The Walt Disney Company today presented an extensive overview of its
comprehensive direct-to-consumer strategy, including presentations on
Hulu, Hotstar, ESPN+, and the upcoming Disney+ service at its
highly-anticipated Investor Day, which took place on the Company’s
studio lot.
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The Disney+ service will be available on a wide range of mobile and connected TV devices. (Photo: Business Wire)
The Investor Day event featured remarks from The Walt Disney Company’s
senior management team, including Robert A. Iger, chairman and chief
executive officer; Kevin Mayer, chairman, Direct-to-Consumer and
International; Christine McCarthy, senior executive vice president and
chief financial officer; Lowell Singer, senior vice president, Investor
Relations; and Jimmy Pitaro, president, ESPN and co-chair, Disney Media
Networks. The event also featured presentations by Michael Paull,
president, Disney Streaming Services; Randy Freer, chief executive
officer, Hulu; Russell Wolff, executive vice president and general
manager, ESPN+; Uday Shankar, president, The Walt Disney Company Asia
Pacific and chairman, Star and Disney India; Ricky Strauss, president,
Content and Marketing, Disney+; and Agnes Chu, senior vice president,
Content, Disney+.
“Disney+ marks a bold step forward in an exciting new era for our
company – one in which consumers will have a direct connection to the
incredible array of creative content that is The Walt Disney Company’s
hallmark. We are confident that the combination of our unrivaled
storytelling, beloved brands, iconic franchises, and cutting-edge
technology will make Disney+ a standout in the marketplace, and deliver
significant value for consumers and shareholders alike,” Mr. Iger said.
During today’s presentation, the Company unveiled a first look at the
Disney+ offering, which will launch in the U.S. on November 12, 2019 at
$6.99 per month. The service will offer fans of all ages a new way to
experience the unparalleled content from the Company’s iconic
entertainment brands, including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and
National Geographic, and will be available on connected TV and mobile
devices.
Home of Great Storytelling
The Investor Day event also featured presentations by several of the
creative executives behind Disney+’s impressive and extensive content
slate, including: Jennifer Lee, chief creative officer of Walt Disney
Animation Studios; Pete Docter, chief creative officer, Pixar Animation
Studios; Kathleen Kennedy, president, Lucasfilm; Kevin Feige, president,
Marvel Studios; Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer, Disney
Channels Worldwide; Sean Bailey, president, Walt Disney Studios Motion
Picture Productions; Courteney Monroe, president, National Geographic
Global Television Networks; and Jon Favreau, executive producer and
writer, “The Mandalorian.”
In addition to its robust library of theatrical and television content,
in its first year Disney+ will release more than 25 original series and
10 original films, documentaries, and specials by some of the industry’s
most prolific and creative storytellers. New original titles for Disney+
announced today include:
Marvel Studios:
-
“The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” live-action series with Anthony
Mackie returning as Falcon and Sebastian Stan reprising his role as
Winter Soldier -
“WandaVision” live-action series with Elizabeth Olsen returning as
Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany reprising his role as The Vision -
“Marvel’s What If…?,” the first animated series from Marvel Studios,
taking inspiration from the comic books of the same name. Each episode
will explore a pivotal moment from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and
turn it on its head, leading the audience into uncharted territory
Walt Disney Animation Studios:
-
“Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2” documentary series showing the
hard work and imagination that go into making one of the most
highly-anticipated Walt Disney Animation Studios features
Pixar Animation Studios:
-
Toy Story-based projects, “Forky Asks a Question” animated short
series and “Lamp Life” short film
National Geographic:
-
“The World According to Jeff Goldblum” documentary series where Jeff
pulls back the curtain on a seemingly familiar object to reveal a
world of astonishing connections, fascinating science, and a whole lot
of big ideas -
“Magic of the Animal Kingdom” documentary series which takes viewers
behind the scenes with the highly respected animal-care experts,
veterinarians, and biologists at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Epcot’s
SeaBase aquarium
Disney Television Animation:
-
“The Phineas and Ferb Movie” (working title) animated film featuring
many of the original voice cast
These titles will join previously announced scripted originals including
“The Mandalorian,” the world’s first scripted live-action Star Wars
series, the exclusive new season of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “High
School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” the untitled Cassian Andor
series starring Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk, the Marvel Studios series
“Loki” starring Tom Hiddleston, “Monsters at Work,” “Diary of a Female
President,” and live-action films “Lady and the Tramp,” “Noelle,”
“Togo,” Timmy Failure” and “Stargirl.” Nonfiction series also announced
earlier this week include “Be Our Chef,” “Cinema Relics: Iconic Art of
the Movies (wt),” “Earthkeepers (wt),” “Encore!,” the untitled Walt
Disney Imagineering documentary series, “Marvel’s 616,” “Marvel’s Hero
Project,” “(Re)Connect,” “Rogue Trip,” and “Shop Class (wt).”
