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Pixar's 'Onward' hits Disney+ on April 3rd amid theater closures
Just like every other line of business right now, the entertainment industry is scrambling to figure out how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Several blockbusters, including the latest James Bond adventure No Time To Die and Marvel's Black Widow have been delayed, while production on many others has been suspended. Some studios have decided to make recent movies available as digital rentals only a few weeks after hitting theaters or even on the same day they arrive in cinemas.
Disney+ will start streaming 'Frozen 2' on Sunday, three months early
In a move that feels in parts altruistic and business savvy, Disney has bumped up the Disney+ streaming release date for Frozen 2 to this weekend. Many families are unexpectedly home and certainly feeling the stress of everything going on due to coronavirus, and could probably use a break to watch the much-loved movie. It's also a high-profile exclusive for Disney's streaming service, which has wanted for a hit of its own ever since The Mandalorian season one came to an end.
Disney+ reportedly scrapped a 'Tron' series from John Ridley
As scarce as Disney+ originals might be at the moment, Disney is apparently being picky about just what reaches its streaming service. Hollywood Reporter sources claim Disney+ developed and ditched three originals in the past year, including an unannounced Tron series from 12 Years a Slave producer John Ridley. The show had reportedly been in the works for "several months" even though it hadn't been officially greenlit, the insiders said. It's not certain why the life-inside-a-computer series didn't survive -- the other two shows were cut for wildly varying reasons.
Disney CEO Bob Iger steps down after getting Disney+ off the ground
After guiding Disney through the acquisition of Fox and launching its direct-to-consumer efforts that center around Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, CEO Bob Iger is stepping down from his post. "Effective immediately," former Disney Parks Chairman Bob Chapek is taking over and will report to Iger while he serves as executive chairman and leads "creative endeavors" through the end of his contract next year. In a statement announcing the move, Iger said ""With the successful launch of Disney's direct-to-consumer businesses and the integration of Twenty-First Century Fox well underway, I believe this is the optimal time to transition to a new CEO." As far as Chapek's experience, he's worked there for more than two decades, and the press release notes that he spearheaded the infamous "Disney Vault" strategy for handling its iconic films as they were released for home viewing on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. Asked on a call with investors about the timing of the move, Iger said that it made sense to turn over day-to-day management of the company to Chapek so that he can use his remaining time to focus on creative aspects of the company. According to him, the move wasn't accelerated "for any particular reason." With Chapek continuing to report to Iger, it doesn't seem like things materially change at Disney much right now, but the move is announced right after the company revealed Disney+ has already grown to over 26 million subscribers. It's also preparing to launch widely in Europe, and we're still months out from the arrival of The Mandalorian season two and tons of Baby Yoda merchandise.
The Disney+ app is finally coming to Vizio TVs
Vizio is rolling out an update to its smart TVs that'll add a proper Disney+ app to the SmartCast platform. Until now, Vizio owners have had to cast Disney+ to their TV using Chromecast or AirPlay 2.
'Black Panther' comes to Disney+ on March 4th
Depending on who you ask, everyone has a different favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie, but it's fair to say Black Panther is in a lot of people's top five. After a notable absence from Disney+, the 2018 film will make its way to the streaming service in the US on March 4th. Conversely, this means if you're a Netflix subscriber and you haven't seen the movie yet, you're running out of time to do so.
Disney+ has already netted 28.6 million subscribers
Disney's start on direct-to-customer streaming came out of the gate with the bang, as the company reported it had 26.5 million paid subscribers for Disney+ (PDF) by the end of 2019. ESPN+ grew to 6.6 million subscribers from 1.4 million last year, while Hulu has 30 million customers total, with 3.2 million of them signing up for live TV services. On a call with investors, CEO Bob Iger reported that Disney+ is still growing, and is up to 28.6 million customers worldwide as of Monday. Iger also announced that Disney+ will launch in India via the company's HotStar service and said Hulu could launch internationally in 2021. On the call with investors, Iger specified that season two of The Mandalorian will debut in October, as well as shows the MCU shows it featured in Super Bowl ads. Falcon and the Winter Soldier will launch in August, and Wandavision arrives in December. He also said that the Star Wars show will run beyond two seasons, with a possibility of "infusing it with more characters and taking those characters in their own direction in terms of series." Executives said they don't expect the next "significant" domestic growth to happen until those series launch. According to the CEO, people weren't just watching the viral series, with over 65 percent of viewers watching ten other things on the platform. Interestingly, he also said that the current priority of Star War is TV as opposed to theatrical releases.
