Disney+ : How it’s going to change the way we stream entertainment

Disney+ is the new Netflix style streaming service, which is set to make waves around the world in the near future. This weekend’s Comic-con convention in San Diego revealed a lot about the channel that had previously been unknown, and what has been revealed makes it seem like Disney+ is going to basically be essential for anyone who loves Blockbuster entertainment.

For starters, Disney+ will be the place to view anything from the house of mouse. As the owners of Pixar, and Marvel, Disney have positioned themselves to be a dominant force in the world of online streaming as products like Star Wars, the Marvel movies and National Geographic as well as Disney and Fox’s legacy content will be found nowhere else.  In addition to this, it will also screen all 30 seasons of the Simpsons, which it owns via its new takeover of Fox.

Disney+ will be distinct from the other streaming service owned by the entertainment giant, “Hulu”. Hulu will be where Disney streams more adult-oriented programming. For example, Hulu will stream a new Marvel collection of grown-up animated series, and will also likely be where Deadpool and the FX content will find a home. Hulu will continue to stream content from three of the broadcast networks and its own original series, like The Handmaid’s Tale and Castle Rock.

Launch date

Disney+ will launch in the US on November 12, in a move designed to ride the wave of hype for all of Disney’s holiday movies, which this year include, Frozen, which launches on Nov. 22 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker which will be released on December 20. Tragically for international viewers, Disney+ will not be available immediately around the world, and will slowly roll out over a period of two years, with no clearly defined dates for the regional releases.

The service is expected to cost $7 (R98) a month or $70 (R980) a year, which dramatically undercuts Netflix’s current pricing of $13 a month. This probably has to do with the fact that, at least, to begin with, Disney+ is expected to have much less content, and originals, than Netflix does, but economists are predicting the price will slowly increase as the catalogue of shows improves.

High quality

Disney+’s real strength, however, isn’t in the volume of the content, but the quality. The streaming service will be the only place to view all Marvel movies and TV shows, the Pixar movies such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc and Wall-E, as well as the hand-drawn classic Disney movies, and children’s TV series. It will also be the only place to see Star Wars movies and TV shows.

In addition to the classics, Disney has announced four new series that will be created exclusively for the channel featuring the stars of its blockbuster “Avengers” movies in their own shows. These are “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” with Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan to be released in late 2020; a “Loki” series featuring Tom Hiddleston in early 2021; “WandaVision” with Elizabeth Olsen in her role of Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany reprising “The Vision”; and a “Hawkeye” series in late 2021, starring Jeremy Renner and featuring Kate Bishop, who in the comics becomes a second Hawkeye.

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