Acclaimed Flop: Despite strong reviews and audience ratings (95/68 on Rotten Tomatoes), the movie barely cracked $20 million off a budget of 175 million. This is largely due the film being released straight to streaming (via Disney+), as opposed to getting a traditional wide theatrical release, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Acting for Two: In some foreign languages dubs, the 4*Town boys often share a voice actor with each other, or another character (a common combination being Tae Young and Devon).
In the European French dub, Arthur Raynal voices Tae Young, Jesse, and Devon, while Tom Trouffier voices both of the Aarons.
Approval of God: Director Domee Shi has featured Turning Red fanart on her Instagram Stories, including multiple pieces of art shipping 4*Town members Aaron T. and Aaron Z.
Billing Displacement: In Japan, the film's promotional material focused on 4*Town, as the Japanese boy band Da-iCE performed the Japanese version to their songs and even provided their voices in the Japanese dub. However, 4*Town themselves only appear at the final third of the film and barely have any significant speaking lines.
In the UK version, singer-songwriter Anne-Marie makes a cameo as Lauren, a classmate of Mei's.
In the Latin American Spanish dub, Ming Lee is voiced by the Mexican TV and theater actress Itatí Cantoral, also known internationally as the iconic villain Soraya Montenegro from María la del barrio.
In the Japanese dub:
Mei Lee is voiced by the actress and ballet dancer Momoka Satake.
Her mother Ming is voiced by the movie actress Yoshino Kimura, who many non-Japanese viewers may recognize as the Japanese housewife in Blindness; she has also previously worked in Japanese dubs before, and some of her most well-known roles were Kida in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Master Tigress in the first two Kung Fu Panda movies, being the latter smack-dab into the Hilarious in Hindsight territory, considering Tigress' mentor, Master Shifu, is a red panda. In this film, she voices a mother whose daughter transforms into a red panda and who herself transforms into a red panda as well.
J-pop group Da-iCE provides the voices for 4*Town.
Channel Hop: As with Soul and Luca, it jumped from a planned theatrical release to an exclusive debut on Disney+ due to the rapidly increasing spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant (which had calmed down by the time it premiered). Part of the reason for this move is also suspected to be because of how well Encanto did on Disney+, putting up record streaming numbers, leading to the decision that it might have more of an audience on streaming. The film only received limited theatrical runs in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, in select theater markets, along with the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.note which, at the time of writing, don't have a Disney+ rollout. The film would end up getting a theatrical rerelease in early 2024 alongside Soul and Luca.
Children Voicing Children: Rosalie Chiang was twelve years old when she voiced thirteen-year-old Mei.
In Japanese, the movie's title is Watashi Tokidoki Ressā Panda (literally, "I'm Sometimes a Lesser Panda").
In Polish, the movie's known as To nie wypanda (a Pun-Based Title referencing the phrase to nie wypada, meaning "that's inappropriate", and "panda").
In Greece, the title is "Everything is in red". Like the Polish title, this is a Pun-Based Title: the Greek word for 'everything' and the word for 'panda' sound exactly the same.
In Norwegian, the movie is simply just called Rød ("Red").
In the Latin American Spanish dub, Liliana Barba voices Aunt Lily.
Hyein Park voices Abby Park.
Orion Lee voices Jin Lee.
Dawson Casting: While Mei, Miriam, and Priya are voiced by up-and-coming teen actors, Abby's voice actress Hyein Park makes her acting debut after working as a storyboard artist at Pixar for several years.
Real life "Fur Baby" shirts (the shirts Mei and friends sold in the film) were made shortly after the film's release.
A real life version of Tyler's birthday cake was made and eaten to celebrate the completion of animation of the film.
4*Town themselves were de-fictionalized for a special performance at the 20th Unforgettable Gala, where the actor-singers for the group performed "1 True Love" and "Nobody Like U", although Jordan Fisher and Finneas were unavailable.
Concept art and snippets shown in the official trailer and Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red reveals a cut scene that featured Mei and her friends protesting for the environment.
There was originally a fully animated sequence of the photoshoot that produced the Happy New Year 1994 photo in the intro, revealing that Ming completely dismantled a mall photo studio's conventional New Year's backdrop and put up her own, as well as posing Mei. This was cut since having such rude and controlling behavior serve as Ming's Establishing Character Moment would have turned audiences against her from the get-go.
