Disney+ Launch Announced at Investor Day

Walt Disney once said, “I hope we never lose sight of one thing- that it was all started by a mouse.”   The Walt Disney Company all started with animation and going into its second century, Disney continues to create change with great courage.  Today was the highly anticipated Investor Day at The Walt Disney Company, and new information about the new streaming service Disney+ has been announced. We already knew that Disney+ will stream “Star Wars,” Pixar and Marvel films, as well as National Geographic content, classic Disney animated and live action movies and new and classic TV shows. Now we know a whole lot more about the direct-to-consumer strategy that comes on the heels of the integration of film and television assets picked up in the $71 billion deal with Fox.

From the studio lot in Burbank, California, The Walt Disney Company announced that Disney+ will begin streaming on November 12, 2019.

Following its U.S debut, Disney+ will rapidly expand globally, with plans to be in nearly all major regions of the world within the next two years. The subscription price will be $6.99/month or $69.99/year. Paying the annual fee saves about $1.16 per month or $13.92/year. The service will be offered as a bundle with other services including Hulu and ESPN+, but the bundle price is not yet known. The price reflects Disney’s desire to reach fans of all ages through all devices in every household around the globe. The company has projected the service will have 60M-90M subscribers by 2024.

Disney+ will consist of a rich evergreen library.

The app will be available on connected televisions, tablets, smartphones and gaming systems. Disney announced Disney+ will be available for use on PlayStation 4 and Roku as well and will adjust to the best possible high-definition viewing experience based on a subscriber’s available bandwidth, with support for up to 4K HDR video playback. An unprecedented amount of content will also be available to fans for download on smartphones and tablets. The app is beautifully designed and easy to navigate with movies and TV series filed under Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic. There will also be a Coming Soon folder, Watch List and more.

On launch day, Disney+ will include most of the Pixar library, with the entire 23 films to be available soon after launch. Disney has also joined forces with National Geographic, which is the number one brand on Instagram with over 100M followers. According to Courtney Monroe, the 130-year-old company is one of the top two most trusted and authentic brands worldwide. The other company in the top two most trusted brands worldwide is Disney.

In 2017 The Walt Disney Company invested in a platform called Bamtech and renamed it to Disney Streaming Services. Within this platform are Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu. Disney owns 60% of Hulu and the minority share is owned by Comcast (40%). Here’s what you need to know about Disney Streaming Services:

• Disney+ will offer subscriptions with no ads
• ESPN+ has ads
• Hulu offers choice of ads, no ads or live television with additional add-on’s
• Hotstar offers free with ad-supported with optional upgrade

New original titles for Disney+ announced today include:

Disney

• Frozen 2 will be available exclusively to Disney+ after its theatrical release
• Noelle will be available shortly after launch as a Christmas original movie
• Star Girl
• Timmy Failure
• Live Action Lady and the Tramp

Pixar

• Forky Asks a Question with 10 shorts where Forky is learning about being alive asking questions like “What is time? “and “What is cheese?”
• Lamplife is a short film where we find out what life was like for Bo Peep between Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4

National Geographic Original Series available at launch

• The World According to Jeff Goldbloom is a documentary TV series where Goldblum pulls back the curtain on seemingly familiar objects to reveal a world of astonishing connections, fascinating science, and big ideas
• Magic of The Animal Kingdom is a documentary series that takes viewers behind the scenes with animal care experts, veterinarians and biologists at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Epcot’s SeaBase aquarium

Walt Disney Animation Studios

• Into the Unknown: Making of Frozen 2 is a documentary series that gives us an all-access pass to the creation of Frozen 2

Disney Channel in its 36th year brings

• The Phineas and Ferb Movie (working title) which will feature many of the original voice cast
• High School Musical the Musical the series

Star Wars

• On launch day, all Star Wars films will be available up to Rogue One, and the next three will be available in the first year of launch.
• Mandalorian with 1 season consisting of 8 episodes
• There will be another Star Wars TV series which follows the adventures of rebel spy Cassian Andor during the formative years of the Rebellion and prior to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Marvel Studios:

• The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, starring Anthony Mackie as Falcon and Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier
• Marvel’s What If…? TV series exploring alternate endings from moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
• Wanda Vision will be a live-action TV series starring Elizabeth Olsen

Additionally, Disney+ announced that all 30 seasons of The Simpsons will be available on the service on day one. In the service’s first year, audiences will also have access to other family-friendly Fox titles as part of an impressive collection of more than 7,500 television episodes and 500 films including blockbuster hits from 2019 and beyond.

“We’re extremely excited about our growing portfolio of direct-to-consumer offerings. As we demonstrated today, with Disney+ we will deliver extraordinary entertainment in innovative ways to audiences around the world,” said Mayer. “We’ll continue to enhance the user experience with a constant pipeline of high-quality programming, making the service even more appealing to consumers.”

Visit DisneyPlus.com to register your email and receive updates on the service.