Disney amps up streaming wars with 'Star Wars' & other programming announcements

AppleInsider · August 23, 2019 5:22PM

At the D23 Expo, Disney has shed more light on what consumers will see when the company's streaming service launches on November 12 with far more content than Apple has planned for Apple TV+.

Disney's updated list includes a mix of both new and rehashed content, including a CGI remake of the 1955 classic "Lady and the Tramp" as well as a brand new, live-action Star Wars television series, a prequel to "Star Wars: Rogue One," and "The Mandalorian."

Disney+ will launch in the fall and likely be available to all streaming platforms, including apps for iOS, AppleTV, and iPadOS but minus native support for any Amazon Fire product. The service will cost $6.99 a month, or $69.99 a year if purchased annually.

Upon launch on November 12 of this year, Disney will start rolling out all Star Wars films within one year. "The Mandalorian" will be available at the debut of the service.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Disney CEO, Bob Iger told a group of investors, "We are developing not just one, but a few Star Wars series specifically for the Disney direct-to-consumer app."

In addition to new series planned for Disney+, Disney will leverage a good portion of over 80 years of Disney intellectual property. Disney also has access to content from its recent acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The service will be geared toward providing family friendly content with a broad appeal.

Apple TV+ versus Disney+

Apple TV+, which still doesn't have a concrete release date, has also started teasing its own content. While Apple doesn't have nearly a century of media to leverage, they do have the ability to bring in big names and new ideas, spending over $6 billion to launch the service.

Apple TV+ will feature new shows such as "For All Mankind," a sci-fi alternative history of the 1960s space race, "Mythic Quest," a comedy series about game developers from the creators of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," and an adaptation of Min Jin Lee's novel "Pachinko."

Currently, Apple has about 40 known titles coming to Apple TV+, a mix of serialized shows and one-shot movies spanning many different genres. Disney, on the other hand, will be releasing over 300 movies spanning the Disney catalog that includes "Star Wars," Marvel and more to the service in November.

The Apple streaming service will likely debut at $10 a month, and analysts at Cowen have predicted that by the end of 2020, Apple TV+ will have over 12 million subscribers, and 21 million subscribers by the end of 2021.

SpamSandwich · August 23, 2019 5:26PM

Actually very interested to see what John Favreau does with The Mandalorian. He’s more of a hardcore Star Wars fan than the head of Lucasfilm.

ireland · August 23, 2019 5:47PM

Cowen are pulling those figures out of the air. They have no clue what’s going to happen, and we will have to wait to find out what Apple TV+ costs. Also, I read this quote yesterday... “In the first year of launch, Disney+ will include 7,500 episodes of current and past TV shows and 500 movies, according to Disney”.

ireland · August 23, 2019 5:54PM

SpamSandwich said:

Actually very interested to see what John Favreau does with The Mandalorian. He’s more of a hardcore Star Wars fan than the head of Lucasfilm.

If The Jungle Book and The Lion King are any indication I’d be concerned. Miscast across the board; wooden animals; unnecessary remakes—shameful ham-fisted money grab. Order of magnitude worse than the originals in both cases. Horrid, IMO. Shouldn’t exist. Remakes typically are not as good as the originals, but sometimes are much better: Little Shop of Horrors (theatrical cut) being one example. So it is possible, and is sometimes a good idea. Though certainly not here. Jon Favreau should consider Shepardry.

SpamSandwich · August 23, 2019 6:04PM

ireland said:

SpamSandwich said:

Actually very interested to see what John Favreau does with The Mandalorian. He’s more of a hardcore Star Wars fan than the head of Lucasfilm.

If The Jungle Book and The Lion King are any indication I’d be concerned. Miscast across the board; wooden animals; unnecessary remakes—shameful ham-fisted money grab. Order of magnitude worse than the originals in both cases. Horrid, IMO. Shouldn’t exist. Remakes typically are not as good as the originals, but sometimes are much better: Little Shop of Horrors (theatrical cut) being one example. So is possible, and is sometimes a good idea—not just a hater.

Both of those movies did/are doing good business at the box office (I saw neither one), so the financial success part of things cannot be denied. I think with a streaming show there’s a bit more leeway for real story and character development.

ireland · August 23, 2019 6:16PM

SpamSandwich said:

ireland said:

SpamSandwich said:

Actually very interested to see what John Favreau does with The Mandalorian. He’s more of a hardcore Star Wars fan than the head of Lucasfilm.

