Once the public face of squeaky-clean, harmless family entertainment, the Walt Disney Corporation has evolved into a widespread conglomerate known as much for the properties it controls as the films it produces. With subsidiaries including Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, National Geographic, A&E, 20th Century Fox, ESPN, Hulu, and Pixar, Disney has a commanding control of some of the world’s most lucrative franchises, plus an extensive library of film and TV classics. Its streaming service Disney+ signals a new interest in controlling its own online distribution, setting aside decades of licensing partnerships. Follow along with The Verge as we look at Disney’s new films and shows, and its strategies for dominating the box office and the streaming dollar.
Mike White, who Disney appointed last year to oversee its metaverse ambitions, has left the company, according to a report from The Ankler.
While White was reportedly supposed to assume a new role at Disney after the company broke up its metaverse division in March, it appears that never came to fruition.
[theankler.com]
The Wall Street Journal reports FanDuel and Fox are winding down Fox Bet, an app launched in 2019 that only ever was available in a few states.
When we wrote about it in 2021, the integration of gambling looked like a sure thing to broadcasters and streamers, but since then, FuboTV’s gambling ambitions flamed out, and Disney’s old-new CEO Bob Iger sounds a lot less enthusiastic about gambling as he seeks to sell off some or all of ESPN.
CNBC’s Alex Sherman reported on Disney’s discussions with the NBA and NFL about becoming partners in ESPN as it moves from cable into the streaming future.
On the Front Office Sports podcast (starting at about 4 minutes 55 seconds), he went a little more in-depth, saying he sees the talks as “throwing ideas at the wall” while discussing some of the potential complications we mentioned previously, as well as the idea that Disney, which will apparently need to find a replacement for CEO Bob Iger eventually, might become an acquisition target itself.
Ahead of its release on November 10th, Disney has dropped a new trailer for its third Marvel movie of the year. But don’t expect this frantic release pace to keep up for long. The twinned SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes mean production has paused on two of Disney’s planned 2024 releases; Deadpool 3 and Thunderbolts.
Disney Plus’ new anthology series is a wonderful showcase of the African animation industry’s brilliance.
Two out of the big three Hollywood labor unions are on strike, citing streaming and AI as major issues, and actors are starting to picket offices for companies like Warner Bros., Netflix, and Amazon. This screengrab from CNBC captures the initial reaction of Wall Street.
In an interview with CNBC, the Disney CEO called the ongoing writers’ strike “disruptive,” and says it’s not helping the industry recover from the covid pandemic:
There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.
Hollywood writers have been on strike for over two months now, and they could soon be joined by actors across the industry as negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP falter.
The newest Indiana Jones movie isn’t trying to reinvent the classic Lucasfilm formula, but it is trying to make you think about what it really means to obsess about the past.
Secret Invasion’s AI-generated opening credits aren’t Marvel’s best, but they do feel like a very telling sign of where the studio and the larger entertainment industry are at right now.
Elemental co-writers Kat Likkel and John Hoberg set out to tell a story about romantic and familial love — not just one about watery racism and fiery bigotry.
Looking at Ryan Murphy’s track record at Netflix, the streaming giant probably has some regrets about signing him to a nine-figure production deal in 2018 that led to hits like Dahmer, and quite a few more projects that never really popped off.
But now that his Netflix deal has come to a close, Murphy’s reportedly looking to jump ship and head over to Disney — a move one could easily imagine having been his plan all along.
Pixar’s latest animated feature from director Peter Sohn doesn’t want to be another Zootopia, and yet...
Samuel L. Jackson and Olivia Colman shine in Marvel’s new Disney Plus show, which feels more like a souped-up Agents of SHIELD TV event than a proper spy thriller.
With the next MCU series set for a Disney Plus debut on June 21st, the marketing for Secret Invasion is winding up, but with a spy twist this time. Instead of just dropping yet another trailer, it’s stored on this dedicated site that requests a password (RSD3PX5N7S), which is conveniently listed in the tweet.
Figuring out which characters are Skrulls in hiding will hopefully be a little harder than that.
That’s the new name for the franchise’s fourth installment, which was previously called Captain America: New World Order. The upcoming flick is part of Phase 5 of the MCU, and is set to hit theaters on May 3rd, 2024, starring Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, and Shira Haas.
After yanking dozens of shows and movies from Hulu and Disney Plus on May 26th, a new filing with the SEC indicates that Disney plans on taking down even more content “during the remainder of its third fiscal quarter.”
Disney has already racked up a $1.5 billion impairment charge following last week’s takedowns, but now it estimates an additional $400 million charge as a result of its upcoming content removals.
Halle Bailey’s turn as The Little Mermaid’s Ariel is inspired, but the movie’s lackluster sense of visual magic does her very few favors.
After Comcast found out that Disney quietly blocked Comcast’s ability to make major decisions about Hulu, the WSJ reports they made a deal saying Disney would continue to “aggressively” expand the streaming service.
However, Disney never brought Hulu to international markets and only released the service under its Star branding in foreign countries. This reportedly set off an arbitration dispute, as the two also wrangle over a buyout to end their shared ownership and for how much.
Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.
They’re expected to affect more than 2,500 jobs, according to Deadline. The second round happened in April, affecting approximately 4,000.
After facing backlash, Disney is no longer removing Howard — a documentary about Howard Ashman, a legendary songwriter and gay man who helped write the songs for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
There’s a chance that Disney may spare some other shows and movies as well, as a Disney spokesperson tells Deadline that the slate of content getting removed from Hulu and Disney Plus “is still being finalized.”
When Bob Chapek was still Disney’s CEO, he called the idea of a streaming ESPN channel (in full, not just ESPN Plus) “the ultimate fan offering that will appeal to the superfan who loves sports.” Chapek is gone, but the process of shifting ESPN from a cable channel that pockets nearly $10 from every subscriber is still underway, according to the Wall Street Journal:
Now, as consumers increasingly cut the cable-TV cord, the company is actively preparing for that shift under a project with the internal code name “Flagship,” the people said.
ESPN would continue to offer the TV channel after launching a streaming option
ESPN has begun securing flexibility in its deals with cable providers to offer the channel directly to consumers, the people said...The company is having similar discussions with pro sports leagues as those rights deals come up and has secured the same flexibility from at least two major leagues, the people said.
