Like 937 Things Announced During Disney’s Investor Day
The Walt Disney Company held an announcement-dense presentation for Investor Day 2020 lasting over 4 hours and featuring CEO Bob Chapek, Executive Chairman Bob Iger, and others. Holy cow what a long “day” it was, packed with tons of news. This post covers the many things revealed for Disney+ and beyond, plus the potential impact on Walt Disney World and other parks.
As you might recall, the fourth quarter earnings call was light on forward-looking details, with some news and updates teased or pushed off until Investor Day 2020. Instead, that focused on financials. Well, it turned out that’s because there were approximately 937 new shows and movies to announce today.
The lead-up to Disney’s Investor Day has been filled with rumors and high expectations. In a tweet earlier today, Disney further raised the hype level: “Come one, come all to Disney Investor Day! Expect major announcements from the worlds of Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Star Wars, National Geographic, Disney+, and more.”
Conspicuously absent from that tweet is any mention of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products–the division that includes Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney Cruise Line. That was more or less expected, as CEO Bob Chapek had previously stated that Investor Day would focus on the company’s direct-to-consumer business.
Also as previously noted, Disney plans to accelerate and emphasize its streaming services, and intends to direct more of the company’s spending on content creation for the streaming services. So really, Investor Day was expected to be less about major reveals for the theme parks; at best it would shine an indirect light on where parks might fit into Disney’s vision for the future and the degree to which we can expect them to be deemphasized.
As with the quarterly earnings calls, the first tidbit was an update on Disney+ subscriber numbers. The streaming service has reached another new milestone, hitting 86.8 million paid subscribers just over a year after its debut. That’s up ~13 million subscribers for Disney Plus as of the last update two months ago.
Disney+ has blown past original growth forecasts, becoming a critical pillar for Disney in the process, especially this year due to disappointing box office and theme park revenue. However, it’s worth noting that reports have recently emerged that subscribers in India, Indonesia, and other key markets pay a fraction of what domestic subscribers are paying.
It’s also worth noting that even though Disney+ has beat the company’s and investor expectations, and routinely is referred to as a “bright spot” in quarterly earnings reports, the streaming service is still losing money. Same goes for ESPN+ and Hulu.
This is by design and was anticipated prior to the launch of Disney Plus, so it’s not cause for concern. Simply some perspective for those who think that Disney+ has become the company’s most profitable business unit. Additionally, even though Disney has increased spending on direct-to-consumer by $4 billion with this slew of announcements, Disney+ is still expected to reach profitability by fiscal year 2024.
The very good news here is that the company now projects Disney+ will reach between 230 million and 260 million global subscribers by the end of fiscal 2024. That’s up from last year’s projection of 60 to 90 million. Additionally, the price of the service is increasing from $6.99 per month to $7.99 per month.
Normally, we wouldn’t laud a price increase by Disney, but here it means other business divisions won’t have to subsidize as much of the operating losses of the direct-to-consumer segment. (Plus, we’re assuming many/most of you are locked into Disney+ for the next 3 years, so what do you care about a price increase?!)
On a tangential note, Disney+ faces intense competition from other streaming services, all vying for marketshare in an increasingly crowded space. Warner Bros. recently sent a shockwave through Hollywood when it announced that all of their 2021 films (highlighted above) would be simultaneously released in theaters and on their streaming service HBO Max.
That move will cost Warners literally hundreds of millions of dollars–but could arguably be worth the short-term loss for the long-term user acquisition and marketshare gains. In a nutshell, that’s what Disney+ is up against, and a large portion of the Investor Day 2020 webcast was focused on how Disney will keep up, content-wise, while also not making such a risky move.
On that front, the company revealed that over the next few years, 10 Marvel series, 10 Star Wars series, plus 15 Disney live-action, Disney Animation, and Pixar series will debut on Disney Plus. Additionally, 15 new Disney live-action, Disney Animation, and Pixar original feature films will be released directly on the streaming service.
