The announcement of Disney launching its streaming service sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry. The venture came with the caveat that Disney was pulling its content from Netflix in 2019.
No one knows whether the mandate included content from Disney’s Marvel and Lucasfilm brands.
Deadline reports that Disney will pull both Marvel and Star Wars content from Netflix in 2019. This was revealed by Disney CEO, Bob Iger.
Iger said, “We’re going to launch big, and we’re going to launch hot.” He added, “the app will have the entire output of the studio — animation, live action and Disney including Pixar, Star Wars and all the Marvel films.”
That library includes Disney properties on service (500 films and 7,000 TV episodes), 4 or 5 original TV series and 3 or 4 movies.
While Disney’s service sounds pretty impressive, there is one question:
What will Netflix do?
Netflix benefited from having the big Marvel and Star Wars movies on the service, but since the companies ratings are unknown to the public, we have no measurement for just how much Marvel and Star Wars features pull in.
Families with children would have much more incentive to pay for a Disney streaming service that will offer animated and TV content for kids. The “Kids” section of Netflix’s service is in danger after this new Disney venture.
For adults, this will turn out to be a headache as it could reach a double-dip dilemma. Most of the kid’s content will be on the Disney service while adult TV and content will be on Netflix.
The new division of service will make a case for “extras” like Amazon and Hulu much harder to justify.
For now, one can catch Marvel and Stars Wars movies on Netflix. The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues with Thor: Ragnarok on November 3rd; the Star Wars saga continues with The Last Jedi on December 15, 2017.
