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“Everybody has a soul. Joe Gardner is about to find his.”
―Tagline
Soul is an upcoming American 3D computer animated science fantasy musical comedy adventure film produced by Pixar. The film will be directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers, and produced by Dana Murray as Pixar's 23rd feature film, the film's release has been delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. First originally scheduled to be released in the United States on June 19, 2020, then second on November 20, 2020, it will instead be released on December 25, 2020, on Disney+[1].
Joe Gardner is a middle school band teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful gig at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the Great Before, the place where all souls go before being either reincarnated as newborn babies, or transported to the Land of the Dead. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to the Land of the Living before he dies, while also avoiding a soul-counter named Terry, who tries to bring Joe back to the Great Before.[2]
This will be the first Pixar film to have an African-American as the leading character as opposed to a supporting/secondary role for their previous films.
Pete Docter's first Pixar movie to be produced in the 2.39:1 "scope" aspect ratio, unlike his previous films: Monsters, Inc. (2001), Up (2009), and Inside Out (2015), which were produced in the taller 1.85:1 ratio.
This will be the first film to have Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross from Nine Inch Nails compose music for a Pixar film while this will be the second film to be a musical with Jon Batiste providing the songs, the first being Coco.
Thus, it is also the third Pixar film to have it music score composed by two composers after The Good Dinosaur and Onward (both of which are composed by Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna).
Tina Fey frequently collaborates with Amy Poehler, who voiced Joy in Inside Out, which was also directed by Pete Docter.
The Chinese take-out box that appeared on the stock marker's desk is the same one that appeared in previous Pixar films like A Bug's Life, Ratatouille, and Inside Out.
A broccoli pizza from Inside Out appeared among the pizzas when Joe tries to show 22 the joys of life.
Coincidentally this is Pixar's 23rd feature and, according to Pete Docter, the story was born out of the fact that even his now 23-year-old son had personality even as a baby.
On Season 29 of Dancing with the Stars, rapper Nelly and his pro dance partner, Daniella Karagach, danced to the song "It's All Right" from Soul for that season's Disney-themed night. This was on September 28, 2020, three months before Soul was released.
This is the first full-length Pixar film to not be released in theaters, but is instead to be released exclusively on Disney+.
Pixar's first film to be released on Disney+, not counting Onward, as that was released in theaters, but still headed to Disney+ a few weeks after its theatrical run.
Excluding international releases, this is Pixar's first feature-film to be released in December.
This movie is similar to Spies in Disguise: both are from a branch of Disney (Pixar and Blue Sky Studios), both are released on Christmas, both feature an actor who played a Spider-Man role as one of the protagonists (Jamie Foxx, who plays Electro, and Tom Holland, who plays Spider-Man), both feature an African-American man as one of the protagonists, and both feature the protagonist suffering an unnatural transformation (Joe Gardner has his soul separated from his body, and Lance Sterling gets turned into a pigeon).