Some of these are already known. In terms of Marvel, there’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Hawkeye, Loki, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, What If…?, and an untitled show about Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury. For Star Wars, there’s the already-announced Obi-Wan Kenobi series and the Rogue One prequel…but that’s it. The Pixar, live-action, and animated series and movies are anyone’s guess.
Next, Disney announced that Raya and the Last Dragon will be released simultaneously to Disney+ and in theaters, with the animated film set to hit Disney+ Premier Access on March 5, 2021.
It’s worth noting that this is how the live-action Mulan debuted, meaning it will likely have a $30 rental fee and only Disney+ subscribers will be able to watch the film on the service. The Warners releases like Dune, Matrix 4, and Space Jam 2 will be included in the cost of an HBO Max subscription.
There were also segments about ESPN, but I’m going to gloss over those here since that’s pretty far afield of theme parks or even “traditional Disney” media content. Among other things, this includes ESPN+ content featuring Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Stephen A. Smith. (Separate shows, thankfully, as not even Tom Brady should be subjected to Stephen A. Smith.)
The big news there was that the Southeastern Conference and ESPN have finalized a milestone 10-year agreement that grants ABC and ESPN exclusive broadcast rights to premier SEC football and basketball events beginning in 2024-25 and continuing through 2033-34. The only college level football I watch is the Detroit Lions.
There were also international updates, plus more coming to Hulu. This included a reveal that the Kardashian-Jenners will create new global content under a multi-year deal with Disney, with programming to stream exclusively on Hulu in the U.S. and on Star internationally.
There was also a lot about programming on FX. While we’d strongly encourage watching this TV programming (on FX, definitely not the Kardashians), it’s also mostly beyond the scope of this blog. Instead, let’s skip ahead to what’ll actually interest most of you…
Next up, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy announced Ahsoka and Rangers of the New Republic, two original series that will be coming to Disney Plus.
Rosario Dawson will star in Ahsoka, having made her debut as the character in the Mandalorian recently. Both new series are set within the timeline of the Mandalorian.
Other Disney+ Star Wars news included Kennedy’s announcement that the new series Andor, starring Rogue One’s Diego Luna; she also released details about new animated series the Bad Batch. (That name still trips me up every time.)
In perhaps the most notable news for Disney+ Star Wars content, Kennedy revealed that Hayden Christensen will be returning as Darth Vader opposite Ewan McGregor in Obi-Wan Kenobi, making that even more highly-anticipated.
Other new Star Wars shows were also announced for Disney Plus. Lando is a new spin-off that will follow Lando Calrissian. The Acolyte will be a female-centric mystery-thriller series set in the final days of the High Republic era.
Star Wars: Visions will offer an anthology collection of short films set in the Star Wars universe from different Japanese anime creators, debuting in 2021. A Droid Story will be an animated series that sets R2-D2 and C-3PO on a new adventure.
Finally, the big announcement that Patty Jenkins will direct a new Star Wars movie, titled Rogue Squadron. It’s slated for Christmas 2023, and is set to follow pilots across the Star Wars universe.
Since we dramatically under-estimated the length of the Investor Day presentation and volume of announcements, we’re going to bullet point them from here on out, with some parting thoughts at the end.
Here are the other “big deal” reveals, from our perspective:
Walt Disney Studios
- Hocus Pocus 2, directed by Adam Shankman (no word yet on original stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy)
- Three Men and a Baby reboot with Zac Efron
- Cheaper by the Dozen reboot with Kenya Barris and Gabrielle Union
- Sister Act 3 starring Whoopi Goldberg, who is on board as a producer with Tyler Perry.
- Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers, a hybrid live action-animated film starring John Mulaney and Andy Samberg
- Pinocchio, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks
- Peter Pan & Wendy, starring Jude Law as Captain Hook and Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell
- Disenchanted with Amy Adams returning as Giselle.
- The group is also developing new animated takes on favorite 20th Century Studios’ titles Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, and Night at the Museum.
