The Walt Disney Company finally took the wraps off of its Disney+ streaming service’s app, slated for launch later this year, at an investor event on Thursday. The company also confirmed a few new series exclusive to the paid subscription services, along with some technical details.
As of press time, prices and exact release dates weren’t yet announced, but Disney gave a huge hint to a launch window by confirming that will have its Internet streaming premiere on Disney+.
Ahead of the event, rumors pointed to one major Marvel-affiliated series revolving around the hero Hawkeye. Instead, Disney confirmed a series in the Disney+ “Marvel” tab titled while showing off the service’s interface. No footage was shown of this series as of press time, but the characters will be portrayed by their MCU actors, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. Additional series teased by Marvel at the event include , an animated series that will “take pivotal moments from the MCU and turn them on their head,” and , a vaguely teased series starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany as Wanda Maximoff and The Vision, respectively.
“The post- vision will be extremely different,” Marvel added as a sneaky tease to its upcoming blockbuster (and its assumedly crazy ramifications on the MCU).
A Marvel representative confirmed only four Marvel films coming to Disney+ in the service’s launch window, as opposed to a guarantee that the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe catalog will be live in Disney+’s first year. Conversely, every single Star Wars and Pixar film will roll out on Disney+ within the first year.
These interface teases also confirmed a few surprise Disney+ exclusives, including a National Geographic-branded travel series called , a live-action recreation of the Disney classic cartoon , and a TV spin-off based on the character Forky. On top of that, Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy confirmed plans for a new Star Wars live-action series that will see Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk return to their characters from (assumedly in prequel fashion, based on how that film ended).
Many of Disney+’s upcoming offerings have already been announced or teased, including a live-action Star Wars series titled , a slate of Disney-affiliated series (based on the likes of and .), and four animated Marvel series. showrunner Jon Favreau attended the event and showed off premiere footage of that new Star Wars series to the crowd, which was obscured in the event’s live webcast.
Disney chairman Kevin Mayer confirmed 4K and HDR support on the service on all compatible devices, though he did not confirm whether older Disney content will be upscaled or tuned for such high-fidelity perks. Additionally, the service’s tablet and smartphone versions will include a pretty robust-sounding offline-viewing option: “Disney+ subscribers will be able to download all of our content and access it offline on an unlimited basis for as long as they are subscribers.”
“We’ll likely bundle [our digital subscription services] at a discounted price,” Mayer told the Burbank crowd, referring to the United States trifecta of Disney+, ESPN Plus, and Hulu. No date or price window was announced for this bundle subscription possibility.
A rep from Disney Streaming Services reminded the audience of technical chops that this team (formerly known as Bamtech) had built while working on existing apps such as PlayStation Vue and HBO Now, which will now technically compete with Disney’s portfolio. And as Disney has loudly confirmed over the past year, Netflix will also become a direct Disney+ competitor, as Disney-affiliated content will indeed disappear from that service when related content contracts expire.
