As it turns out, this clip is not the only possible introduction that the folks behind Coco toyed with as an opening.
Both of these options could’ve potentially worked, but as Unkrich explained to us: both versions of the opening were time-consuming, which kept the audience away from Miguel for far too long.
In fact, during the film’s press junket last year, Lee Unkrich addressed this decision in an interview with CinemaBlend and explained the variety of different ways in which Coco could’ve opened for audiences.
One of the ways was the unused scene shown above, but another involved opening the movie in the middle of an old Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt) film and establishing him before bringing the audience to Miguel.