Disney+

**Disney+** (pronounced **Disney Plus**) is an American subscription video on-demand streaming service owned and operated by the Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI) division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced by The Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Television, with the service advertising content from Disney's Marvel, National Geographic, Pixar, and *Star Wars* brands in particular. Original films and television series are also distributed on Disney+, with ten films and seven series having been produced for the platform as of November 2019. Serving adjacent to Disney's other streaming platforms – the general programming-oriented Hulu and the sports-oriented ESPN+ – Disney+ focuses on "family-oriented entertainment", and does not feature R-rated films or TV-MA-rated programming.

Disney+ relies on technology developed by Disney Streaming Services, originally established as BAMTech in 2015, when it was spun off from MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM). Disney increased its ownership share of BAMTech to a controlling stake in 2017, and subsequently transferred ownership to DTCI as part of a corporate restructure in anticipation of Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. With BAMTech helping to launch ESPN+ in early 2018, and Disney's streaming distribution deal with Netflix ending in 2019, Disney took the opportunity to use technologies being developed for ESPN+ to establish a Disney-branded streaming service that would feature its content. Production of films and television shows to feature exclusively on the platform began in late 2017; Marvel's original series for Netflix were cancelled in favor of Marvel Cinematic Universe series for Disney+.

Disney+ debuted on November 12, 2019 in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. The service was expanded to Australia, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico a week later, and will be expanded to select European countries in March 2020. Further expansions are planned for Europe and Latin America in late 2020 through 2021, as Disney's international streaming distribution deals with competing services expire. Upon launch, the service was met with positive reception to its content library, though was criticized for technical problems. Alterations made to movies and TV shows also attracted media attention. Within its first day of operation, Disney+ earned 10 million subscribers. At the end of November, the service has reached to over 24 million subscribers.

## Content

Further information: List of Disney+ programming, List of definitive programming on Disney+

The service is built around content from Disney's main entertainment studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, National Geographic, and select films from 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, and Touchstone Pictures. The service will operate alongside Hulu, which Disney gained a controlling stake in following the 21st Century Fox purchase. Bob Iger stated that Disney+ would be focused specifically on family-oriented entertainment (and not carry any R or TV-MA-rated content), and that Hulu would remain oriented towards general entertainment. Hulu will also host Disney+ as an add-on service.

### **Content library**

It is expected that Disney+ will have approximately 7,000 television episodes and 500 films, including content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, and National Geographic, as well as original television series and films from Disney Channel and Freeform, and select titles from 20th Century Fox Television and ABC Studios. However, the service will also include select acquired programming from outside production companies that are not directly made by Disney or any of its subsidiaries (such as eOne's *PJ Masks*, though it does air on Disney Junior, with seasons 1 and 2 being available at launch, and seasons 3 and 4 being available after all episodes of said seasons have aired). New releases from 20th Century Fox (including Blue Sky's *Spies in Disguise*) will not immediately be available on either Disney+ or Hulu, as Fox has pre-existing output deals with other premium TV/streaming providers, including HBO in the U.S. until 2022, and Crave in Canada. *Captain Marvel*, *Dumbo* (2019), and *Avengers: Endgame* became the first theatrically-released Disney films to stream exclusively on Disney+. Iger said that Disney+ will eventually host the entire Disney film library, including films currently in the "Disney Vault". However, on November 7, 2019, *The Hollywood Reporter* stated that potentially controversial content such as *Song of the South* and certain scenes from *Dumbo* (1941) and *Toy Story 2* would be excluded; the former generally has never been released on home video in the U.S., but the latter two have been available unedited on home video for years. *Dumbo* and other early Disney films eventually debuted on Disney+ unedited, but carrying a disclaimer on its "Details" page within the service. The service also holds exclusive streaming rights to *The Simpsons*, with seasons 1–30 becoming available on launch.

It was initially unclear whether the first six films of the *Star Wars* franchise would be available in the United States at the service's launch, as TBS held streaming rights through 2024 as part of its cable rights to the franchise, but on April 11, 2019, it was announced that the films would be available at launch along with *The Force Awakens* and *Rogue One*, with *The Last Jedi* added on December 26, 2019, and *Solo* and *The Rise of Skywalker* will be available within its first year of operation. The rights to *The Force Awakens* (among various other Disney films) are owned by the premium television network Starz (as they have previously been the first-run pay-TV provider for Walt Disney Studios' releases between 1994 and 2015). In order to sub-license the streaming rights, it was reported that Disney had agreed to provide an advertising placement for Starz at the conclusion of the registration process for Disney+ and ESPN+ on PC and Android platforms. No promotions for Starz (or ads of any other kind) will be contained within the service proper.