If The Jungle Book and The Lion King are any indication I’d be concerned. Miscast across the board; wooden animals; unnecessary remakes—shameful ham-fisted money grab. Order of magnitude worse than the originals in both cases. Horrid, IMO. Shouldn’t exist. Remakes typically are not as good as the originals, but sometimes are much better: Little Shop of Horrors (theatrical cut) being one example. So is possible, and is sometimes a good idea—not just a hater.

Both of those movies did/are doing good business at the box office (I saw neither one), so the financial success part of things cannot be denied. I think with a streaming show there’s a bit more leeway for real story and character development.

I don’t give a shit how much money a movie makes at the box office. Shawshank is considered by many people as their favourite film of all time; is the no. 1 film on IMDb; did terrible at the box office. Many terrible movies have made money, and many good films have faired poorly $$$. Box office stats are generally for movie-accountants, not a movie lovers.

My main point before was Jon Favreau has 1. sold out. And 2. lost direction.

22july2013 · August 23, 2019 6:18PM

I'v been saying for over a year that Disney Corporation is the biggest threat to Apple Corporation over the next ten years. You might say that Apple is a hardware company and Disney isn't. Actually Disney owns the Go Pro camera company and could leverage that to easily build its own internet TV device and that could be a very major threat to Apple TV. Disney's brand is as powerful as Apple's. Once it dominates the streaming media business I can easily see them deciding to manufacture a phone.

Of course I could be totally wrong too.

SpamSandwich · August 23, 2019 6:36PM

22july2013 said:

I'v been saying for over a year that Disney Corporation is the biggest threat to Apple Corporation over the next ten years. You might say that Apple is a hardware company and Disney isn't. Actually Disney owns the Go Pro camera company and could leverage that to easily build its own internet TV device and that could be a very major threat to Apple TV. Disney's brand is as powerful as Apple's. Once it dominates the streaming media business I can easily see them deciding to manufacture a phone.

Of course I could be totally wrong too.

Well, since Apple has made the decision to get into content production, every network and content distributor is their competitor in that arena. The real question is, would Disney get into the technology game (other than games, etc.)?

AppleZulu · August 23, 2019 6:43PM

I wonder if 4K will be any sort of factor for the Disney+ app. There's a lot of Disney-owned content on other streaming outlets, but very little of it is available in 4K. There's Marvel films and Star Wars films for sale on Apple, and Amazon, and others streaming on Amazon and Netflix. You can but 4K Blu Ray copies of many of these things, but the streaming content mostly only comes in HD. Perhaps the Disney+ outlet will use 4K content as a selling point. Or maybe not.

muaddib · August 23, 2019 7:09PM

I am looking forward to a 3D CGI update to Steamboat Willie.

Fatman · August 23, 2019 7:23PM

If you stack these services you may end of with a nice package, for example: Disney (ABC, ESPN, Marvel, Pixar) + Netflix + Apple at $25.97/month may make for a killer combination. The remaining live networks not included could be added a la carte, e.g. CBS Live for an additional $5.99 - if you need it that badly. The good news is there will be many options, and they seem to all be staying under the $10/month fee .. at least for now.

AppleExposed · August 23, 2019 7:29PM

Disney again, doing things right.

Although Lady and the Tramp deserves a theatrical release. Hopefully it isn't some crapped out production to meet deadlines.

22july2013 said:

I'v been saying for over a year that Disney Corporation is the biggest threat to Apple Corporation over the next ten years. You might say that Apple is a hardware company and Disney isn't. Actually Disney owns the Go Pro camera company and could leverage that to easily build its own internet TV device and that could be a very major threat to Apple TV. Disney's brand is as powerful as Apple's. Once it dominates the streaming media business I can easily see them deciding to manufacture a phone.

Of course I could be totally wrong too.

Disney and Apple have a great relationship. Saddest thing is Steve dying as today we can almost guarantee Disney+ and Apple TV+ would be merged somehow or even more tightly integrated. Steve had that power, his wife does not. I wouldn't doubt it if she already sold her husbands stake.

With that said, Apple and Disney are not stepping on each others toes. Apple is producing original content and Disney is not releasing knockoff Apple products. Most likely Bob and Tim shared their plans years in advance.

Appleish · August 23, 2019 7:32PM

Disney+ is a no brainer. May be getting Hulu, but definitely canceling Netflix the same day.

Apple TV+ is a head scratcher. If its original programming is all it is, I have zero interest.