Disney Television Studios for Disney+
- Beauty and the Beast (working title), starring Luke Evans and Josh Gad with new music composed by Alan Menken
- Swiss Family Robinson, a reimagining of the classic from Ron Moore and Jon M. Chu
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians, based on the bestselling book series by Rick Riordan
- The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, featuring Emilio Estevez as Coach Gordon Bombay
- Turner & Hooch, a buddy comedy starring Josh Peck and a slobbery mastiff
National Geographic on Disney+
- Limitless With Chris Hemsworth
- Welcome to Earth (working title) featuring Will Smith
- Genius, which will profile Martin Luther King, Jr.
- America The Beautiful, the ambitious story of North America
- Cousteau, which will debut in theatres before coming to Disney+
Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Encanto, the upcoming feature film that includes new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and is slated for theaters in November 2021.
- Several new series for Disney+ including “Baymax, Zootopia+, Tiana, Moana: The Series, and Iwájú, produced in collaboration with the Pan-African comic book entertainment company Kugali.
Pixar Animation Studios
- Win or Lose, Pixar’s first-ever long-form animated series debuts exclusively on Disney+ in Fall 2023.
- Two brand-new feature films slated for theaters in 2022, Turning Red and Lightyear, the origin story of the hero that inspired the toy (voiced by Chris Evans).
- Original feature film Luca, slated for theaters next summer.
- Additional details were shared about new Disney+ series, including Inside Pixar, Pixar Popcorn, Dug Days, and Cars.
- Upcoming feature film Soul and short Burrow both debuting on Disney+ on December 25, 2020.
Marvel Studios
- Three new series for Disney+ were revealed, including the Samuel L. Jackson-starrer Secret Invasion, Ironheart with Dominique Thorne as a genius inventor, and Armor Wars, starring Don Cheadle as James Rhodes aka War Machine.
- Previously announced Marvel Disney+ titles include WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Loki, What If…?, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and I Am Groot
- New feature film reveals were Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the third feature in the “Ant-Man” franchise, and “Fantastic Four,” which introduces Marvel’s most iconic family.
- Marvel Studios previously-announced upcoming feature films also include Black Widow, Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, Eternals, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther 2, Blade, Captain Marvel 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Phew, that’s a long list. There was also other assorted news mixed-in, including that Black Panther 2 is still happening, but Marvel Studios will not recast the role of T’Challa out of respect for Chadwick Boseman, who passed away this summer at the age of 43 from complications with colon cancer. Additionally, the upcoming live-action remakes of Peter Pan and Pinocchio will join recent live-action remakes of Lady and the Tramp and Mulan, skipping theaters and debuting the streaming service.
No one can accuse Disney of not being adept at marketing and building anticipation. This could’ve been simply a dry and overly long presentation for market analysts on the future of the company’s direct-to-consumer segment. Instead, it was an overly long presentation, but one that hyped up and generated further buzz for Disney Plus.
It’s not our intent to minimize the announcements for Disney+ during Investor Day, because the quantity and quality of them was just…something else. It was frankly overwhelming and a little exhausting. This might’ve been too long, but it did a good job of highlighting some blockbuster Disney shows and movies coming over the next few years.
Honestly, this finally felt like a proper launch for Disney Plus. Definitely more so than last year’s Investor Day or the D23 Expo, both of which were very light on Disney+ content details. It’s pretty exciting to see the streaming service blossom into more than just a repository for the film library, plus the Mandalorian. Now we know what Bob Iger has been up to for the last 9 months!
This is something we’ve discussed at length previously, but Disney+ has suffered from a dearth of quality original content as compared to Netflix, HBO, Amazon, or other streaming services. After seeing the meager D23 Expo presentation last summer, we opted against locking ourselves into 3 years of Disney+ when it was discounted pre-launch. (Not so cheap to pay ~$50 per year for about 2 months of annual content!) This should fully remedy that, at least in the long-term.
As exciting as all of this news might be, Disney Investors Day 2020 amounted to previewing a rollout of programming over the next several years. It was a ton of content, but if Netflix did a single panel on everything it’ll release over the next 3 years, the presentation would run from now until February 2021. There were many announcements, but no bombshells. It was simultaneously ambitious and conservative. If anything, that’s probably good news for Walt Disney World fans.