In the United States, most of the films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe were available at launch, with the exception of four films, *Thor: Ragnarok* (available December 5, 2019), *Black Panther* (scheduled to be available March 4, 2020), *Avengers: Infinity War* (scheduled to be available June 25, 2020), and *Ant-Man and the Wasp* (scheduled to be available July 29, 2020), due to existing licensing deals with Netflix; and three other films, *The Incredible Hulk*, *Spider-Man: Homecoming*, and *Spider-Man: Far From Home*, are unavailable because their distribution rights are owned by Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures respectively.

Despite being available at launch on Disney+, at least 3 films–*Home Alone*, *Home Alone 2: Lost in New York* and *Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides*–have disappeared from the service in the United States.

### **Original scripted content**

Original series based on Marvel properties and *Star Wars* are being produced, with the former including eight new Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series: *The Falcon and the Winter Soldier*, *WandaVision*, *Loki*, an animated *What If* series, *Hawkeye*, *Ms. Marvel*, *Moon Knight*, and *She-Hulk*. The latter includes *The Mandalorian*, a television series that is set between *Return of the Jedi* and *The Force Awakens*, a currently untitled spin-off series focused on Cassian Andor from *Rogue One*, a seventh season of the animated series *Star Wars: The Clone Wars*, and a yet-untitled series starring Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, reprising his role from the prequel trilogy. The service's initial original content goal was planned to include four to five original films and five television shows with budgets from $25–100 million. In January 2019, it was reported that Disney will spend up to $500 million in original content for the service. *The Mandalorian* alone is expected to cost $100 million.

In January 2019, Disney+ ordered *Diary of a Female President* from CBS Television Studios, its first series from an outside production company. A television series remake of the film *High Fidelity* was initially announced for Disney+, but in April 2019, it was revealed that the project had been shifted to Hulu.

In August 2019, Iger announced that 20th Century Fox films such as *Home Alone*, *Night at the Museum*, *Diary of a Wimpy Kid*, and *Cheaper by the Dozen* will be "'reimagined' for 'a new generation'" exclusively for Disney+ by Fox Family. Original episodic content will be released weekly, opposed to all at once with the release time to be 12:01 a.m. PT on Fridays, starting November 15, 2019.

### **Original unscripted content**

Disney also plans original factual television content for the service, aiming to "find the ethos of Disney in everyday stories, inspiring hope and sparking the curiosity of audiences of all ages." Some of these series will have ties to Disney properties, including behind-the-scenes documentary miniseries focusing on Disney studios (such as one following the production of *Frozen II*), the Disney-themed competition cooking competition *Be Our Chef*, *Cinema Relics* (a documentary series showcasing iconic costume and props from Disney films), *Marvel's Hero Project* (a series that will showcase "inspiring kids [that] have dedicated their lives to selfless acts of bravery and kindness"), and *The Imagineering Story* (a Leslie Iwerks-directed documentary series chronicling the history and work of Walt Disney Imagineering). National Geographic is also producing *Magic of the Animal Kingdom* (a docuseries following the animal caretakers of Disney's Animal Kingdom and Epcot's aquarium) and *The World According to Jeff Goldblum*.

Disney reached a two-year pact with the documentary studio Supper Club (Brian McGinn, David Gelb and Jason Sterman, producers of Netflix's *Chef's Table*) to produce content for the service, including the conservation-themed nature documentary series *Earthkeepers*, and a documentary series chronicling the cultural and societal impact of Marvel's characters. Other factual series include *Encore!* (a Kristen Bell-produced series that reunites casts from high school musical productions to reprise their roles), *(Re)Connect* (a reality series produced by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' Milojo Productions), *Rogue Trip* (a travel series featuring Bob Woodruff and his son Mack), and the reality competition *Shop Class*. On December 3, 2019, Disney+ announced the new *Star Wars*-based children's game show *Jedi Temple Challenge* to be hosted by Ahmed Best, who voiced Jar Jar Binks in the prequel trilogy.

## Launch

Disney+ is rolling out worldwide via a staggered rollout plan. It launched first in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands on November 12, 2019 just before 3:00 a.m. EST (UTC–5). Disney+ launched in Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico on November 19, 2019, and is set to launch in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Ireland and "a number of other countries in Western Europe" on March 31, 2020. Disney+ is expected to launch in Eastern Europe, over the course of a year, and Latin America, over the course of three months, both starting in October 2020. Canal Plus Group has signed in December 2019 an agreement to add Disney+ at launch to the range of Disney channels already the only French distributor along with other Disney content deals.