Hulu CEO steps down as it integrates with Disney's streaming plans
Now that Hulu is part of Disney's streaming triumvirate with ESPN+ and Disney+, there's a reorganization at the top and Randy Freer will step down from his role as CEO. He took over in late 2017, but now it will join the others under direct oversight from Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International chairman Kevin Mayer. We'll see what changes come in the future for Hulu, as it previously stood alone as a rival to Netflix, but now is a part of a larger strategy. Disney CEO Bob Iger already announced plans for "FX on Hulu" programming that's overseen by FX boss John Landgraf, which came after Disney pulled the plug on a standalone FX streaming service. The Hollywood Reporter point out that Hulu's scripted original shows are overseen by Disney TV Studios chairman Dana Walden, while Deadline reports it's expected to hire a business leader to oversee the division.
Disney+ is coming to Europe a week sooner than expected
If you live in Europe and you've been patiently waiting to (legally) get stuck into The Mandalorian, we have some good news. The launch date for a wider European launch of Disney+ has been brought forward by a week, the Walt Disney Company has confirmed, opening its doors in select countries from March 24th.
Disney+ loses some movies due to old licensing deals
Some titles have recently disappeared from Disney+, including beloved classics Home Alone 1 and 2: Lost in New York. ScreenCrush has listed twelve titles, in particular, which also include Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Dr. Dolittle and The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration. A spokesperson has confirmed to Gizmodo that those shows and movies have departed the service, but it's not due to a glitch or a change in policy. Disney+ had to drop them, for now, due to issues related to legacy deals.
Streaming won't get easier or cheaper
After years of declining cable subscriptions, the bundle is back. Smaller bundles at slightly lower prices, sure, but still bundles. While Netflix had some competition from Amazon and Hulu when it came to one-price-fits-all streaming in the past, the last quarter of this year has been a whirlwind of launches with just Disney+ and Apple TV+ alone.
Google's 2019 search trends mark a big year for Baby Yoda and 'Endgame'
Disney captured the 2019 zeitgeist in multiple ways, according Google's annual year in search roundup. While the streaming service is just a month old, "Disney Plus" was the top-trending search term of the year in the US, meaning it had the highest spike in traffic over a period of time. A lot of that may be down to the big Disney+ outage, along with The Mandalorian series featuring "Baby Yoda" that has been one of the biggest reasons to sign up for the streaming service.
Disney+ makes it easier to pick up shows where you left off
Disney+ had a bumpy start, with many users reporting frequent crashes and even difficulty logging into their accounts. One of the company's first moves to address the issues was to remove certain features, with one of those being the "continue watching" list. Disney has now added the list back to its platform, allowing viewers to pick up a movie or show where they left off.
Analysis suggests Disney+ doesn't stream 'The Mandalorian' in true HDR
The Mandalorian has given us Baby Yoda and, by some accounts, made Disney+ worth it. The first live-action Star Wars show, The Mandalorian packs the kind of action and visual splendor that will remind you why you love Star Wars in the first place, and it stands out as truly original content on Disney's new streaming platform. But it may not be living up to its HDR promises.
What’s coming soon to Disney+: ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Coco’
After a successful -- though also somewhat shaky -- launch, Disney has outlined the new movies and series it plans to add over the next three weeks to its streaming service. If you subscribed to Disney+ to watch shows like The Mandalorian, you know you'll be able to watch new episodes every Friday. So for the purposes of this post, we've instead highlighted a couple of surprise additions.
