2016 has been an unquestionably huge year for Disney, with the spillover success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens which was followed in succession by three blockbusters: Zootopia, The Jungle Book, and Captain America: Civil War. All of that is before Finding Dory, The BFG, Doctor Strange, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hit later this year! And after they smash more box office records, all of those films are heading to Netflix.
Earlier this week, Netflix revealed that it has struck a new deal with Disney that takes effect this September. From that point on, any new movie from Disney or its subsidiaries Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm will exclusively premiere on Netflix following the traditional theatrical and home video releases. That means that Disney is skipping over the premium cable networks like HBO and Showtime…at least for now. It’s likely that Disney will eventually release its films for television, but Netflix is getting the first crack.
The announcement didn’t cover any new ground regarding Disney’s preexisting movies, some of which are currently on Netflix…but not the titles that would be considered the company’s best output. Marvel Studios doesn’t currently stream any films on Netflix, but several Marvel animated television series are streamed and there are five original Marvel series from Netflix. Daredevil and Jessica Jones have already debuted, with Luke Cage slated to drop in September, followed by Iron Fist and The Punisher, as well as a miniseries called The Defenders.
Related: Netflix Debuts New Trailer For ‘Voltron: Legendary Defender’
What’s the next step for Netflix and Disney? While this is clearly a coup for Netflix, the crowning touch would be if the streaming service can continue to expand its relationship with Disney. For example, what do you think that Netflix would pay to premiere a Star Wars TV series? A long term streaming deal for the classic Disney movies may cut into home video sales, but a short term deal that cycles through the older films in Disney’s catalog could also be extremely valuable for both parties.
What do you want to see from Netflix and Disney’s new deal? Let us know in the comment section below!