Even with greater emphasis placed on direct-to-consumer, it does not sound like Disney plans on spending unprecedented sums on new content, upending its business model, or is doing something incredibly disruptive and costly like dropping their entire theatrical slate on Disney+ next year a la Warner Bros. Instead, they’re ramping up content in a way that arguably already should’ve happened given the success and ambitions for Disney+. Right now, there’s no reason to believe that will come at the expense of Walt Disney World or Disneyland. To the contrary, the methodical growth of Disney+ is being done in a safe and measured manner, and will only help reduce the “profitability burden” on the parks in the long-term.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Walt Disney Company’s emphasis on Disney+ and other direct-to-consumer streaming services? Are you worried about the future of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, or the company in general? Hyped about all the Star Wars shows? Any other shows or movies here that have your attention? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We got Disney+ with our Verizon account for free for one year. We dropped it about two weeks to go to make sure we wouldn’t need to pay for it. I think in the almost year that we had it, we watched it maybe two or three times. My husband spends a lot of time watching Netflix (and our son sponges off our Netflix account) and I watch cable, so we haven’t missed it. All this new programming doesn’t appeal much to me, so no loss for us.
I can’t believe they are making yet another Indiana Jones movie (Harrison Ford is 78 currently) unless they are going to bring back Shia LeBeouf as his son. Or discover yet another long lost son (probably a daughter with Disney’s overuse of heroines versus heroes in so many of their movies).
Too many spinoffs for my taste, but that is the norm these days. I will say, we are under the 3-year deal and have thus far found it to offer an incredible value. The kids sections of competitor streaming services (we have HBO Max, Prime, and Netflix—okay maybe we watch too much tv in 2020) seem to either have some not-so-kid-friendly content (HBO–I like anime, but some of it would give my kids major nightmares); or are filled with so much unwatchable garbage that my kids can’t really navigate it on their own to filter out the dregs and get to the “real” shows (ahem, HOW many weird Netflix originals are too many? far fewer than there are already that’s for sure). It is definitely reassuring that on Disney plus, I know whatever they find is going to be okay and fairly decent quality.
In other words, nice to see Disney continuing to set itself up as the dependable, kid-friendly choice. Doesn’t have the highs and lows of the other networks, but in a year like 2020, I’ll take boring but safe any time.
“However, it’s worth noting that reports have recently emerged that subscribers in India, Indonesia, and other key markets pay a fraction of what domestic subscribers are paying.”
It’s also worth noting that the people in these markets also make a fraction of what domestic subscribers make.
How is that relevant to the revenue and future profitability of Disney+?
My point isn’t that it’s “unfair” Disney+ costs more in the US or Europe–it’s that the streaming service constantly touts its subscriber numbers as a measure of success, but that doesn’t tell the whole story since a huge chunk of that audience is in markets where the cost (and price ceiling) on Disney+ is substantially lower.
I would love to see some more original programming. A reboot of Three Men and a Baby? It’s such an ’80s period piece ~ not needed. (And it was already a remake of a French movie.) Turner and Hooch? I’d argue the first one wasn’t needed. Swiss Family Robinson could be good ~ I think it’s far enough back to where it could be fun like Freaky Friday (Jamie Lee Curtis/Lindsey Lohan, not that heinous Disney Channel one) or The Parent Trap, which is excellent in its own right. Live action Pinocchio and Peter Pan? No thank you. The only live action from animation that I have really liked was Aladdin. Disenchanted I can get behind. At least it’s a sequel vs. a reboot.
Agreed. I’d go a step further and say I have about zero interest in 10 shows from either Marvel or Star Wars (although I do recognize the appeal and bankability there).
One thing I absolutely love about the other streaming services is they’re taking creative risks and funding bold projects you wouldn’t see on linear television. Disney+ is doing literally the opposite–they are playing it so unbelievably safe and attaching everything to a franchise. It’s smart and creates less of a burden for the theme parks, but it’s also unbelievably boring.
