Pixar has made a name for itself by accompanying their animated features with animated shorts. Recently, the studio has become more diversified with more people of color directing shorts like Sanjay’s Super Team and Bao. Now Disney has found a new home for artists to share some of their animated shorts without anyone having to go to a theater.

Pixar has released a trailer for an all-new Disney+ original called SparkShorts. It is a collection of animated shorts from Pixar Animation Studios “designed to discover new storytellers and explore new storytelling techniques from across the studio.” Check out the trailer below.

Not to be outdone by other soon-to-be-launched streaming rivals like HBO Max and Apple TV+, Disney+ is also sharing what kinds of content will be available on their services, which is set to launch in November.

While these shorts directors may not be among the higher tier Pixar filmmakers like Brad Bird, Pete Docter, or Andrew Stanton, they get a chance to shine through these animated shorts. And a lot of the times, these shorts are a proving ground for both the directors and new technologies that can be used later in animated features. So SparkShorts is a great way to see what kinds of new technologies are being tested and which new rising directors we should be looking out for.

One of these new shorts is called Float. From Pixar writer/producer Bobby Rubio, it follows a young father who must accept that his kid is not like any of the others. And that is just one of the few shorts to look forward to when Disney+ launches.

But one has to wonder, what does this mean for the shorts program theatrically. For a long time — up until Coco and Toy Story 4, at least — Pixar has always paired at least one short with an animated feature. While having SparkShorts on Disney+ means a subscriber can have instant access to Pixar shorts, they were originally designed to be a nice appetizer to the main course. I don’t think this original means that it is the end of that era, but it will be interesting to see which shorts get to be released with a film, and which ones will have to be seen on Disney+. Regardless, it likely means we will have a lot more shorts to look forward to, rather than one or two a year.

Disney+ is to launch in the U.S. and other markets on November 12, 2019. Be sure to click here for more on the streaming service.

Trailer

[Source: Pixar YT]