Turning Red director Domee Shi has revealed she has mixed feelings about the Pixar movie's exclusive Disney Plus launch.
Speaking exclusively to TechRadar ahead of the animated film's March 11 release, Shi disclosed that she had "a lot of emotions" when news broke that Turning Red wouldn't receive a theatrical release.
The Pixar flick was originally supposed to launch in theaters worldwide, before coming to Disney Plus sometime in the future. However, the rapid rise of Covid-19's Omicron variant in late 2021 saw Disney make the decision (on January 7 ) to release Turning Red on its streaming platform.
Pixar employees were reportedly left "shocked and disappointed" (per Insider ) in the wake of the announcement. And that includes Shi and producer Lindsey Collins, who revealed their own feelings towards the move.
"You know, it's a lot of emotions," Shi said. "We made this movie with the intention of it being seen on the big screen but, you know, s**t happens. With Covid, this seems like the best possible way to deliver the movie to the most amount of eyeballs safely in the world."
"If we've learned nothing else over the last two years, every time we think we can anticipate what the next two months will look like, we're wrong," Collins added. "Whatever the decision was going to be, we knew we had to make it now [in early January]. It takes that long to mobilize marketing, press, and everything else.
"The last thing we wanted was to have something out in the world, but nobody able to see it. We're glad Disney Plus came along, because we don't know what we would've done without it. But it still kind of sucks that we can't release this in theaters."
Turning Red will become the third Pixar movie to debut exclusively on Disney Plus. The pandemic's initial emergence in early 2020 didn't affect Onward – the Tom Holland and Chris Pratt-starring film – from launching in theaters, but its box office takings were significantly impacted by the closure of cinemas globally due to the virus. As a result of the pandemic and theaters closing their doors, Soul and Luca became the first Pixar movies to launch exclusively on Disney's streamer, the two films arriving in December 2020 and June 2021 respectively.
Pixar's next animated offering – Lightyear , which stars Chris Evans as the real-life version of the iconic Toy Story Space Ranger – is expected to end this recent trend and launch exclusively in theaters on June 17. It remains unclear, though, if that'll still be the case closer to release.
Set in Toronto in the early 2000s, Turning Red tells the tale of Meilin 'Mei' Lee (Rosalie Chiang), a confident but nerdy Chinese-Canadian schoolgirl with a seemingly perfect life. That is, until Mei starts inexplicably turning into a giant red panda whenever she gets too emotional. Already forced to contend with the onset of puberty and her overbearing mom Ming (Sandra Oh), Mei must learn how to navigate the highs and lows of teenage life while trying to determine how to remove this supposed red panda curse.
For more Disney Plus-based content, read up on why Disney Plus may be about to become cheaper (but with caveats attached). Alternatively, check out the new movies landing on Disney Plus this month , or read up on how to watch the Marvel movies in order .
The Metal Gear 35th anniversary site is fake, Konami confirms
Sorry folks, we've confirmed the Metal Gear 35th anniversary site is a fake.
"This site is not Konami's site," a Konami spokesperson told TRG. "We are currently considering how to deal with this site."
The fake site popped up on April 1, with the landing screen showing a Metal Gear exclamation point with '35th' written below it. Leading some to believe news on a Metal Gear or Metal Gear Solid game is on the way.
The site was suspicious, though, not just because the site appeared on April Fools; it was registered through a proxy protection service called Dreamhost. Konami's other pages are registered with a company called MarkMonitor, so this disparity raised questions.
If you check the site now, it's been updated with details of a 'Metal Gear 35th Anniversary' NFT auction. That wouldn't immediately have raised red flags, as Konami has auctioned NFTs in the past .
But don't be too deflated Metal Gear fans, as it sounds like Konami may have something in the works for the anniversary on July 13. Speaking generally on the Metal Gear 35th anniversary, the spokesperson told TRG: "There is nothing we can say right now."
Could a new Metal Gear game be in the works?
Konami's comments seem to suggest it does have something up its sleeve but whether that's the long-coveted Metal Gear Solid 6 remains to be seen.
A new mainline Metal Gear game isn't completely out of the realms of possibility, after all the developer hasn't abandoned the series, releasing Metal Gear Survive in 2018 – which got mixed reviews.
However, with Hideo Kojima no longer at Konami, we imagine a new Metal Gear game could look quite different from the series we know and love.
Plus, there are plenty of directions the developer could take the series in, given that the Metal Gear games typically don't follow a strict chronology. We could even see a remake of the first few game (or few games) in the series, bringing them to a modern audience, like Ubisoft is doing with the Splinter Cell remake .
We'd be very happy with a remastered version of the original Metal Gear games, maybe with the dialogue voiced by the series' modern-day actors. Perhaps with some tweaks to bring the MSX game into line with the canon of the later entries,
We'll likely learn more about what Konami has planned for the anniversary in the next few months. Let's just hope it's something juicy.
Correction: April 1, 2022 An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated it was Metal Gear Solid's 35th anniversary this year. It will be Metal Gear's 35th anniversary this year.
This 4K projector could replace your gaming TV
The new Optoma UHD55 projector has been heralded as the next best gaming projector for those on a budget - and based on the specs we think the rumors have merit.
This 3,600 lumens, long-throw projector offers an impressive 1,200,000:1 contrast ratio and an image size up to 300-inch. But what about its gaming prowess?
For those of you looking to prioritize image quality, you can game in 4K at 60Hz with a response time of 16ms. Alternatively, those after an improved performance can drop the resolution down to 1080p to boost the refresh rate to a buttery-smooth 240Hz and enjoy a 4ms response time.
That 240Hz mark is a bit overkill. The PS5 and Xbox Series X both top out at 120 fps currently, you’d have to rely on a fairly high-end gaming PC if you want those kinds of numbers.
To top it all off, you can snatch the Optoma UHD55 up for just $1,800 / £1,400 / AU$3,000. This isn’t the cheapest piece of tech in the world but compared with the best 4K projectors we’ve reviewed you could be looking at a bargain.
However, the Optoma UHD55 isn’t perfect. For starters, it only offers HDR10 and HLG, losing out on both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ that offer improved performance and HDR support.
We’re also not convinced it’ll sound too great. The speaker system is only 10W and there’s no mention of Dolby Atmos support on the Optoma store page - so the performance of your soundbar could be limited.
All that being said, the Optoma UHD55 4K projector looks like a nifty piece of tech, and a possible alternative to one of the best gaming TVs if you have the wall space and lighting conditions to make the most of its massive potential screen size.
We haven’t had the chance to review this piece of tech for ourselves yet, but based on what we’ve seen we’d recommend you at least consider this option if you’re looking to upgrade your home cinema setup - especially if you’re a gamer.