I’d much prefer it if Disney+ had the Hayley Mills Parent Trap instead of the Lohan version. I’m actually shocked at the lack of Hayley Mills on Disney+.
Hayden Christensen has all the acting ability and on-screen personality of a doorknob. Terrible choice before; terrible choice now.
It was nice to see a streaming service with no MATV content. Though Netflix continues to put out new content, a large percentage of not most, is all MATV. (similar for Amazon, and Hulu) Disney+ is the only one in that group with that distinction.
I’m a big fan, but I’m starting to feel rather cheated by Disney. It feels like they’ll just slap any random image on there and then assert that they’re making a series about it on Disney+ just to garner hype and boost their share prices. For instance, where is the Monsters Inc. Disney+ animation series they announced last year? Or that Lizzie McGuire reboot they announced with Hilary Duff on stage? There was not a peep of either of these mentioned at Investor Day, which signifies to me that they’re not moving forward with either of those any longer. It feels like they spent all of 5 minutes thinking about the various series they’re planning to make –“Beauty and the Beast,” “Tiana,” “Baymax,” “Zootopia+,” and “Moana.” They didn’t even spend time thinking of a proper name or spend any money on an actual title image for these things. Just hype, no substance. I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m not usually so cynical or bitter, but I don’t want to get excited about all these new things and then for them not to come to fruition.
“I’m not usually so cynical or bitter, but I don’t want to get excited about all these new things and then for them not to come to fruition.”
I think your attitude is justified given the circumstances, and I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of these never came to fruition given how early they are in development and since other projects have been scrapped already. (Given that we haven’t heard a peep about “Monsters at Work,” that’s likely been cancelled.)
Wasn’t there an issue with Hilary Duff wanting to take Lizzie McGuire in a more “adult” direction and Disney not wanting to? Seems like I remember them parting ways over that.
Disney+ has had a great launch (and impeccable timing) but they have a serious problem. Part of the estimates to make money in 2024 depend on keeping most (if not all) the discounted subscribers at full cost (or some pkg approximating it). Not an issue with diehard Marvel, Star Wars, Nat Geo etc. fans but for those of us who are casual watchers I am not sure I am sold (and I suspect there are a lot of us)…the list of additions is significant in numbers but without knowing what to compare it to at the time of the expiration I am not at all sure I will keep the subscription going (I wouldn’t today) – Disney has set an expectation of what Disney+ is worth in my mind and doubling that would feel very expensive….despite Netflix being even more. It doesn’t feel like any of the above is game changers – though Disney has had a history of pulling these off over the last few decades in the form of acquisitions, so I don’t write them off.
I understand the need to use Investor Day to introduce content and reinforce the power of Disney + over the next few years…it is reassuring to the short term lively hood of Disney. But as we emerge from COVID in the second half of 2021 the importance of all the things that have been supplanted in 2020 is going to re-emerge. I am expecting that all things travel and leisure will improve rapidly and significantly – many companies that have permanently cut capacity (airlines – due to pilots, not aircraft; cruises scrapping ships early; travel agencies that are gone etc. etc.,) will have changed the supply side of the equation tremendously and will be unable to answer demand increases. These are the times to print money if you have capacity and an availability to meet the need (and can think creatively and act quickly) all things I could see Disney having …As an investor I am actually more interested in hearing how Disney is going to deal with this situation (or maybe they disagree and expect demand to return slowly – if so why and how will they react to that?)…either way information I would like to understand. Content for Disney+ is being created and will be introduced over the next few years but the real possible opportunity, and discontinuity, in their markets may well prove to be in their travel and leisure related businesses and picking up where others just aren’t able to respond – are they thinking the same or going to just take whatever the market gives them???
