After calling it “Disney’s streaming service” or something along those lines for months, us writers can finally save some of our precious word count and call the platform by its actual name, as Disney has announced that their Netflix competitor will be called Disney+. Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger revealed the official name, logo and new details on a company earning call.
Disney+ will incorporate all of Disney’s brands and live on five hubs within the service: Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic. Each hub will serve as a micro-platform, with customised designs and features for each brand.
While it’s not the most original name and design, it’s (likely deliberately) a big contrast to Netflix, who jumble all of their content together and feed it to their consumers based on complex algorithms. Disney+ intends to streamline the user experience, making it easy to find your favourite content, and not run into that usual Netflix complaint of films and shows being buried under the most popular titles.
Iger also confirmed the rumoured Loki series which will see Tom Hiddleston return as the fan-favourite antagonist, while he also announced the platform’s second live-action series after Jon Favreau‘s The Mandalorian, and unsurprisingly it’s also Star Wars related: a Rogue One prequel series that will focus on Diego Luna‘s Cassian Andor.
Iger confirmed that Disney+ is on track for a late 2019 release, which makes sense since that is around the time when their remaining Netflix contracts come to an end. In addition to the aforementioned series, and despite the launch still a year away, Disney has been hard at work at developing content so that when Disney+ does debut, there’s plenty of films and shows for fans to jump into.
They will include TV re-imaginings of films such as High Fidelity starring Zoe Kravitz, The Mighty Ducks, and an animated series set in the world of Monsters, Inc..
On the film side, they already have the Anna Kendrick-led Christmas comedy Noelle in the can, along with in-development projects such as a live-action Lady And The Tramp, Billy Ray‘s Don Quixote, The Paper Magician, Stargirl, and many others.
There are still plenty more details to come though. Pricing is an obvious one – although Iger did make it a point to mention that Disney+ will be cheaper than Netflix – and obviously fans will be anxiously waiting news of the exact launch date. Iger said more information would arrive at an investor event in April 2019.
#Peace.Love.Disney