Launch rollout
 November 19, 2019
 March 31, 2020
 United Kingdom

## Canceled Programing

* *Muppets Live Another Day* - An original comedy series planned to have featured the Muppets and Josh Gad that would have taken place after the events of *The Muppets Take Manhattan*.
* *Book of Enchantments* - An adaptation of Serena Valentino's book series exploring the origins of various Disney Villains in a shared universe setting.
* *Kingdom Keepers* - An adaptation of the book series to have been headed by Kevin Smith planned to have featured Russell Brand as Captain Hook as the lead villain. Rejected after new management in the division decided it used "too much Disney IP" despite having been greenlit as a "Disney version of the Avengers".
* Untitled Marvel Television series - An untitled series developed by Marvel Television. The series, alonsgide all planned Marvel Television projects that haven't entered production, was cancelled after Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios.
* Unannounced *Tron* show - A show based on the movie of the same name.
* The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter - An animated series based off of the The 23 Original Tales... books by Beatrix Potter was planned for Disney+, but it was cancelled for being too expensive and because Sony released a film adaptation of Peter Rabbit.

## Censorship

* Despite the disclaimer saying that they are presented as created, the version of *Fantasia* used on Disney+ has Sunflower removed, and *The Three Little Pigs* has the Big Bad Wolf's Fuller Brush Man disguise instead of the original Jewish peddler disguise. In addition, *Santa's Workshop* is missing a scene of a black doll that says "Mammy!" while throwing out its arms, a la Al Jolson.
* The banned *TaleSpin* episodes "Last Horizons" and "Flying Dupes" and the banned *Darkwing Duck* episode "Hot Spells" are not available on this service (even though the *TaleSpin* episodes were released on DVD).
* The Toon Disney edits of *TaleSpin* episodes are used on this service (despite the episodes having been released uncut on DVD).
* Some of Disney's animated films on Disney+ have some minor edits:
	+ *Saludos Amigos* has the beginning of El Gaucho Goofy with the cigarette butchered.
	+ *The Sword in the Stone* uses the UK release, which partially censors Madam Mim's line: "Sounds like someone's sick. How lovely. I do hope it's serious; something dreadful." The "serious/dreadful" was cut.
	+ The dryer was replaced by a pizza box in *Lilo & Stitch* due to concern of children hiding in the dryer (though this edit was already present in the film's UK release).
* *Splash* is censored, with some of Madison's nude scenes being either cropped or censored by way of digitally extended hair.
* The version of *Adventures in Babysitting* used on Disney+ is the TV airing version which censors all swearing.
* Several animated films have had their original variant of the Walt Disney Pictures logo replaced with the 2006/2011 variant, those films include:
	+ *The Little Mermaid* (1989)
	+ *Beauty and the Beast* (1991)
	+ *Aladdin* (1992)
	+ *The Lion King* (1994)
	+ *Toy Story* (1995)
	+ *Hercules* (1997)
	+ *Toy Story 2* (1999)
	+ *Monsters, Inc.* (2001)
	+ *Finding Nemo* (2003)
	+ *Cars* (2006)
* All episodes of *Andi Mack* featuring actor Stoney Westmoreland, are unavailable on the service, following his allegations, and subsequent arrest of sexual assault.
* *The Simpsons* episode "Stark Raving Dad" is unavailable on Disney+, following the release of the documentary film *Leaving Neverland*, which details allegations against Michael Jackson of child sexual assault.
* The following scenes are cut from all three sections when Treehouse of Horror XIX is on Disney+:
	+ "Untitled Robot Parody": The appearance of the Sex Toy Robot.
	+ "How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertisting": Krusty getting shredded in the woodchipper, Homer strangling, stabbing, and beating Prince with his own guitar, and Krusty shooting Homer in the head.
	+ "It's The Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse": The Grand Pumpkin puking after learning that pumpkin bread is made of pumpkins (and not bread for pumpkins), The scene where Homer was carving pumpkins and then being eaten after he was found by the Grand Pumpkin, Nelson calling the Grand Pumpkin a racist because he doesn't care that Nelson is going to carve a yellow pumpkin, The Grand Pumpkin scooping the brains out of Skinner's head and Tom Turkey blowing the Grand Pumpkin's brains out by blowing through a cornucopia (along with the Grand Pumpkin's dying words, although with the scene that was cut which involved Homer it might have been done so a plot hole wouldn't have been made at all).
* The Disney Channel original series *Wizards of Waverly Place* had some scenes of minor cleavage blurred.
* Several *Bluey* episodes have many content from the original Australian airings changed or removed to suit American audiences (even though the *Bluey* episodes were originally aired on ABC Kids without any editing changes and later released on DVD in Australia only).
	+ "Markets" removes the horse taking a poop when Bluey Heeler and Indy run away.
	+ In another episode, "Chickenrat", the sauerkraut makes Bandit Heeler sneeze (he burped in the original Australian airing of the episode).
	+ The "BBQ" episode replaces the word "capsicum" (from the original Australian airing) with "pepper".
	+ The ending of the episode, "Taxi" removes the part where Bingo Heeler pretends to barf on Bandit.
	+ The episode "Daddy Putdown" is missing the part when Bingo Heeler asks Bandit Heeler how babies get in the mother’s belly. This was removed since, in Disney’s eyes, it was a bit too cheeky and inappropriate.
	+ The episode "Teasing" uses the AUS September 2020 edited version, where a racial scene with the word "ooga booga" was removed due to a complaint by a viewer stating that the episode included a term with racial connotations and a problematic history for Black people.
	+ The season 2 episode, "Trains", the line “It’s a piece of poo” was changed to “It’s a slug”.
	+ The season 2 episode, "Flat Pack" uses the AUS August 2020 edited version, where another racial scene with the word "ooga booga" was also removed.

