Will Disney Plus pulverize Netflix and Amazon in original content creation?
By Tony Smejek
Disney Plus extremely invested in their streaming service when it comes to originals. Will Marvel and Star Wars content blow Netflix and Amazon’s original programming out of the water?
Disney Plus is a looming streaming service that’ll be heavily invested in and focused upon by Disney. It looks like they are not pulling any punches since the Disney/Fox deal. Serious plans for original programming are already on the table and I get the feeling that Disney Plus will gobble up Netflix and Amazon in a popularity contest.
It may seem that Netflix may surpass Disney in one genre of content, animation, but I think overall Disney will come out ahead by the end of 2019. According to Variety, the company has a good slew of originals on the map slated for the end of this year. Variety also reported that Disney is investing $500 million into the service.
That’s quite a good chunk of change and Variety says investors are trying to figure how much of a loss Disney is able to handle before they can start making returns and become competitive with the likes of Netflix and Amazon. As an aside, I tried Amazon’s streaming service, but it personally didn’t keep me interested long enough to stick around.
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That said, I believe that Disney Plus will be the go-to headquarters for original content by the way of Marvel and Star Wars shows. Not to mention, we have big names behind-the-scenes for upcoming content. Jon Favreau is on board for his Mandalorian show, The Clone Wars will be revived for its sixth season, and a Rogue One prequel series is on deck starring Deigo Luna.
Keep in mind, Game of Thrones’ showrunner David Benioff and D.B. Weiss has been given the green light to do a Star Wars trilogy, but I think it’s for the big screen rather than the streaming service. I would consider this a litmus test to the planning process Disney makes to be quite above and beyond in their intuition and efforts. I would even go as much to say that Daenerys Targaryen’s Emilia Clarke, who starred in the Han Solo movie, would qualify to give testimony on what to expect in her cohort’s Star Wars trilogy. Per an interview with Variety, Clark states it’ll be “Star Wars on acid”. That’s saying a lot about Disney’s choices.
Disney Plus will also be home to three original Marvel shows that will be connected to the MCU. These shows will include Scarlet Witch with Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, a Loki show with Tom Hiddleston’s involvement, and unconfirmed news regarding a show with Winter Soldier and the Falcon starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. Plus (no pun intended) there are other original Disney pieces forthcoming outside of those two big whoppers, i.e. – Pixar’s Monsters, Inc.
With canceled Netflix Marvel shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist, you can’t help but wonder if they’ll wind up on Disney Plus. This is NOT the case, according to Rolling Stone’s Chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall. He stated last year that “the nature of the contracts would make it virtually impossible”. So maybe Netflix has that going for them?
Next. What to expect from a Disney Plus rebooted Wolverine. dark
Disney Plus looks like it has a long row to hoe for 2019. How eagerly do you await this content? Do you think it’ll at least remain competitive or even surpass Netflix and Amazon in popularity? Share your thoughts in the comments below.