We’ve been talking about Disney+ for what seems like years at this point. Even though it wasn’t formally announced until late 2018, the upcoming streaming service from the Mouse House has a feeling of inevitability to it, as if this is what the years of acquiring Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar, and Fox have been building up to. Disney+ just feels like the culmination of the studio’s master plan to dominate the world. However, that’s not entirely true, according to CEO Bob Iger. In fact, there are quite a few things that will never be created for the streaming service.
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Speaking to Barrons (via SyFy), Iger talks about what fans can expect to be offered on the studio’s upcoming Disney+ service. And in doing so, the CEO actually says what won’t be made exclusively for the streamer – namely all your favorite Disney blockbusters.
“Almost every movie the studio makes is a $100 million-plus movie, and we’re not looking to make movies at that level for the service,” Iger said. “We’re looking to invest significantly in television series on a per-episode business, and we’re looking to make movies that are higher-budget, but nothing like that.”
“We wouldn’t make a ‘Star Wars’ movie for this platform,” Iger continued. “When everybody goes out on the weekend and you have a movie that opens up to $200 million, there’s a buzz that creates that enhances value. We like that. And eventually, the movies we’re making are going to [end up on] the service.”
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Now, that might seem a bit obvious, at first, but the comments shouldn’t actually be written off as common sense just yet. You see, back when people began speculating about what Disney was creating with its Disney+ service, many believed that the studio was planning on creating massive, blockbuster-style content for its service to compete with the Netflix-types of the world that seem to be spending more and more on its online offerings.
But that’s not the case at all. Those “Star Wars” films won’t be skipping theatrical distribution anytime soon. And let’s not even discuss the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, which will no doubt stay in theaters, exclusively for the foreseeable future. What Disney+ will offer is similar to what’s already been announced. Fans will have live-action series based on the popular properties that will be expensive, no doubt, but won’t be breaking the bank. And then for those hoping for more original films, Disney is going to stick in the mid-to-low budget range.
That means no “Obi-Wan” spin-off film coming directly to Disney+, unless the budget is dropped considerably. Same goes for those films coming from the guys behind “Game of Thrones.” As for now, just be happy with “Cassian Andor” and “The Mandalorian.”
Another question that seems to be popping up quite a bit about Disney+ is the price point. With consumers spending $5 here and $10 there to pay for all these streamers, there are some that are concerned that Disney+ is too limited and might be too expensive for many to justify a subscription.
Iger assures everyone that no decisions have been made on that just yet. “[W]e’ve got to launch the product first. We haven’t even decided what we’re going to charge for it,” he admitted.
Eventually, some concrete numbers will have to be released for Disney+, as in what date it will actually launch and how much it’ll cost. But until then, at least we won’t have to hear any more speculation that the Mouse House is skipping the theaters and releasing major blockbusters straight to Disney+. Well, that’s not happening anytime soon…