Disney is launching its own streaming movie service, and that means Disney will stop streaming its movies on Netflix.
But not right away. You’ve got a couple years.
And it’s possible that some of its most popular movies, like the Avengers and other Marvel movies, as well as the Star Wars saga, could end up staying on Netflix, after all.
Confusing, right? Here’s what we know, for now:
- Disney has announced plans to launch a Disney-branded streaming service in 2019. It hasn’t said how much it will cost.
- Disney currently has a deal that lets Netflix stream old Disney movies, as well as ones that have recently been in theaters. That deal expires near the end of 2019, and covers new Disney movies that appear in theaters through the end of 2018. That means Netflix will have the right to show Disney movies that have already come out this year, like Cars 3, as well as ones on tap for 2017, like Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
- That deal also means Netflix will eventually stream Disney movies scheduled for next year, like Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, The Incredibles 2 and the untitled “Star Wars Story” movie about Han Solo.
- Black Panther looks like fun.
- Disney says it won’t renew its current Netflix deal, which means that it will have the right to show all of its old movies on its new streaming service, as well as new ones. So films that are scheduled for release in 2019, like Toy Story 4 and a sequel to Frozen, will end up on the new service.
- That doesn’t necessarily mean that Disney’s Marvel movies, like a fourth Avengers movie, or its Lucasfilm movies, like the 9th installment of the Star Wars series, will end up on the Disney streaming service. Disney CEO Bob Iger says his company hasn’t decided whether to include those movies in its Disney-branded service, or create different services just for those properties. It’s even possible that they’ll strike a new deal to license those movies to Netflix or another streaming service, he says: “It's all in discussion.”
- It doesn’t seem likely that Disney will let someone else stream some of its most popular movies if it’s already selling a streaming service to consumers. But it’s not impossible: Disney may decide that the people who really want to pay for Disney and Pixar movies aren’t as interested in Marvel movies. And for the right price, Netflix or other streaming services will be happy stream Disney’s superhero and Star Wars movies.
- This also doesn’t affect, for now, other Disney-related content that Netflix streams, like the Marvel TV shows including Daredevil and Luke Cage.
Got it? No? Confused? Fair enough: The man who runs Disney isn’t sure, either. “It's premature to say exactly what we will do,” Iger says.