Disney unveils plans to stream a galaxy of new series and films

Disney’s streaming plans shifted into hyper speed on Thursday, as the studio unveiled a galaxy’s worth of new streaming offerings including plans for 10 Star Wars series spinoffs and 10 Marvel series that will debut on Disney+.

In a virtual presentation for investors, Disney chief executive Bob Chapek laid out super-sized ambitions for it direct-to-consumer efforts, leaning heavily on some of the company’s biggest brands.

Over the next few years, Disney is planning to premiere directly on Disney+ not just an armada of Star Wars and Marvel series but 15 live-action, Pixar and animated series.

Mr Chapek said Disney+ subscribers worldwide have reached 86.8 million, up from 74 million last month.

The service has easily exceeded most forecasts, reaching that number 13 months since its launch in November 2019.

Disney will increase the monthly price by one dollar to eight dollars (£6) a month in March. The company forecasts 230-260 million subscribers by 2024.

To keep subscriber numbers climbing, Disney presented a blizzard of remakes, sequels and spinoffs of various shapes and sizes on Thursday — 100 new titles in all — including a Beauty and the Beast prequel series, a Moana animated series, a Three Men and a Baby reboot with Zac Efron, a Swiss Family Robinson series and, yes, even the Kardashians.

But Disney also kept its biggest films — including Marvel’s Black Widow, Pixar’s Luca and a Lion King prequel — on course for theatrical release.

Whereas WarnerMedia last week pushed its entire 2021 slate to streaming, Disney executives signalled that theatrical release remains essential to its big-budget spectacles and its business, overall.

“We build the franchises through the theatrical window,” Mr Chapek said.

Still, the four-hour presentation presented a more seamless vision of content across platforms that made scant mention of its closed theme parks, or of the pandemic.

That included a dizzying amount of series, many of them connected to big-screen movies past and present.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said a pair of new Marvel series — Secret Invasion, with Samuel Jackson, and Ironheart — will “tie directly to Marvel future films”.

The only difference between the company’s short-form TV content and its theatrical content, said executive chairman Bob Iger, “is length”.

Not all the news was in streaming. Lucasfilm announced that Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) will direct the next Star Wars theatrical film, Rogue Squadron, with a release in theatres planned for Christmas 2023.

Jenkins becomes the first woman to direct a “Star Wars” film. In a video, she said the film, about starship fighters, will satisfy a long-held dream of hers as the daughter of an Air Force captain.

“When he lost his life in service of this country, it ignited a desire in me to turn all of that tragedy and thrill into one day making the greatest fighter pilot movie of all time,” she said.

Other films are going ahead with theatrical plans, among them a Buzz Lightyear prequel, due in 2020, and the Black Panther sequel.

Feige confirmed that the role of the late Chadwick Boseman will not be recast but that its makers are still interested in “exploring the world of Wakanda” in Ryan Coogler’s film, due in theatres July 2022.

Among the Star Wars series are two spinoffs of The Mandalorian, set during the series’ timeline: Rangers of the New Republic and Ahsoka, with Rosario Dawson.

Other, less expected Star Wars stars are returning.

Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in the prequels, will reprise his role as Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Ewan McGregor.

Disney steered several upcoming movies to its streaming service, including Pinocchio, with Tom Hanks, and an Enchanted sequel with Amy Adams titled Disenchanted.

The animated Raya and the Last Dragon will in March debut simultaneously in theatres and by premier access on Disney+.

Disney made other adjustments to reorient its film operations around streaming.

Hulu, which this year debuted the Andy Samberg comedy Palm Springs and Sarah Paulson thriller Run, will be home to more original films from 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.

Hulu will also be the new home of the Kardashians, recently departed from E!. The streaming service also renewed The Handmaid’s Tale for a fifth season.

FX is developing the first series based on the Alien films, with Noah Hawley (Fargo) directing.

Many in Hollywood had eagerly awaited Disney’s response following WarnerMedia’s announcement last week that it will release all 17 of its 2021 films — from Dune to The Matrix 4 — simultaneously on its streaming platform, HBO Max, and in theatres.

That move set off shockwaves prompting a backlash from much of the film industry, including theatre chains, producing partners and some of the studio’s top talent.

Christopher Nolan criticised the plans as “a bit of a mess”. Some said the long-forecast end times for cinemas had arrived.

Others questioned the economics of one of Hollywood’s top studios sacrificing a year of box office — and the cascading windows of release that follow a theatrical run — to salvage the rocky rollout of HBO Max — a service that many HBO subscribers have yet to activate.