{"id":43743,"date":"2026-04-12T00:31:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T16:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=43743"},"modified":"2026-04-12T00:31:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T16:31:40","slug":"pixar-canceled-a-female-led-movie-that-was-similar-to-kpop-demon-hunters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=43743","title":{"rendered":"Pixar Canceled a Female-Led Movie That Was Similar to KPop Demon Hunters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><u>Pixar<\/u> had an animated musical movie in development for three years that was thematically similar to <u>KPop Demon Hunters<\/u>, but Disney brass killed the project in 2023 reportedly because, according to one former Pixar employee, \u201cDisney just didn\u2019t feel like little boys could see themselves in the film enough. Basically, Disney reps were like, \u2018We can\u2019t have a girl power movie.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Titled Be Fri (stylized as BeFri), the film\u2019s creative team included director Kristen Lester (Purl), screenwriter Blaise Hemingway (Clifford the Big Red Dog), editor Nicholas C. Smith, and at least 50 other Pixar employees.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cInspired by Lester\u2019s real-life experience involving an adolescent friendship that dissolved, Be Fri was to focus on two teenage girls who were once besties but find themselves drifting apart after learning that their favorite, <u>Sailor Moon<\/u>-style TV show is real and that they need to set out on a universe-spanning quest to save humanity,\u201d according to <u>The Hollywood Reporter<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-slideshow\"><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2228525885\"\/><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">Pixar&#8217;s Movies: Worst to Best<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img alt=\"We're taking it all in here. All the Cars, Monsters, Bugs, Toys, Incredibles, and more so that we can properly rank Pixar's full catalogue. Agree? Disagree? Don't care because there are more important things in life? We got you. Check out all the Pixar movies ranked from least-good to cinematic bliss...\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2021719738 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3381835873 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\" style=\"mask:url(https:\/\/kraken.ignimgs.com\/_next\/static\/media\/RightChevron.272be43c.svg?cors=1) no-repeat center center \/ contain;background:currentColor\"\/><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Citing unnamed sources close to the project, including former Pixar employees, Be Fri would have found a kindred spirit in Netflix\u2019s future Oscar-winning blockbuster, KPop Demon Hunters. \u201cThe comparisons to KPop Demon Hunters are pretty undeniable because there were musical aspects to it, and it was a rip-roaring time,\u201d according to a former staffer.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">THR claims Lester, Hemingway and Smith retooled Be Fri at least four times after receiving notes from Disney. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">One former <u>Pixar<\/u> employee, who was not present at for this pivotal meeting with Disney brass, recalled what those who were in attendance said happened:<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cWe know you don\u2019t like where the film is at right now. Give us six weeks, and we\u2019ll redo the entire film. \u2026 Kristen, Blaise, Nick and a couple board artists spent six weeks of night and day, seven days a week, literally reformatting. Preproduction on an animated feature takes a year of storyboarding, so [they had] to compress that into six weeks for a fourth version of the film.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"display-title jsx-684634384 jsx-2659527929 quote-container\" data-cy=\"quoteBox\">&#8220;Disney just didn\u2019t feel like little boys could see themselves in the film enough. <span class=\"stack jsx-2959124702 jsx-326843967\"><span>\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">This former employee praised the retooled Be Fri footage as being \u201con <u>Hoppers<\/u>\u2019 level. It befuddles me why they passed on it, but with each round of notes, Disney just didn\u2019t feel like little boys could see themselves in the film enough. Basically, Disney reps were like, \u2018We can\u2019t have a girl power movie.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The staff members who worked on Be Fri were reportedly so devastated by the film&#8217;s cancellation that they essentially staged a memorial service for it at work.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Disney was facing political backlash at the time Be Fri was canceled in late 2023, including <u>a very public feud with the governor of Florida<\/u>, criticism from right wingers over <u>the same-sex kiss in Lightyear<\/u>, and <u>the overhauling of Elio to remove any references to queer identity<\/u>. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">It&#8217;s not unprecedented for Disney to put a stop to an animated film in development. Pixar previously canceled the film Newt in 2011, while Disney Animation pulled the plug on Gigantic in 2017.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><u>Pixar\u2019s next movie releases<\/u> include Toy Story 5, Gatto, and Incredibles 3.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/pixar-canceled-a-female-led-movie-that-was-similar-to-kpop-demon-hunters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pixar had an animated musical movie in development for three years that was thematically similar to KPop Demon Hunters, but Disney brass killed the project&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[3716,6169,20322,9009,795,1543,5973,12695],"class_list":["post-43743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-canceled","tag-demon","tag-femaleled","tag-hunters","tag-kpop","tag-movie","tag-pixar","tag-similar","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}