DisneyPlus: Merging the Past, Present and Future of Walt Disney
DisneyPlus features fan favorites from the Marvel Comic Universe, Star Wars and old Disney Channel shows to original content. Photo from Disney Plus.
A new contender has entered the streaming boxing ring. The Walt Disney Company launched its much anticipated Disney+ (also spelled DisneyPlus) streaming service Nov. 12.
The new streaming service is now in competition with AppleTV+, Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO Max; and smaller competitors such as CBS All Access, Shudder and Acorn TV. According to CNET, Disney+ users will have access to over 500 movies and 7,500 episodes from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, ESPN and National Geographic.
The much anticipated streaming service’s popularity rose quickly on various social media platforms. Many social media users debated purchasing the service after seeing the shows being featured. Photos from Adam Brown Social Media Command Center Social Media Studio.
The #DisneyPlus hashtag skyrocketed from 24,348 mentions to 229,454 in just one day. The total post volume was 314,000 with 313,500 mentions from Twitter. The countries included: 57.1 percent of mentions from the U.S., 28.7 percent from Unknown, 3.5 percent from Canada and 2.1 percent from the U.K.
Continuation of The MCU
A few prominent movie titles included on the service are: “Iron Man,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain Marvel,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Attack of the Clones,” “Revenge of the Sith.” (Sorry, only the first two trilogies of Star Wars are available.)
However, Disney+ will be a new platform for original content and a continuation of Stars Wars and Marvel universes. For Marvel, “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” (starring Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson/Falcon and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes/Winter Solider) will be the first MCU show to air. It takes place after Capitan Americans passes over his shield to Wilson at the end of the Phase Three.
Then “WandaVision” and “Loki” will launch in 2021. The former will focus on Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch living in a 1950s suburbia with Paul Bettany’s Vision (who died in “Avengers: Infinity War,” but somehow survived). The latter will starring Tom Hiddleston’s Loki (God of Mischief, Thor’s brother and fan favorite villain), which, focuses on Loki’s (WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!) journey after his past character in steals the tesseract in the time heist during “The Avengers: Endgame.” SYFY Wire reported both shows will be connected to the 2016’s “Doctor Strange” sequel called “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which will be released 2021.
According to a Forbes article, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, stated, “If you want to understand everything in future Marvel movies, he says, you’ll probably need a Disney+ subscription, because events from the new shows will factor into forthcoming films such as ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’”
Well, it looks like MCU fans will need to dig in their pockets for this one.
Star Wars Universe
Next month may be a bittersweet month for Star Wars fans. The final film for the Star Wars Skywalker trilogy will come to a close on Dec. 20, 2019. However, Disney+ launched “The Mandalorian” (2019) directed by Jon Favreau (“Iron Man” and “Spiderman: Far From Home”) and starring Pedro Pascal (“Game of Thrones”). The eight episode show is framed as a Western, which follows the story between the prequel Stars Wars Trilogy and the current one. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the show has a 85 percent critics score and a 92 percent audience score.
People who used the hashtag #DisneyPlus were in a frenzy over the 90s and early 2000s shows Disney is featuring on the streaming service. The overall sentiment score was 73.9 percent positive. Photos from Adam Brown Social Media Command Center Social Media Studio.
One the day DisneyPlus launched, many users were excited for classic cartoons and other shows that reminded them of their childhood. Old Disney shows such as “Lizzie McGuire,” “Darkwing Duck,” “Gargoyles,” “Kim Possible,” “Ducktales,” “X-Men” and “Even Stevens” were trending on Twitter. Compared to their other competitors such as AppleTV+ or Netflix, Disney is pulling at established audiences heartstrings to gain momentum.
The San Francisco Chronicle cited Disney is known for appealing to all ages by “monetizing nostalgia.” Based on the shows being aired, the company is aiming for millennials who crave reliving their childhood and some form of escapism. CNN included a survey which found “36 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds said they were likely to subscribe to the new Disney streaming service.”
Disney fans have two payment options: 1.) pay $6.99/month for Disney+ or 2.) $12.99/month for Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+. For those who are skeptical about the streaming service, there is a 7-day trial period for the first option.
So, will DisneyPlus be the new reigning champion in streaming services? Only time will tell, but it looks like they are off to a good start.