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.
There will be plenty of traditional television series like Shōgun and The Bear in the running at the 76th Emmys in September. But given how many Netflix, HBO, Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, and Amazon projects were just nominated for awards, this year’s competition seems like it could easily go to the streamers.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
The Disney CEO, along with Willow Bay, has purchased a controlling stake in NWSL club Angel City FC at a value of $250 million, which the team says makes it “the most valuable women’s sports team in the world.” (The club is no stranger to celebrity owners, with founders like Alexis Ohanian and Natalie Portman.) Now we sit and wait for the inevitable docuseries on Disney Plus.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Disney is trying to make its streaming platforms work and feel more like Netflix. For example:
New features in the works at Disney include a more-personalized algorithm to power content recommendations, customized promotional art for new shows and movies based on subscriber’s tastes and usage history, and emails sent to viewers who stop watching in the middle of a series reminding them to finish, according to people familiar with the matter.
There’s lots more in the full story.
Though there isn’t all that much new to see in Deadpool & Wolverine’s latest trailer, it features our best look yet at the film’s live-action takes on what seems to be the Deadpool Kid (a cowboy variant) and Lady Deadpool (a woman named Wanda with a sick-ass ponytail.)
As explained by Front Office Sports, the NBA is waiting to see if TNT parent Warner Bros. Discovery will try to match any part of the reported $76 billion in offers from NBC, ESPN, and Amazon.
WBD’s (not-HBO) Max could try to match Prime Video, but with a smaller audience than Amazon’s service, matching might not be enough.
Tech reporter Janko Roettgers shared screenshots of the in-the-works live sports streaming app from Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox in his Lowpass newsletter. Some features spotted by Roettgers include a DVR capability to record live events, multiview for watching multiple streams at once, and a tab dedicated to live programming.
I think most people will be worthy, considering how easy it is to unlock this lock shaped like the MCU version of Thor’s hammer.
Truth be told, I’d still find something to use it for.
The first two episodes of the Star Wars series will appear in theaters before it starts streaming on Disney Plus on June 4th. Showings are only available in select theaters in the US — and most of them are already sold out.
The first teaser for the next Moana movie — animated, not live-action — looks a lot like the original but larger in scale, which means some very impressive water effects and gigantic sea creatures. The movie hits theaters on November 27th.
Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies says that bringing a bit more fantasy to the sci-fi show was key to making the new season feel fresh.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes remixes beats from the franchise’s previous films to tell a story about how myths evolve.
After announcing the new live-action Fantastic Four leads, Marvel revealed that Julia Garner will play a new version of the Silver Surfer, now Deadline is reporting that they’ll all be beefing with Ralph Ineson’s Galactus when the movie hits theaters.
In its first teaser, the new LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy (on Disney Plus September 13th) goes where no Star Wars production has gone before by entering Darth Jar Jar into the canon.
Just kidding, it’s not canon. But it does look like a fun DC Elseworlds or Marvel’s What If...? kind of approach, which I’d like more of (no multiverse though, please).
Here’s your reminder that Disney’s latest animated anthology series, Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, started streaming today.
The six-episode miniseries may not quite be enough to tide everyone over until The Acolyte’s June 4th release, though — the longest episode clocks in at just 19 minutes.
The contest (rules here) runs from May 4th through June 4th. Autodesk provides certain assets like the Star Wars alphabet and symbols, as well as 30 day free trials of Autodesk software.
Prizes include Autodesk fabricating the winning overall droid and a paid trip for the winning designer (with lodging and a plus one!) to San Francisco to tour Industrial Light and Magic Studios.
Star Wars Day doesn’t technically kick off until May 4th, but Apple is celebrating the event a bit early with a precision finding-focused iPhone 15 ad spot starring a squad of (cosplayer) Mandalorians.
Disney Plus has never hosted “Dad Baby” — likely because it depicts Bluey’s dad Bandit pretending to give birth to his daughter Bingo — but the entire episode is now available to watch online via the official Bluey YouTube channel.
Despite Dad Baby’s cult status, it’s actually one of several episodes of the Australian children’s TV show hit with censorship.
Disney Plus is well on its way to becoming a cable channel, and the final trailer for X-Men ‘97 makes it feel like the series is going to be following suit given the Cable of it all.
Given the success of Disney’s “live-action” remake of The Lion King, a prequel seemed inevitable, so here we are with Mufasa. It looks a lot like the original, only this time they added an ice level and a villain voiced by Mads Mikkelsen. It hits theaters on December 20th.
