward premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival on February 21, 2020[23] and was released in the United States on March 6.[8] A new short film titled Playdate with Destiny, centered around Maggie Simpson of The Simpsons, appears before the feature film.[24][25] The film was also set to be released in New Zealand, South Korea, Italy and Japan on the same day, but the release was delayed to June 4, 2020 in New Zealand, June 17, 2020 in South Korea, and August 21, 2020 in Italy and Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Onward was released digitally on the night of March 20, 2020 and became available for Disney+ subscribers on April 3, 2020 because of movie theater closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[26] This was just two weeks after the film's theatrical debut and before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run. The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on May 19, 2020.[27] The announcement followed Disney's earlier than planned release of Frozen II on Disney+ as well as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on Digital HD in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.[28] Over its first week of home release, the film was the sixth-most watched on Amazon Prime and second-most on the iTunes Store.[29] In Australia and New Zealand, it was released on Disney+ on April 24, 2020.[30]

Onward grossed $61.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $41.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $103.2 million.[5] The gross of the film was significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced most movie theaters to shut down within 2 weeks after its release.[33][34][35]

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside The Way Back and the wide expansion of Emma, and was projected to gross $45–50 million from 4,200 theaters in its opening weekend.[36] The film held early advance screenings on February 29, and made $650,000 from 470 theaters.[37] It then made $12.1 million on its first day, including $2 million from Thursday night previews. The film went on to debut to $39.1 million, topping the box office but marking the third-ever lowest start for a Pixar film.[38][39] While the film remained in first in its second weekend, it dropped 73% to $10.5 million (the worst-ever second weekend for a Pixar film), and was part of the lowest total-grossing weekend since October 1998, with all films combining for just $55.3 million.[40] In the film's third weekend, due to the mass theater closures around the country, it made $71,000 from 135 locations, mostly drive-in theaters.[41]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 309 reviews, with an average rating of 7.17/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "It may suffer in comparison to Pixar's classics, but Onward makes effective use of the studio's formula – and stands on its own merits as a funny, heartwarming, dazzlingly animated adventure."[42] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[43] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale (tied with Cars 2 for the lowest score received by a Pixar film), and PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.[38]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it three out of five stars, and called the movie "a likable family comedy that finds an easy rhythm without effort" although felt that movie's "attitude towards death" is not radically powerful as in Coco.[44] In a same star review Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said "It’s no Toy Story — but the animation juggernaut’s latest, about two elf brothers on a quest, is still worth your while."[45] James Berardinelli, in his review praised its originality, emotional weight and called it "engaging and enjoyable", and that "There’s something here for everyone", though concluded that it isn't a next Disney/Pixar classic.[46] Ben Travis of Empire Magazine gave the film a five out of five stars and said: "Pixar returns with a great big power-chord of a movie — heart-pumping, resonant, and positively harmonious."[47]

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called Onward a step back for Pixar, giving it two out of four stars. He said, "The story fluctuates between the uninspired and the just plain weird and then gets even weirder." While he praised the animation and said that the movie "begins with an intriguing premise", he concluded that it "doesn't come close to fully fleshing out the possibilities".[48]

The film was banned in the Arab countries of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, as one female cyclops police officer character in the film named Specter (voiced by Lena Waithe) briefly indicates that she is a lesbian. The scene in question is a brief scene in which Colt Bronco is lamenting about how Ian and Barley Lightfoot do not respect him as a father figure. Specter then replies to him by saying, "It's not easy being a new parent—my girlfriend's daughter got me pulling my hair out, okay?"[49][50][51] Homosexual acts are criminalized in these four aforementioned countries, which are predominantly Muslim, although Kuwait does not criminalize female homosexual acts. However, this ban is not universal, and the film has been screened in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Egypt.

In Russia, where the gay propaganda law officially criminalizes the dissemination of LGBT-related content to minors under 18, the Russian dub, handled by Disney Character Voices International, changed the line to "It's not easy being a new parent—my partner's daughter got me pulling my hair out, okay?" instead. The Russian dub also avoided referring to Specter with gender-specific pronouns.[49][50][51]