AnotherBrick · August 23, 2019 7:35PM

Disney could not release anything for a year or more and still stomp both Apple and Netflix just with the movies they control. Forget the pretend Live Action remakes, they can just release the original animated films. The remakes are cover for adults so that they aren’t seeing a ‘cartoon’ which people have decided (many decades ago) is not something for adults.

If the Star Wars films merely retread the existing movies and plot lines they will attract an audience and if one or more is average or above it will be a smash hit.

Apple may have good shows. A lot of times unknown good shows take a while to find an audience, and pretty much all of Apple’s shows are unknown. So don’t look for Apple to be the Disney Killer this year.

If that does happen then good. I don’t hate Disney per se but I do feel that they control too much of the entertainment industry right now.

Metriacanthosaurus · August 23, 2019 7:49PM

What is incredibly and pathetically sad is that:

A quick look of the landscape indicates that the day Disney+ launches it will instantly be the best-value streaming service available.

All of the other services, whether standalone like Netflix and Hulu, or as channels through Apple TV, are all ridiculously overpriced. They all need to come down by 50% of even approach fair market value.

StrangeDays · August 23, 2019 8:00PM

22july2013 said:

I'v been saying for over a year that Disney Corporation is the biggest threat to Apple Corporation over the next ten years. You might say that Apple is a hardware company and Disney isn't. Actually Disney owns the Go Pro camera company and could leverage that to easily build its own internet TV device and that could be a very major threat to Apple TV. Disney's brand is as powerful as Apple's. Once it dominates the streaming media business I can easily see them deciding to manufacture a phone.

Of course I could be totally wrong too.

Nah. GoPro is a niche and threat to no one. Internet TV device? You mean like the hundred others? A Disney phone! OK now I know you’re just messing with us.

AnotherBrick · August 23, 2019 8:14PM

Metriacanthosaurus said:

What is incredibly and pathetically sad is that:

A quick look of the landscape indicates that the day Disney+ launches it will instantly be the best-value streaming service available.

All of the other services, whether standalone like Netflix and Hulu, or as channels through Apple TV, are all ridiculously overpriced. They all need to come down by 50% of even approach fair market value.

Hulu isn’t stand alone. About 6 months ago Disney bought out Comcast’s share, and if they aren’t the sole owner they are at least 70-80% owners of Hulu.

Disney has already announced that Hulu is where they will put their more adult content, whatever that means, and even the 6.99 version of Disney comes with the free version of Hulu, so Hulu at this price point will have commercials. You can pay more and get the commercial free version, and you will also get Disney +. I think you can also bundle ESPN and Disney and Hulu.

SpamSandwich · August 23, 2019 8:25PM

Metriacanthosaurus said:

What is incredibly and pathetically sad is that:

A quick look of the landscape indicates that the day Disney+ launches it will instantly be the best-value streaming service available.

All of the other services, whether standalone like Netflix and Hulu, or as channels through Apple TV, are all ridiculously overpriced. They all need to come down by 50% of even approach fair market value.

Things cost whatever people are willing to pay for them. If they find the price of their service is out of whack relative to competitors, they’ll reduce it.

eightzero · August 23, 2019 8:46PM

Begun, this streaming content war, has.

Metriacanthosaurus · August 23, 2019 9:01PM

SpamSandwich said:

Metriacanthosaurus said:

What is incredibly and pathetically sad is that:

A quick look of the landscape indicates that the day Disney+ launches it will instantly be the best-value streaming service available.

All of the other services, whether standalone like Netflix and Hulu, or as channels through Apple TV, are all ridiculously overpriced. They all need to come down by 50% of even approach fair market value.

Things cost whatever people are willing to pay for them. If they find the price of their service is out of whack relative to competitors, they’ll reduce it.

If only it worked that way. When it comes to video, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that content owners would rather not sell it than lower the price.

Music piracy practically ended when the content owners got with the program, and today people would much rather pay $10/mon for all the music in the world, then waste time pirating music.

Nothing of any sort has happened to video. Piracy is still rampant, and video content is more expensive than ever.

razorpit · August 23, 2019 9:28PM

ireland said:
My main point before was Jon Favreau has 1. sold out. And 2. lost direction.

Didn't see Jungle Book but thought Lion King was good. You tell me if Disney came to you and said we're going to remake these two films and would like you to direct them and here is several million dollars for your effort, you wouldn't take the deal?

The movies were going to made whether or not he said yes. I'd rather have him do it then some other schmuck.

Disney amps up streaming wars with 'Star Wars' & other programming announcements

Apple TV+ versus Disney+

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