Just a few days ago, Disney Plus dropped the highly anticipated details for their streaming service, Disney Plus, which is set to put them in the field against streaming video services like Netflix and Hulu. The concept was originally announced in September 2017, and people have been waiting eagerly for more details to emerge surrounding what could perhaps be a game-changing streaming service. Here is everything that we know so far in regards to the new service:
Pricing and Display
On April 11th, Disney gave a presentation to its investors and revealed the sleek-looking platform design, similar to the user interface that Netflix offers to its users. An image can be found below giving a layout of the home page, with various “channels” like Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic.
The service will be available on November 12th, 2019, and it will cost $7 per month (less than Netflix), or $70 per year.
Content
This is perhaps the most anticipated piece of news above everything else in the Disney Plus announcement. So what exactly is going to be on this exclusive Disney streaming service? Now that Disney has accumulated a vast number of properties over the years including Marvel, Star Wars, and the recent acquisition of 20th Century Fox (which cost nearly 72 BILLION dollars), it’s safe to say Disney isn’t lacking in any content whatsoever.
Every single movie in the Disney catalogue will eventually be available to stream, eliminating the “Disney Vault” concept the company has had for years. The “Disney Vault” would essentially keep certain films for the classic era of the company locked away for extended periods, and then re-released again over time.
Every upcoming theatrical film on their calendar - which includes Toy Story 4, Aladdin, Frozen 2, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, and The Lion King, will be available. Captain Marvel will also become the first ever Marvel Cinematic Universe film that will not be available on Netflix (we assume the same will happen with the upcoming Avengers: Endgame).
With the recent acquisition of Fox, they’ve announced that The Simpsons will make their exclusive home at Disney Plus, with all thirty seasons (yes, thirty) available for streaming when the service launches in November.
Overall, approximately 7,000 episodes of television series and 400-500 movies are expected to be on the platform at launch time.
In addition to all of the back catalogue content, what would a streaming service be now without a lineup of original content? Disney’s response: a lot of original content, across all genres:
An original Star Wars series entitled The Mandalorian will be available on launch day (at the very least, the pilot episode will be). The live-action series was developed by Jon Favreau, set seven years after the Battle of Endor that occurred in Return of the Jedi. It will follow “a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy from the authority of the New Republic.” Actor Pedro Pascal (Game Of Thrones) will play the title role.
An untitled Cassian Andor series will take place prior to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Actor Diego Luna (from Rogue One) will return as Andor, in addition to Alan Tudyk returning to voice K-2SO, his robot sidekick.
A seventh season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will premiere on the streaming service.
A series based in the world of Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. will come to the service, with John Goodman and Billy Crystal reprising their roles as James P. “Sully” Sullivan and Mike Wazowski, two monsters who live and work in the city of Monstropolis.
A spin-off series of the High School Musical franchise, dubbed High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, will be premiering on the streaming series.
It is rumored that the following projects are in development at Disney Plus, either as series or movies (again these are RUMORS):
3 Men and a Baby
Don Quixote
Father of the Bride
Lady and the Tramp
Magic Camp
Noelle
The Paper Magician
The Parent Trap
The Sandlot
Stargirl
The Sword in the Stone
Timmy Failure
Togo
Honey, I Shrunk The Kids
There are also several Marvel projects that have been announced for the streaming service, including
Hawkeye
Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Scarlet Witch and Vision (entitled WandaVision)
Loki.
All shows will have the original MCU actors reprising their roles from the films. Another series from Marvel will be dubbed What If?, which features stories presented in an alternate-universe scenario, illustrating what might have happened had events in the MCU not worked out the way they originally did. The tales will feature MCU characters voiced by the actors who portrayed them in the films. More details to come.
Obviously, there is a lot of information that is going to be coming over the next several months, and we’ve barely even scratched the surface with this article. What’s important to note is that Disney Plus could be a serious game-changer in the field of streaming services, and could easily give companies like Netflix a serious run for their money.