Disney is releasing a new streaming service later this year that is meant to be a direct competitor with Netflix – and it just might be. Disney+ just got a whole lot more exciting with the addition of the entire Disney movie library. While there are still many unknowns regarding the new service, Disney CEO Bob Iger says this will now be the one-stop shop for all the Disney movies ever made.
Iger revealed new details about Disney+ during a recent investor meeting, while the major question seemed to be just how much of the studio’s library of movies is going to be made available for subscribers. Disney has released movies since the 1920s, making it an extensive potential offering.
However, Iger confidently claims that the entirety of their movie library will be made available shortly after the service’s initial launch.”The service, which I mentioned earlier is going to launch later in the year, is going to combine what we call library product, movies, and television, with a lot of original product as well, movies and television,” he said.
“And at some point fairly soon after launch, it will house the entire Disney motion picture library, so the movies that you speak of that traditionally have been kept in a ‘vault’ and brought out basically every few years will be on the service. And then, of course, we’re producing a number of original movies and original television shows as well that will be Disney-branded.”
The vault that Bob Iger mentions is part of Disney’s tradition – dating back to the prime time of VHS tapes. Dinsey would release titles for a brief time and then put them back in what is referred to as the “Disney Vault.” By doing this, the company has been able to maintain physical media sales over the years.
However, this latest venture would no longer allow Disney to understand physical media. Instead, it would enable a direct-to-consumer market in the modern age, allowing its entire library to be available in one convenient place, which should easily attract many subscribers.