Disney's Streaming Services: Disney+ (and Hulu, ESPN+, Star, & hotstar)

[MisterPenguin]

Disney+ Passes 60.5M Subscribers, Reaches 5-Year Streaming Goal In First Eight Months – Update

Disney reported 57.5 million subscribers to Disney+, the direct-to-consumer streaming service that launched last November.

deadline.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

I wonder which way Canada will go branding wise. The content is pretty fractured amongst licensing partners and Hulu does actually hold some brand recognition here.

Canada will get NOTHING until a new season of Letterkenny is released!

I have spoken.

 

[Disney Irish]

New Mutants doesn't seem like something appropriate for Disney+. I wouldn't be shocked if it ends up on on VOD (in fact, I think that's far more likely than it ever being released in theaters) but I would expect it to either go on Hulu in some way or through more traditional VOD offerings.

Why not? All the other Marvel Fox movies are starting to being pushed to D+, so why can't New Mutants.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

And just like I predicted, D+ will start their own PVOD. Expect to see more of this in the near future.

They will...the question for me is can they make enough good stuff to drive it? Do they have the stomach?

it was only a matter of time before all the major companies do this. Movie theaters are great, but Id almost always rather watch a movie at home. I hope Disney makes a ton of money off Mulan and they do this with more of their new releases.

They might be overplaying their hand a touch though...

Could be, but I would expect Mutants to be pushed to D+ after a short run in open theaters.

What theaters?

 

[Disney Irish]

They will...the question for me is can they make enough good stuff to drive it? Do they have the stomach?

Disney has a backlog of content waiting to be released. So yeah I would say they have enough good content to drive it.

As for whether they have the stomach for it, well everyone here (except for me it appears) pretty much said they would NEVER release a tentpole film like Mulan to PVOD, let alone D+. And that is what they are doing. So yeah I would say they will have the stomach for it as long as Mulan does well.

They might be overplaying their hand a touch though...

I wouldn't bet on that.

What theaters?

There are US theaters outside of the major markets open now, including lots of drive-ins.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Disney has a backlog of content waiting to be released. So yeah I would say they have enough good content to drive it.

As for whether they stomach it, well everyone here (except for me it appears) pretty much said they would NEVER release a tentpole film like Mulan to PVOD, let alone D+. And that is what they are doing. So yeah I would say they will stomach it as long as Mulan does well.


I wouldn't bet on that.


There are US theaters outside of the major markets open now, including lots of drive-ins.

1. I mean if tentpoles are going to digital...will they continue to budget $200+ million budgets and not take more shutcuts than normal? Not a given. We maybe getting crap.

2. See above.

3. The chains are not gonna survive...is what I meant. One big trajedy of this may very well be the theaters themselves. Hollywood won’t bother to produce for a much smaller market.

 

[Lucky Rabbit]

Could be, but I would expect Mutants to be pushed to D+ after a short run in open theaters.

Won’t happen because Fox theatrical releases go to HBO until 2022. If Disney+ had access to New Mutants they’d have probably put it on the service already.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

Hopefully Disney could add Ouat, AoS, Modern Family, Black*Ish, Bob’s Burgers, Futurama, King of the Hill, The Gifted, and Cloak & Dagger on the international Disney+ instead of Star.

 

[Disney Irish]

1. I mean if tentpoles are going to digital...will they continue to budget $200+ million budgets and not take more shutcuts than normal? Not a given. We maybe getting crap.

2. See above.

3. The chains are not gonna survive...is what I meant. One big trajedy of this may very well be the theaters themselves. Hollywood won’t bother to produce for a much smaller market.

Well I'm speaking of the here are now.

But in answer to your questions:

1. Why wouldn't they? If Disney gets 100% profits from a D+ PVOD versus splitting BO with a theater I don't see why they wouldn't still produce blockbusters with similar budgets.

2. See above.

3. I would suspect there will still be some sort of theater chain out there. But we'll see.

 

[Disney Irish]

Won’t happen because Fox theatrical releases go to HBO until 2022. If Disney+ had access to New Mutants they’d have probably put it on the service already.

Which gives even more credence that if Disney has to push its release data again that it'll just bypass its theatrical release and thus the HBO/Fox contract, and go right to D+ PVOD.

 

[Lucky Rabbit]

Which gives even more credence that if Disney has to push its release data again that it'll just bypass its theatrical release and thus the HBO/Fox contract, and go right to D+ PVOD.

I think the rumor is that all the inherited Fox movies had to get a theatrical run. I have no idea if that is true, or if there’s any kind of out. Because at some point Disney should be able to say “well we tried!”

