During a quarterly shareholder call yesterday evening, Disney revealed that it posted a $170 million operating loss during its fiscal third quarter due to the Fox acquisition, and that's going to change how the studio handles the franchises it purchased during that merger.
Now, Disney will reportedly focus on established properties like
Avatar and
Planet of the Apes, and while we know that James Cameron is already hard at work on a sequel to the former, this is the first time Disney boss Bob Iger has promised that the
Apes franchise will live on after the previous trilogy wrapped up with
War for the Planet of the Apes.
According to Iger, Disney will now take Fox
"in a new direction, with an all new development slate that will focus on a select group of properties." Before the acquisition, Fox promised that additional
Alien and
Maze Runner movies were on the way, but whether that's still the case remains to be seen.
In other news, it was confirmed during this call that Disney+ will reboot the
Home Alone,
Cheaper by the Dozen,
Night at the Museum, and
Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchises for the streaming service.
Home Alone is obviously a beloved classic, so that could prove to be controversial to some.
How do you guys feel about this news?
Hit the "View List" button to find out which
properties Disney acquired from FOX in the merger!
The Simpsons Are Coming To Disney+
While
The Simpsons will continue to air on FOX (it was recently renewed for seasons 31 and 32), it appears as if FX will no longer have the streaming rights to the long-running series. While some previous episodes will remain on FXNow for a short while, come November 12th, the beloved animated family will air all thirty of its previous seasons exclusively on Disney+ which is obviously huge.
Disney+ Will Explore A Post-Endgame MCU
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was on hand to present the Marvel Studios portion of the Disney+ presentation and it's clear that the MCU is about to have a huge impact on the small screen.
While the Marvel TV shows we've seen in the past have only been loosely connected to what's happening in the movies, Feige promises that these will link seamlessly with what's going on in theaters, noting that
"they will change and evolve characters as well as introduce new ones."
He also teased the fact that the
"post-Endgame MCU will be very different."
The Entire Star Wars Franchise Will Be On Disney+ Within A Year
While Disney may own Lucasfilm, their acquisition of Fox means that they've regained the distribution rights to the original trilogy of
Star Wars movies (and the prequels). Now, all six of those are coming to Disney+ along with the current trilogy (including
Episode IX) and
Rogue One.
Oddly, there was no mention of
Solo, the disappointing spinoff that massively underperformed.
Having all of these movies in one place is obviously going to be a huge draw for fans and another massive blow to Netflix after Disney decided to pull
The Force Awakens and
The Last Jedi from there.
Toy Story Fans Will Be Happy
Disney is clearly hoping for big things from
Toy Story 4 because two shorts will be released by Pixar on the streaming service both at launch and during the first year.
Forky Asks a Question will be an animated series featuring the spork turned toy who will be a key player in the upcoming fourth instalment, while
Lamp Life promises to explore what happened to Bo Peep between the events of
Toy Story 2 and
Toy Story 4.
Disney Animation fans can also looking forward to a
Frozen 2 "Making-Of" documentary.
New Star Wars TV Shows
The Mandalorian will be good to go on day one when Disney+ launches and Alan Tudyk will reprise the role of K-2SO alongside Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in a currently untitled series.
Not much beyond that was revealed and that rumoured
Obi-Wan Kenobi show hasn't been confirmed yet.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe Gets Bigger
As promised, a number of Marvel TV shows are coming to Disney+ and while there was no mention of Hawkeye, those which have been rumoured for a while now have been officially confirmed.
Those include
Loki starring Tom Hiddleston,
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier with Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan reprising their respective roles, the oddly titled
WandaVision with Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen as The Vision and the Scarlet Witch, and an animated
What If? series featuring the voices of the actors who played the characters on screen.
The first of those will see Peggy Carter become Captain America and a skinny Steve Rogers donning an Iron Man suit in World War II.
How Movie Releases Will Work
Right now, there's an awful lot of discussion going on about whether streaming services are killing theaters and it seems Disney is keen to avoid hurting them and losing the money they make with box office hits like
Avengers: Infinity War.
Instead, once movies finish their theatrical runs, they'll immediately debut on Disney+ and that means we'll get to see them much sooner than if we were to wait for the DVD and Blu-ray releases. So, yeah, physical media might be dying now.
How Much Will It Cost?
So, all this great content is going to cost a ton, right? Nope. Disney is looking to deliver a Netflix killer and in a bid to stand out from the crowd and ensure that people believe it's worth signing up, all Disney+ will cost you is $6.99 a month! That's cheaper than Netflix and there's even an option to pay for the entire year at $69.99 (which works out to be $5.83 a month and is definitely affordable).
When Does It Launch?
Here's the official worldwide release schedule for the streaming service courtesy of Disney. In North America, however, we know that Disney+ will officially debut on November 12th.
New TV Shows
- High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
- The Mandalorian
- Diary of a Female President
- The Falcon and The Winter Soldier
- Loki
- Untitled Cassian Andor Series
- WandaVision
New Animated TV Shows And Shorts
- Forky Asks a Question
- SparkShorts
- Lamp Life
- Monsters at Work
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- Marvel’s What If…?
Documentaries And Unscripted Series
- Encore!
- Untitled Walt Disney Imagineering Documentary Series
- Marvel’s Hero Project
- The World According to Jeff Goldblum
- Be Our Chef
- Cinema Relics
- Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2
- Magic of Animal Kingdom
- Marvel’s 616
- (Re)Connect
- Shop Class (working title)
- Earthkeepers (working title)
- Ink & Paint
Original Movies
- Lady & The Tramp
- Noelle
- The Phineas and Ferb Movie (working title)
- Stargirl
- Timmy Failure
- Togo
Recent Releases
- Captain Marvel
- Dumbo
- Avengers: Endgame
- Aladdin
- Toy Story 4
- The Lion King
- Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
- Frozen 2
- Star Wars: Episode IX
Films
101 Dalmatians
A Bug’s Life
A Goofy Movie
An Extremely Goofy Movie
Bambi
Bao
Big Hero 6
Born in China
Cars
Fantasia
Finding Dory
Finding Nemo
Free Solo
Frozen
Fun and Fancy Free
Hercules
High School Musical
Honey I Shrunk the Kids
Inside Out
Iron Man
Lady and the Tramp
Lilo & Stitch
Mary Poppins
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas
Moana
Monsters University
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pixar Short Films Collection Vol 1
Ratatouille
Remember the Titans
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (animated series)
Steamboat Willie
The Good Dinosaur
The Incredibles
The Little Mermaid
The Parent Trap (1961)
The Prince & The Pauper (1990)
The Princess Diaries
The Rocketeer
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (short)
The Sword in the Stone
The Three Caballeros
Thor: The Dark World
Toy Story
Tron (1982)
Up
Wall-E
Zootopia
TV Shows
Amazing Planet
Andi Mack (Seasons 1-3)
Boy Meets World
Brain Games
Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan
Dr. K’s Exotic Animals
Dr. Oakley Yukon Vet
Drain the Ocean
DuckTales (1987)
DuckTales (2016, Season 1)
Earth Live
Goof Troop
Great Migrations
Howie Mandel’s Animals Doing Things
Kim Possible
Malcolm in the Middle
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (animated series)
Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man (animated series)
Mickey and the Roadster Racers (Seasons 1-2)
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Shorts
One Strange Rock
Raven’s Home
Rocky Mountain Animal Rescue
Star Wars Rebels
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (series)
That’s So Raven
The Incredible Dr. Pol
The Simpsons
Unlikely Animal Friends
Wicked Tuna