Disney Plus entered the streaming wars with a bang, and now boasts over 100 million subscribers despite only launching in November 2019. That’s still a long way behind market leaders Prime Video and Netflix, but you’d be foolish to bet against the Mouse House eventually taking top spot given how the company has set out to become the all-conquering overlords of not just pop culture, but the entire entertainment industry.
The platform is planning to debut over 100 exclusive film and television projects on an annual basis, but so far it wouldn’t be unfair to say that none of the Disney Plus originals have managed to capture either the zeitgeist or the imagination outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars shows, if we’re not counting hybrid releases like Mulan, Cruella, Black Widow, Raya and the Last Dragon and Jungle Cruise.
However, we’ve heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Luke Skywalker was being lined up for an appearance in The Mandalorian long before the Season 2 finale – that Disney reportedly see streaming as the future of cinema, meaning that more and more high profile titles could be sent straight to D+ without ever seeing the inside of a theater.
Typically in business, whoever holds the advantage dictates what happens next, but Netflix are happy to continue doing their own thing without impacting the theatrical industry’s tried and trusted model. Not to sound too cynical, but Disney gets to hold on to a lot more of the profits when customers opt for Premier Access over the multiplex, although it could be a long time before the entire business method makes such a drastic pivot, looking at the number of potentially pending lawsuits already.