### **Aborted Censorship**

* The version of *Clock Cleaners* used on Disney+ partially restores Donald Duck's argument with the mainspring, where he yells at it, "Says you!" (and it answers back, "Says I!"), but his calling it a "snake in the grass" is replaced with garbled squawking, as was the case when the cartoon was featured on the Walt Disney Treasures DVD set, "Mickey Mouse in Living Color", and beyond.
* The version of *Melody Time* used on Disney+ fully restores Pecos Bill's cigarette was seen in American Heroes VHS in 80's, after being censored since the 50th Anniversary VHS in 1998.
* *X-Men: Days of Future Past* began streaming on Disney+ in mid-2020, with both nudity and swearing intact.[1]
* *The Wolverine* began streaming on Disney+ on September 4, 2020, with swearing intact.

## Trivia

* *Aladdin* and *The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show* are currently the only shows from the Disney Afternoon that have yet to be made available for streaming on Disney+.
* *Jungle Cubs*, *Pepper Ann*, *Mickey Mouse Works*, *The Weekenders*, *House of Mouse*, *The Legend of Tarzan,* *Lloyd in Space*, *Teamo Supremo,* *Buzz Lightyear of Star Command*, and *Fillmore!* are the only shows from Disney's One Saturday Morning that have not been made available for streaming on Disney+.
* For unknown reasons, *Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers* and *Goof Troop* (both of which use the HD prints from the digital releases) are presented in cropped widescreen.
* The live-action telefilm *Sammy, the Way-Out Seal* is heavily edited down to 43 minutes on Disney+.
* *Darby O'Gill and the Little People* uses a theatrical re-release version with a cropped widescreen aspect ratio and re-dubbed voices that lose the more authentic Irish accents.
* Due to the Disney/21CF buyout, selected family and teen geared films from 20th Century Studios and its subsidiaries can be watched on Disney+.
* *Canine Caddy*, originally released as a Mickey Mouse cartoon, even though it was officially a Pluto cartoon, has the opening and closing titles replace Mickey's head and name with Pluto's. Oddly, the music used in the opening is replaced by the post-1947 Pluto opening theme.
* Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, certain films which were originally slated as theatrical premieres were instead launched on Disney+ or are slated to launch on Disney+. These include *Artemis Fowl* and *The One and Only Ivan*. *Onward* was released theatrically, but made available on Disney+ two weeks after its theatrical premiere due to closures because of the pandemic. *Frozen II* was also made available on the service far earlier than originally planned. The live action version of *Mulan* has been announced a premium release on the service beginning on September 4, 2020 where the service is available, due to the continued closure of theaters in many markets.

## Notes

1. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** The service received a soft launch on September 12, 2019 in the Netherlands.

1. **^** "Stark Raving Dad" (1991) is the only *Simpsons* episode unavailable on Disney+; the episode was pulled from circulation in early 2019 following renewed sexual abuse allegations against guest star Michael Jackson.