Hoppers' Release Marks Six-Year Anniversary of Onward

Hoppers was released on March 6, 2026. Directed by Daniel Chong, the film follows Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Piper Curda), a young girl who participates in an experimental program that lets her transfer her consciousness into a mechanical bear to communicate with animals; critics have responded positively.

The date carries extra weight: it falls exactly six years after Onward opened on March 6, 2020. Onward, starring Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, had been positioned as the start of a return to high‑concept original films but arrived one week before COVID‑19 forced theaters to close; it opened with $39.1 million and finished with $61 million domestically before arriving on Disney+ on April 3, 2020.

The pandemic reshaped Pixar’s distribution and audience expectations. Soul, Luca and Turning Red moved to Disney+—often without an extra fee—which affected morale at the studio and shifted how viewers approached new releases; Turning Red was pulled a month before its planned theatrical debut over Omicron concerns.

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