I agree that churn/subscriber retention will be a HUGE issue when that 3-year window is up. Readers here may disagree, but they are also biased. To a casual consumer who isn’t heavily invested in Star Wars, Marvel, or Disney, the content on Disney+ does not hold a candle to other streaming services. That’s so patently obvious it shouldn’t even be up for debate. (Along these lines, I’m actually somewhat concerned by the Investor Day revelation that more Disney+ households do *not* have kids.)
As for your points about travel, I think Disney is pretty well-situated there. Even if there’s a ton of pent-up demand for leisure travel (which I didn’t believe ~6 months ago, but do now), Disney should be able to meet that without issue. They’ve already culled a good number of APs and convention/youth sport events will take a lot more time to return. WDW should be positioned to scale up to meet whatever demand there is once things return to normal.
I could see subscriber churn going either way. Yes currently they have a bunch of people locked into a 3 year contract but those people also signed up with very little announced original content in development. So what did they sign up for? To me it seems the most logical answers would be either Disney library content or the potential for Star Wars and Marvel shows (which when the service launched were vaguely hinted at but very few details were available). Which is largely what they announced more of today.
Where can I see the webcast in its entirety? Thanks in advance.
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-investor-day-2020/
“The only college football I watch are the Detroit Lions.” – As a long-suffering fan I LOL’d and then shed a tear. Hits too close.
I’ve been a fan and watched Lions games for as long as I can remember. Even during amidst the losing, it was a delight watching Barry Sanders…until he retired early. It was a delight watching Megatron…until he retired early. I’m guessing the next generational talent they draft will also retire early, thus extending our misery.
Just remember: if we don’t laugh, we cry. 😉
I laughed at that so hard. sent a screenshot to my dad in detroit who called me shortly after. lol. he said he couldn’t agree more but as a Michigander he has to support.
Is Disney+ showing rated R movies now? In one of the pictures above it shows The Shape of Water on the Disney + homepage, but that is a rated R movie. Maybe a mistake?
I probably should’ve explained that in the body of the article, but the presentation was so long that some things were left out.
That’s from the international (Europe/Canada/etc.) version of Disney Plus, which will soon be integrating Hotstar and offering an 18+ option to see an expanded content library. It was a big topic in the webcast.
One of the differences in Netflix versus the Disney+ content that has been released so far, the Disney+ content has been SO much better– writing, production value, etc. I’m ok with a less is more philosophy. The Mandalorian looks and watches about 1000 time better than any Netflix sci-fi series and I can watch with the entire family. I’ve watched the Imagineers documentary probably 4 times over. That’s 3 times more than I watched Tiger King, or Murder of the Week/Month/Decade documentary at Netflix. Our family movie night we started 6 months ago has used Disney+ about 5x more than Amazon Prime or Netflix for a feature selection, or for “previews” (i.e., cartoon shorts we show the kids while we get the popcorn and snacks ready). And as a Star Wars fan, I’m happy with Disney taking the series perspective seriously. Much more time to get the stories right and craft long lasting narratives instead of prepping for the Next Big Blockbuster (TM). Rogue Squadron is going to be epic, but I’m also excited for an Obi-Wan series just as much. Now just figure out how to do Knights of the Old Republic in a Game of Thrones like multi-year series and I’m in heaven.
Same with Marvel– there’s so much character content that it lends itself to limited run series much more than trying to cram 3 megavillains into a single 2 hour movie (I’m looking at you Spiderman 3 with Andrew Garfield).
To each their own, but comparing the Mandalorian to Tiger King feels very apples and oranges to me.
Subjectively, I get that many readers of this blog will prefer Star Wars and Marvel content to the non-IP programming on Netflix. But saying the “writing, production value, etc” is superior on Disney+ requires ignoring the Ozark, The Queen’s Gambit, The Crown, Unbelievable, Unorthodox, Dead to Me, The Kominsky Method, and many others.
In terms of Emmy nominations, Netflix absolutely trounces Disney Plus–only HBO is in the same league.
I agree completely. I end up watching nearly everything new on Disney+, and I like a lot of it. I’ve been re-watching the Marvel movies. I canceled Netflix a few months ago in protest of their…..programming choices. And I fully intended to re-subscribe after a month or two. But instead, I haven’t missed it. Disney+ is 95% of my family’s TV viewing right now.