Disney+ will fix its 'Simpsons' widescreen problem in 2020
As soon as Disney+ launched, fans of The Simpsons noticed a big problem. In a repeat of an issue that occurred when FXX started playing old episodes a few years ago, someone made the decision to crop and zoom older 4x3 aspect ratio episodes to fill out an HD widescreen frame. It was eventually corrected, and it turns out that new owner Disney will also fix things up -- eventually. In a statement, a Disney spokesperson said that "in early 2020" it will offer a toggle for the first 19 seasons of episodes so people can choose to view them in their original format -- important for many visual gags that extend to the top or bottom of the frame -- or widescreen-adjusted. Disney: We presented "The Simpsons" in 16:9 aspect ratio at launch in order to guarantee visual quality and consistency across all 30 seasons. Over time, Disney+ will roll out new features and additional viewing options. As part of this, in early 2020, Disney+ will make the first 19 seasons (and some episodes from Season 20) of "The Simpsons" available in their original 4:3 aspect ratio, giving subscribers a choice of how they prefer to view the popular series.
Disney+ isn't working for some users on launch day
Like most new online services, it looks like Disney+'s launch isn't going to be hiccup-free. After the streaming service went live early this morning, some fans on the east coast are waking up to find that they can't connect to Disney's servers to watch any content. On Twitter, there are a growing number of reports of people running into an "unable to connect to Disney+" error message.
Disney+ has arrived, here's everything you need to know
It's November 12th, and Disney has thrown the doors open on its streaming service Disney+. If you live in the US, Canada or the Netherlands, then you can get unprecedented access to the Disney vault as well as some interesting new original content. That includes most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Mandalorian and more. Original shows on Disney+ won't drop all at once, so plan your binge-watching accordingly. Several new series premiered tonight, and they'll each add new episodes every Friday from now on. While Disney, Pixar, National Geographic and Marvel all present tantalizing options, a last-minute surprise is the news that all of the Star Wars movies streaming right now are available in 4K Ultra HD, a first-ever for the first seven movies in the series. Other selections that are available for the first time with 4K and HDR include Hocus Pocus, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Toy Story 1-3. The price for all that is $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year -- there is a 7-day free trial -- while a bundle option for those who want to add ESPN+ and Hulu (with ads) to the subscription is available for $12.99 per month. If you're looking for the apps, these are the devices supported at launch: Amazon FireTV and FireOS, Apple iOS, Android/Chromecast, Roku, Xbox One, PS4, LG webOS smart TVs and Samsung Smart TV.
Disney+ gets every 'Star Wars' movie in 4K, Dolby Vision and Atmos
We knew Disney+ would be the new home of Star Wars ever since the service was announced, but Disney kept an interesting nugget secret until now. The entire Star Wars series, including the original trilogy and much-maligned prequels, has also been remastered in 4K with Dolby Vision and Atmos support, delivering the clearest look at the twin suns of Tatooine yet. So now, even physical media purists will have a reason to check out Disney+.
What's on TV this week: 'The Mandalorian'
Another new week, another new streaming service. Disney+ is activating on the apps and services where it's available (iOS, Android, Roku, etc.) and bringing with it a ton of archived content from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and even The Simpsons. The highlight show is the one we've been waiting for, with Pedro Pascal starring as The Mandalorian. But it's not the only new show appearing this week. Netflix's response to the new challenger includes new full season drops of The Toys That Made Us and The Crown, while Disney's series will give you one episode today, with new episodes added each Friday. Amazon, meanwhile, is releasing season four of The Man in the High Castle. For gamers, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is this week's biggest name, and if you prefer to avoid subscribing to an extra service, Star Trek Discovery season two is available on Blu-ray, along with anniversary releases of Spirited Away and Heathers. In sports, the F1 season is moving along with action in Brazil. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).