After months of speculations as to when Disney’s long-gestating streaming platform would launch, we finally have a date. Disney+ will go live in the US on November 12, and news of the possible price point has also been revealed.
Disney has made no secret that it intends to undercut Netflix in cost to the consumer; this was before Netflix recently increased its prices in the US (UK price increases are on the way). According to Wall Street experts, the standard monthly cost for a basic (2 screen package) will be between $6 & $8, that’s one heck of an attractive offer. Disney has been looking at the streaming service as the future of the home entertainment business model, they’re not wrong, and they have the resources to make a subscription a necessity.
The shows we know about so far are enough to make any geek want to sign up, here’s a quick recap. Star Wars shows, The Mandalorian, Clone Wars is back, and a Rogue One prequel series featuring some of the original cast. Marvel shows will see many original cast members get their own show, Loki is getting one, Hawkeye, Bucky Barnes & Falcon, and Vision and Scarlet Witch. Monsters Inc gets a sequel series with Monsters At Work, The Mighty Ducks get a reboot, The Muppets, I could go on, but I’ll stop there. Disney+ will have something for everybody, and will soon be the only streaming service to have the Star Wars movies, all of the Marvel catalogue (that’s even more now they bought Fox). When you stop to think about it, Disney holds a lot of franchises, and they’ll soon start to disappear from other streaming platforms.
The low price point with all that exclusive new content (not to mention the gigantic back-catalogue in the vaults) makes Disney+ an immediately appealing prospect. Disney knows it is playing catch up with Netflix, but no other studio has the resources (or franchises) as the Mouse House. The Netflix model of curating content at great expense isn’t one that is indefinitely sustainable under the current set up. To put it in perspective, Disney had three of the biggest flops of 2018 with A Wrinkle In Time, Solo, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Those films combined lost nearly $300 million, Disney also paid more than $70 billion for 20th Century Fox. They are not short of a bob or two (I’m talking money, not Bob Iger), they can comfortably pour billions into their streaming legacy for a decade.
There are still no details on when Disney+ will be rolled out across the world, but now we know when it lands in the US, we should find out soon.