 

[Disney Irish]

I think the rumor is that all the inherited Fox movies had to get a theatrical run. I have no idea if that is true, or if there’s any kind of out. Because at some point Disney should be able to say “well we tried!”

Exactly, if they can't because they tried but just not enough markets are open to fulfill their contractual obligations, then to D+PVOD it'll go. So we'll have to see what happens, but I for one won't be surprised when it happens.

Disney is setting the trend now, tent pole films can go to PVOD, and to their own PVOD exclusively at that.

 

[Lucky Rabbit]

This is per Insider.com, but it might make the PVOD situation more palatable to some:

'Mulan' is coming to Disney Plus on September 4 — but fans will need to pay $29.99 to watch it

The film was originally supposed to be released March 27 before the coronavirus pandemic pushed its release date multiple times.

www.insider.com

A representative for Disney Plus confirmed to Insider the $29.99 is not a one-time rental charge. Disney Plus subscribers "will have continuous access to the film for as long as they remain subscribers to the service."

 

[Disney Irish]

This is per Insider.com, but it might make the PVOD situation more palatable to some:

'Mulan' is coming to Disney Plus on September 4 — but fans will need to pay $29.99 to watch it

The film was originally supposed to be released March 27 before the coronavirus pandemic pushed its release date multiple times.

www.insider.com

I suspected this to be the case.

 

[Lucky Rabbit]

Exactly, if they can't because they tried but just not enough markets are open to fulfill their contractual obligations, then to D+PVOD it'll go. So we'll have to see what happens, but I for one won't be surprised when it happens.

Disney is setting the trend now, tent pole films can go to PVOD, and to their own PVOD exclusively at that.

I’m fine with this model. I’d honestly rather see these movies now than have Disney sit on them. The US is still trending the wrong way with the pandemic, and who knows what theaters will be like in 2021.

Plus they probably need a movie like Black Widow released before the two shows they had planned (for story purposes). So I’ll gladly pay a premium for some of the bigger movies.

 

[Disney Irish]

I’m fine with this model. I’d honestly rather see these movies now than have Disney sit on them. The US is still trending the wrong way with the pandemic, and who knows what theaters will be like in 2021.

Plus they probably need a movie like Black Widow released before the two shows they had planned (for story purposes). So I’ll gladly pay a premium for some of the bigger movies.

I agree.

As for Black Widow, they claim this is more of a one-off movie that doesn't really lead into the shows or future movies. However knowing Feige he always has something hidden, so who knows. But if we get to November and theaters are still not open I would bet more than not they push it to D+PVOD as well.

 

[Lucky Rabbit]

I agree.

As for Black Widow, they claim this is more of a one-off movie that doesn't really lead into the shows or future movies. However knowing Feige he always has something hidden, so who knows. But if we get to November and theaters are still not open I would bet more than not they push it to D+PVOD as well.

That’s what I’m thinking.

This was Bob’s full quote on it:

We’re very pleased to be able to bring Mulan to our consumer base that has been waiting for it for a long, long time. Mulan is a one-off. That said, we find it very interesting to be able to take a new offering to consumers at that $29.99 price and learn from it and see what happens not only in terms of the uptick of the number of subscribers we got on the platform, but also the number of transactions we get on that PVOD offering.

It’s not a “no” but I don’t think they want to commit to anything beyond Mulan in case it bombs.

 

[Disney Irish]

That’s what I’m thinking.

This was Bob’s full quote on it:



It’s not a “no” but I don’t think they want to commit to anything beyond Mulan in case it bombs.

Yep that is the way I understood it as well. But we know Disney, if they can find a way to keep more of the profits they will do it. So if this works with Mulan you can bet your bottom dollar they'll be pushing more and more to their own D+PVOD.

We've really entered the streaming wars now my friends. Universal threw the first salvo with Trolls and now Disney went nuclear with releasing a tent pole like Mulan. It'll be great for consumers.

 

[Lucky Rabbit]

Yep that is the way I understood it as well. But we know Disney, if they can find a way to keep more of the profits they will do it. So if this works with Mulan you can bet your bottom dollar they'll be pushing more and more to their own D+PVOD.

We've really entered the streaming wars now my friends. Universal threw the first salvo with Trolls and now Disney went nuclear with releasing a tent pole like Mulan. It'll be great for consumers.

If Mulan does well I wonder if AT&T responds with WW84 or TENET on HBO Max to drive subscriptions.

 

[Disney Irish]

If Mulan does well I wonder if AT&T responds with WW84 or TENET on HBO Max to drive subscriptions.

WW84 I would suspect so, but Tenet is a different matter due to Nolan. He is determined to have a theatrical release for that film. So Warner would have to convince him that its in the best interest first, maybe cut him in on the streaming fees or something to get it done.