Netflix in talks with Disney to keep 'Star Wars' and Marvel movies
The companies are reportedly in 'active discussions' to keep the films on Netflix past the 2019 split.
A little over a year ago, Disney made Netflix the exclusive home of its movies, including Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel flicks, which led to rumors of a Netflix acquisition by Disney. A few days ago, however, Disney used its earnings report to announce that it would no longer stream its content on Netflix. The entertainment company plans to launch its own streaming service in 2019. The devil is in the details, however; the companies are reportedly in "active discussions" about keeping Marvel and Star Wars films in the Netflix queue.
According to Reuters, Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts during the call that his company had not yet decides where it would house Marvel superhero films or Star Wars titles from Lucasfilm. Netflix's Ted Sarandos expects that Disney's service would be complementary to Netflix's, which still carries a ton of other family-centric entertainment. Sarandos is reportedly talking with Disney about keeping Marvel and Lucasfilm releases for 2019 and beyond.
Disney's not the only company that's looking to manage its own streaming system, of course. HBO, CBS, Starz and Hulu have their own original content in place to pull in regular subscribers. Sarandos also said that this move by Disney was expected. "That's why we got into the originals business five years ago," Sarandos told Reuters, "anticipating (that licensing content) may be not as easy a conversation with studios and networks."
