Advanced Television

Disney+ reveals launch day content and more

August 24, 2019

By Nik Roseveare

Disney has revealed the film titles and TV series that will be available at launch for its Disney+ SVoD service.

At the D23 Expo fan convention in Anaheim, California, it was announced that Disney+ will initially have 300 movie titles – rising to 500 within the first 12 months. Some 100 of them will be ‘recent’ theatrical releases, including the likes of Captain Marvel and The Incredibles 2. A new live action version of The Lady and The Tramp will also debut exclusively on the platform from day 1. The epic Avengers: Endgame – now officially the highest grossing movie of all time – will become available on the platform on December 11th.

Library titles will predictably include all previous Star Wars saga movies, as well as a slew of Pixar favourites (Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Up etc) and Disney classics (Bambi, Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty etc).

Around 7,500 episodes of TV will also available at launch on the streaming platform – which is where things get really interesting. Disney confirmed that its big budget series The Mandalorian, the first ever live-action series based in the Star Wars universe, will be available at launch. Furthermore, a long rumoured Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor reprising one of his most famed roles was fully affirmed – much to the delight of fans in attendance.

McGregor himself took to the stage to reveal the news, saying: “It’s been four years of saying ‘well, I don’t know’ […] Now I can say ‘yes, we’re going to do it’.”

Meanwhile, Hilary Duff will also reprise a classic role in Lizzie McGuire, on the streaming service. The original series, which ran between 2001 and 2004, was about a teenager who dreamed of being popular at school – and the sequel will see Lizzie as a 30-year-old living in New York.

Continuing its focus on its Marvel and Star Wars franchises, Disney revealed that there will be new shows based on the She-Hulk, Ms Marvel and Moon Knight Marvel characters – joining the likes of Loki, WandaVision, Hawkeye and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier as confirmed titles already in the pipeline. Most of these are scheduled for a 2020 or 2021 release.

As anticipated, every episode of The Simpsons will be available at launch, as well as a new High School Musical series and Forky Asks a Question – a spin-off of Toy Story 4. The Muppets will also find a home on the platform in a new short-form series. Other library titles include every season of Malcolm in the Middle, the Star Wars: Clone Wars and Rebels animated series, and a bunch of classic cartoons such as Ducktales, Kim Possible and Goof Troop.

Away from the content side of things – Disney+ revealed it is going to eschew pricing tiers, giving all subscribers access to four simultaneous streams and 4K and HDR high-quality video. It will also allow users to create seven profiles for ultimate family personalisation. Interestingly, in news that won’t please binge watchers, the company also said that it won’t release original series all at once akin to rivals Netflix and Amazon – instead new episodes will roll out weekly.

Disney+ launches on November 12th in the US, Canada and the Netherlands for $7 a month. It will launch a week later in Australia and New Zealand.

Disney anticiptes between 60 million and 90 million subscribers by the end of 2024, which is also when it expects the service to start turning a profit.

No UK release date has yet been given.

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