I do agree that at this pace we will run out of content, but I’m hoping these announcements are indications that new content will keep pace with our viewing habits.
And Tom, note that every show you just mentioned is not kid friendly. That makes a huge difference.
I’m not the best judge of what’s kid-friendly, but I’d argue that all of those shows are just as kid-friendly as Mandalorian. I don’t understand why gratuitous violence gets a “pass” while language and nudity don’t, but I guess that’s the way it is.
Agree, I keep trying Netflix originals and keep getting disappointed. The Crown is good, I liked Lost in Space, that’s literally the only two things I can think of despite the massive amount of content Netflix is making.
Tom, as a parent, I’ll explain why we are comfortable with our children watching Mandalorian: “pew pew” style gun fights are not what we consider “gratuitous violence”. I’m actually surprised you even linked that phrase with the Mando. I’m even more surprised that you give sex scenes equal weight in terms of what to allow (or not allow) children to watch. I think we can both agree that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. There are varying degrees of violence, language, and nudity and every family has their own standards. For example, we have zero tolerance for nudity, but we’re comfortable with a certain degree of violence, and we’ll mute whatever words we don’t approve of.
Sarah: “your take was really bad.” So even she doesn’t agree with me! 🙂
I don’t have kids, so it should go without saying that I’m not the best judge of this. I absolutely agree that there’s a difference between ‘pew pew’ space fight violence and graphic war movies or shows about serial killers. I also think there’s a difference in types of nudity. I’d rather my (theoretical) child see an out of context boob than the opening of Saving Private Ryan, but that’s just me. Culturally, Americans are very conservative about sexuality and far less so about violence, and I also do not understand that.
Any idea why Mulan and Reya are premiere but Soul isn’t? Not complaining, but I would have dropped $30 on Christmas Day to watch Soul with the kiddos, but I didn’t and don’t plan to drop $30 to watch movies while the kids are in school.
A few possibilities:
1) User acquisition–they’re willing to eat the lose on Soul because of the new subscriptions it’ll generate
2) Internal expectations are higher for Raya and the Last Dragon and they think it can do well at the $30 price point
3) Seeing whether Mulan was a poor test-case for Premier Access, and whether other films can do better
I’m sure there are other factors, but those are my guesses as to the biggest motivations.
I would guess that Disney is also holding out for the magic China market cash for Reya, where as Soul probably doesn’t have the global market potential.
Was hoping to see some new updates for the parks when I got the newsletter, but alas, no. I have Disney+ but I may be canceling it, especially now. I’m not into Star Wars or Marvel, so it’s not worth paying more for. Most of what I watch on Disney+ I already have the DVDs for. I’m just too lazy to get up to keep getting up to change out the DVDs. And I certainly have no desire to watch anything with the Kardashians in it! Disney was my safe place. No more (sigh).
I wish new shows were being added to the parks. I don’t care about new ones being added to Disney+ or Hulu. Adios, Disney! My Fitbit appreciates the Kardashians. It’s tired of telling me I need to exercise more. I’ll just have to get used to moving & grooving to play the DVDs again
I wish the live version of Hunchback of Norte Dame was on the list. Hope that eventually gets made.
Love the article with a great balance of detail and summation. But it’s the humor that makes this blog entry a winner. Thanks for sifting through all that info. I’m pretty excited to for some of these movies/series to debut. Good job Tom!!
Fantastic Article Tom!! Thank you so much for this summation of events! You are indeed a talented writer!
I cannot wait for all the new Kardashian content!!!… said no one ever. EVER.
I saw the picture and my first thought was “man, someone hacked Tom’s blog.”
I laughed so loud at the Detroit Lions line that my husband had to ask if I was ok. Thank you for that merriment 🙂
i literally was about to go to twitter to ask who had the list of everything all in one place. not all heroes wear capes.
Luca can’t be released in theaters until Soul gets a chance to be in theaters