Demand Overload: Some people who tried to watch the film on Disney+ on its release date were greeted with error messages as a result of too many people trying to watch it at once.
Coming out only a few months after Encanto, people immediately compared the premise of Turning Red to it; a young teen girl dedicated to helping her family with a strong magical heritage, with themes surrounding generation trauma, high expectations surrounding duty to one's community, toxic perfectionism, Power Incontinence, the lives of cultural immigrants, etc.
With Everything Everywhere All at Once as both are about an inter-generational conflict between a Chinese immigrant mother and her daughter raised in North America, with a supernatural twist complicating things. However, in that film, the protagonist/antagonist roles are inverted.
Fake Nationality: While otherwise doing a good job at averting this, there are still some non-Canadian actors, such as the Americans James Hong, Ava Morse, and Lori Tan Chinn. Additionally, Sandra Oh (Ming) is Korean Canadian, not Chinese Canadian.
Flip-Flop of God: The "Nobody Like U" music video shows that Priya's last name is Dewan and Miriam's is Wexler. However the Pixar website says that their last name are Mangal and Mendelsohn, respectively.
As explained in various interviews, director Domee Shi took inspiration from five Japanese anime regarding the film's creation: Fruits Basket, Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, and My Neighbor Totoro. The first two in particular share themes of adolescence and transformations in wacky situations with the film. Sailor Moon proved the "dreamy, feminine, color palette" of film, alongside color coded friends. Totoro helped with capturing a "iconic grabbable giant animal that you just want to rub your face in", alongside Miyazaki's Slice of Life moments.
No Export for You: Shortly before the worldwide release date, Disney took part in an economic boycott of Russia due to an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, resulting in all the studio's films, including Turning Red, being delayed in Russia indefinitely. Eventually, the already finished Russian dub was released digitally in August 2022, but only for the Russian speakers in the Baltics and several CIS countries.
Permanent Placeholder: Rosalie Chiang, the voice of Mei, was originally meant to be a temporary "scratch" voice until Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins could find a more fitting take. However, once the script was finalized, Shi and Collins liked Chiang's take enough to keep her on as the permanent voice of Mei.
Reality Subtext: Two characters are seen with insulin pumps on their arms, because the film's technical supervisor Susan Fong lives with type 1 diabetes and wanted diabetic representation in the film.
In Issue #2 of the 2022 My Little Pony comic book series, a filly who speaks with Fluttershy and Discord resembles Mei complete with red hair, glasses, a green hairclip and a paw print cutie mark.
In "Two Truths and a Bunny", the first segment of the twelfth episode of Kiff, in the background of Candle's room, a picture of 4*Town can be seen in a frame.
Release Date Change: The movie was intended to be released to theaters in 2022, but when the COVID-19 pandemic surged thanks to the Omicron variant, Disney shunted the film to Disney+, much to Pixar's frustration.
Shrug of God: In the DVD Commentary, it's mentioned that the question of why Ming's giant red panda form was so big came up during production and the production staff decided, instead of answering the question, they would have the movie just lampshade it and make it a Riddle for the Ages.
Spoiled by the Merchandise: A Little Golden Book adaptation released a month prior to the film ended up revealing Ming's giant red panda form, as well as the red panda forms of Mei's relatives, which the marketing tried to hide.
Star-Making Role: For both Rosalie Chiang (English) and Estefania Piedra (Latin American Spanish) as Mei.
In an interview with Slate, creator Domee Shi notes that Tyler's adoration of 4*Town, specifically Aaron Z., is because both guys are mixed Black and Asian.
Although nothing's definitively confirmed, Domee Shi and Lindsay Collins are both open about the idea of potential sequels.
Working Title: According to the "Making Of" video, Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red, the film had various developmental names, some of the Pun-Based Title variety. Such examples include:
And just Red. Curiously enough, this one was used in Latin American and European Spanish dubs.
Write What You Know: Domee Shi is a member of Canada's sizable Chinese-descended population, and the film is focused on them, just like her short Bao.
Write Who You Know: Much like how Enrico Casarosa based Luca on his childhood in Italy, Domee Shi based this on her own childhood growing up in Canada, and Ming was based on her own mother. Even the scene where Mei catches Ming spying on her at school is based on a personal experience.
in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, in select theater markets, along with the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.note The film would end up getting a theatrical rerelease in early 2024 alongside Soul and Luca.