Disney+: all the news and updates on Walt Disney’s streaming service – The Verge

Disney removes Simpsons episode in Hong Kong that references Chinese labor camps

2023-02-07T14:34:47-05:00

The pulled episode references “forced labor camps where children make smartphones.” | Image: Disney / 20th Television Animation

A fairly recent episode of The Simpsons that contains a reference to China's use of forced labor camps has vanished from the Disney Plus streaming service in Hong Kong. First spotted by the Financial Times and later confirmed by Axios, the episode titled "One Angry Lisa" is not available to stream on Disney Plus, even though the rest of The Simpsons' 34th season is. The episode contains a line critical of the country - "Behold the wonders of China: Bitcoin mines, forced labor camps where children make smartphones."

Though it is a punchline in The Simpsons, China has been repeatedly criticized by external governments and human rights organiz …

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You can get $10 off a year of Disney+ today

2019-12-02T06:00:00-05:00

Disney entered the streaming market this year with the launch of its own streaming service, Disney+, home to Disney series and movies old and new. It’s proven to be a wildly popular competitor to Netflix and Hulu, with over 10 million people signing up on the day it launched.

If you haven’t subscribed to it yet (and the free year of Disney+ for Verizon customers doesn’t apply to you), this Black Friday deal will save you some money. For a limited time, you can get $10 off of a year’s subscription to Disney+. That brings the annual subscription price down to $59.99 from $69.99. The deal is only valid in the United States and Puerto Rico, and does not include a free trial. After the year runs out, you’ll be charged $69.99 unless you deactivate the subscription.

So whether you want to catch up on any Marvel releases you may have missed, or want to see Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian, or you just want to watch old Disney Channel Original Movies again, this is a pretty great deal.

How to get the Disney+ bundle with ad-free Hulu and ESPN+

2019-11-14T10:40:31-05:00

The new Disney+ service is just $6.99 per month, but an even more appealing deal in the eyes of some people is the $12.99 bundle that combines Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ on one bill.

Unfortunately, the version of Hulu that comes with that bundle is the regular one with ads. But there's a way around this for people who want to pay more for the ad-free tier of Hulu (or who might already be subscribed to it). Hulu goes over the process here, and it was also reported on by Lifehacker.

It involves subscribing to Hulu's $11.99 / month no-ads service (this step needs to be completed first) and then signing up for the Disney+ bundle using the same …

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George Lucas changed Han Solo’s scene with Greedo in Star Wars: A New Hope, Disney confirmed

2019-11-12T13:15:36-05:00

Disney+ arrived with seven chapters of the Skywalker saga, but people have started to notice something strange about the first Star Wars film, A New Hope: it has an entirely different edit than the ones fans have seen before.

The change was "made by George made prior to the Disney acquisition," a Disney representative told The Verge. The new edit, which was first spotted by the Star Wars Visual Comparisons Twitter account, features an entirely new insert of the Rodian bounty hunter Greedo saying something while talking to Han Solo in the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine.

The famous scene, which depicted the two characters having a tense conv …

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The Simpsons’ aspect ratio is messed up on Disney+

2019-11-12T13:02:59-05:00

All 30 seasons of The Simpsons are available for fans to stream on Disney+ starting today, but there's one glaring problem: the aspect ratio is off.

Every episode of The Simpsons is currently streaming in a 16:9 ratio, meaning it looks stretched and shots are cropped to fit a widescreen format. There isn't an option to change the aspect ratio, either. This ultimately means there's a plethora of gags from the first 20 Simpsons seasons that don't land because the cropping prevents the joke from being fulfilled.

The Simpsons originally aired on Fox in 1989, and it was broadcast in a 4:3 aspect ratio. The show relies heavily on visual gags - a …

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Disney will tolerate password sharing on Disney+ — for now

2019-11-12T11:00:16-05:00

Do you pay for your own Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or HBO Now accounts? A simple truth of today is that many of us share access to streaming services. Maybe you split the cost with friends or family. Maybe you've managed to cling to an ex's streaming account (and they've been nice enough not to change the password). Disney is aware that this is the reality of consumer behavior as it launches Disney+, and the company acknowledges that its new service is in for the same treatment.

With generous usage guidelines (four concurrent streams, up to seven user profiles per account, etc.), Disney+ is inevitably going to be shared by people. The ser …

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How to get a year of free Disney+ from Verizon

2019-11-12T10:32:54-05:00

Disney+ promises to be popular among viewers, especially children, Star Wars fans, animation enthusiasts, and Marvel lovers. The streaming service went live today, and while the normal cost is $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year (there are several bundled services also available), a subset of Verizon customers can save quite a bit of money by getting a year of Disney+ for free.

All you have to do is go to Verizon's Disney+ page (you can't get it through the Disney+ site) and sign up. However, as you can imagine, there are some requirements if you want to take advantage of this offer.

First, you have to subscribe to one of Verizon's Unlimite …

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Disney+ doesn’t have to sell anyone on streaming

2019-11-12T10:26:10-05:00

Compared to competitors like Netflix or Apple TV Plus, Disney+ is uniquely situated. It's not a new space where viewers can watch a wide, varied selection; rather, it's a play to sell customers what they already know.

Disney's lineup of originals isn't as important as the hundreds of movies and thousands of TV show episodes it will launch with on day one. Almost every chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be available to stream. The same goes for the Skywalker saga and the entire Pixar library. Subscribers can binge-watch every High School Musical movie and revisit classic shows like That's So Raven, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, …

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The Mandalorian’s first episode shows that Star Wars can work on the small screen

2019-11-12T10:03:47-05:00

Star Wars has always been heavily inspired by classic Westerns. But that's never been quite as overt as it is in The Mandalorian, the first live-action TV series for the franchise and the marquee title for the brand-new Disney+ streaming service. Outside of a few animated TV shows aimed at kids, Star Wars has largely been a brand that has thrived on the big screen - the original films practically invented the modern concept of a summer blockbuster - but can it make the jump to a prestige TV drama?

With just a single episode out, it's hard to say whether Disney has succeeded, but one thing is clear: The Mandalorian is off to a great start, a …

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Disney+ experiencing ‘unable to connect’ errors on launch day

2019-11-12T07:18:53-05:00

The launch day crunch is causing some problems for Disney+. After going live in the wee hours of the morning, Disney's streaming service is showing "unable to connect" errors as customers on the east coast begin signing up for their free trial and exploring the Disney+ catalog.

Not everyone seems to be running into the errors, but reports are spiking across Twitter and other social media this morning. Fittingly, the error message features Ralph and Vanellope of Wreck-It Ralph and Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet. Problems range across platforms including mobile devies, Roku, and Xbox One.

"The consumer demand for Disney+ has exc …

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