Additionally, Disney+ announced that all 30 seasons of “The Simpsons”
will be available on the service on day one. In year one, audiences will
also have access to family-friendly Fox titles like “The Sound of
Music,” “The Princess Bride,” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” This content
will join an impressive collection of more than 7,500 television
episodes and 500 films including blockbuster hits from 2019 and beyond.
“We’re extremely excited about our growing portfolio of
direct-to-consumer offerings. As we demonstrated today, with Disney+ we
will deliver extraordinary entertainment in innovative ways to audiences
around the world,” said Mr. Mayer. “We’ll continue to enhance the user
experience with a constant pipeline of high-quality programming, making
the service even more appealing to consumers.”
High-Quality Consumer Experience
Designed to super-serve the most ardent fans, Disney+ will provide
subscribers with a feature-rich product experience that makes it easy to
navigate, discover, and watch their favorite programming with immersive
brand tiles and dedicated pages for Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars,
and National Geographic. Subscribers will have the ability to create
custom profiles with each receiving personalized experiences curated to
their unique tastes based on past behaviors and preferred content.
The Disney+ service will be available on a wide range of mobile and
connected TV devices, including gaming consoles, streaming media
players, and smart TVs, and will adjust to the best possible high
definition viewing experience based on a subscriber’s available
bandwidth, with support for up to 4K HDR video playback. Fans will also
have access to an unprecedented amount of content for offline viewing.
Following its U.S. debut, Disney+ will rapidly expand globally, with
plans to be in nearly all major regions of the world within the next two
years.
Visit DisneyPlus.com
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About Disney+
Launching in late 2019, Disney+ will be the ultimate streaming
destination for movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars,
and National Geographic. From The Walt Disney Company’s
Direct-to-Consumer and International segment, Disney+ will offer ad-free
programming with a variety of original feature-length films,
documentaries, live-action and animated series and short-form content,
along with unprecedented access to Disney’s incredible library of film
and television entertainment. The service will also be the exclusive
streaming home for films released by The Walt Disney Studios in 2019 and
beyond, including “Captain Marvel,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Aladdin,” “Toy
Story 4,” “The Lion King,” “Frozen 2,”and “Star Wars: Episode IX.”
About Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International
Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer & International segment includes Disney’s
international media operations stretching from Europe to Asia to Latin
America and the Company’s direct-to-consumer streaming businesses,
including the upcoming Disney+ service set to debut in the U.S. in late
2019 and ESPN+ which was launched in April 2018. DTCI also houses global
advertising sales and ad technology for Disney media properties which
include ABC, ESPN, Freeform, FX Networks, National Geographic, and the
Disney Channels. The Company’s content sales operations—including global
distribution of film and TV content to Disney+, Hulu and other
third-party platforms, as well as Movies Anywhere—are also part of the
Direct-to-Consumer & International business segment.
About The Walt Disney Company
Disney, together with its subsidiaries, is a diversified worldwide
entertainment company with operations in four business segments: Media
Networks; Parks, Experiences and Products; Studio Entertainment; and
Direct-to-Consumer and International. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had
annual revenues of $59.4 billion in its Fiscal Year 2018. For more
information about Disney, please visit www.thewaltdisneycompany.com.
Forward Looking Statements:
Certain statements in this press release may constitute “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements may include
expectations regarding our products including pricing, programming,
functionality, timing, geographic availability and other statements.
Forward-looking statements herein may contain words such as “will,”
similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These
statements are made on the basis of management’s views and assumptions
regarding future events and business performance as of the time the
statements are made. Management does not undertake any obligation to
update these statements. Actual events may differ materially from those
expressed or implied. Such differences may result from actions taken by
the Company, as well as from developments beyond the Company’s control,
including changes in competitive conditions; consumer
preferences; international, political, health concern and military
developments; and changes in domestic and global economic conditions
that may affect our businesses generally. Additional factors are set
forth in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
September 29, 2018 under Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” and subsequent reports.
Photography and video available at dtcimedia.disney.com
Download Disney+ app demo b-roll here.
Note: The content featured in this video reflects shows and movies that
will be available on the service during its first year, with the
majority available upon launch.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190411005925/en/