Disney Is Leaving Netflix?

Right now you can log onto your Netflix account and watch plenty of Disney, Netflix, Marvel, and Star Wars. But that won’t always be the case.

Back in 2012, Disney made a deal with Netflix, allowing all newly released films to be streamed after 7 months of leaving the theaters. This deal ends in 2019, and Disney doesn’t want to renew. Disney now owns 75% of a company called BAMTech, who has the power to make streaming services. Disney is planning on first creating a service for ESPN, which they also own, to test out whether or not they can successfully get into the streaming game.

Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, announced earlier:

“Today we announced a strategic shift in the way we distribute our content. The media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers, and our control of BAMTech’s full array of innovative technology will give us the power to forge those connections, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to shifts in the market. This acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the Company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands.”

With everything Disney owns, this would be a huge source of entertainment for families of all interests and ages. If Disney is splitting ESPN from the rest of what they own, could they split more?

“There’s been talk about launching a proprietary Marvel service and Star Wars service,” Iger says. “But we’re mindful of the volume of product that would go into those services. And we want to be careful about that. We’ve also thought about including Marvel and Star Wars as part of the Disney-branded service. But there we want to be mindful of the Star Wars fan, the Marvel fan, and to what extent those fans either overlap with Disney fans or are completely separate and incremental to Disney. So it’s all in discussion.”

This of course raises concerns regarding Marvel-Disney team-ups such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher, and The Defenders. What needs to be remembered, however, is that the theatrical release deal, and the Marvel TV deal are in fact separate beings. Disney then wouldn’t be allowed to put ALL of their Marvel properties onto their streaming service, so should they just let Marvel, and thus Star Wars stay on Netflix? And we haven’t even started talking about Marvel’s The Runaways on Hulu, coming out November 21.

A lot of decisions are being made over at Disney, and we hope that they will lean toward what will make happy customers, as opposed to the quick dollar. Disney is a giant in so many industries, and we hope they continue to make amazing choices, and stay on top, an continue to bring us the content we love.

Edit on 2/1/2019: Disney+ will include Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. Netflix cancelled Daredevil and Jessica Jones after three seasons, Luke Cage and Iron Fist after two seasons, Defenders after one season, and The Punisher has just released season two as of this edit.

Some of the original shows that will be offered on the new service include The Mandalorian, another season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and a Rogue One prequel series from the Star Wars universe. Marvel is offering three new series, one focusing on Scarlet Witch, one on Loki, and one on The Winter Soldier and The Falcon. Monsters Inc. is going to continue as a series on the network, as well as 16 other properties, in everything from The Parent Trap to Don Quixote.

Will You Subscribe to Disney+? Let Us Know In the Comments Below!