Coronavirus Shutdown Puts Disney+ in a Programming Crunch
April 30 2020 - 5:59AM
Dow Jones News
By Erich Schwartzel
LOS ANGELES -- The shutdown of Hollywood is disrupting the
Disney+ pipeline.
Walt Disney Co.'s flagship streaming service is getting a big
boost from subscribers stuck at home because of widespread
stay-at-home orders, but several of the biggest releases headed to
the platform have had production halted amid the novel coronavirus
outbreak.
To keep subscribers hooked, Disney has moved some big theatrical
releases to the streaming service ahead of schedule.
The latest Star Wars film, "The Rise of Skywalker," is heading
to the service two months ahead of schedule as part of a fan event.
The company also is mining its back catalog, urging viewers earlier
this week to watch decades-old titles like the 1971 musical
"Bedknobs and Broomsticks" and 1990s favorites like "Sister
Act."
All of Hollywood is grappling with the production shutdown
caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but the limited flow of new
programming looms especially large for Disney+, which has been a
bright spot for the company over the past two months. Disney's
theme parks and theatrical business have cratered amid closures of
public places, and once-lucrative divisions like ESPN are drying up
as sports stays on the sidelines. Disney has furloughed more than
100,000 employees.
Disney+, on the other hand, has seen its subscriber count soar.
The service said it has 50 million paid subscribers world-wide, an
increase of more than 21 million subscribers since early February.
The jump puts pressure on executives who need new material to
assure subscribers that Disney+ is worth keeping. It won't be easy,
with most production not expected to resume until August at the
earliest.
Some of streaming service's biggest projects, a trio of Marvel
Studios offerings that were headed to Disney+ in late 2020 and
2021, had production halted, as did a currently filming reboot of
"Home Alone."
The closing of U.S. movie theaters has driven some new
programming to the service. In March, Disney announced its latest
Pixar Animation release, "Onward," would begin streaming on Disney+
after being briefly available as a $19.99 digital rental.
Earlier this month, the studio said its summer movie "Artemis
Fowl" would head straight to Disney+, skipping even rentals on
platforms like Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
Disney Executive Chairman Robert Iger has indicated more titles
could follow a similar path, potentially blurring the distinction
between movies made for the big screen and for the new service.
Homebound viewers also have flocked to Netflix, whose
productions are likewise suspended. Netflix has an advantage when
it comes to promoting new programming to viewers, since it has a
deeper library of completed series and movies, both original and
licensed from other studios.
A war of words broke out Tuesday after Comcast Corp.'s Universal
Pictures told The Wall Street Journal that it plans to release more
movies early as premium-priced digital rentals, a strategy the
studio said is paying off handsomely on its recent "Trolls World
Tour." The world's largest movie-theater operator, AMC
Entertainment Holdings Inc., responded by saying it wouldn't play
Universal titles as long as the studio continued releasing any of
its movies early digitally.
Netflix also has been buying streaming rights to other studios'
movies that were scheduled to premiere in theaters, an avenue
Disney can't pursue because all programming on its service must
conform to the Disney brand.
Other streaming services launching in coming weeks, such as
AT&T Inc.'s HBO Max and Comcast Corp.'s Peacock, face
challenges similar to Disney's, all stemming from the production
freeze. HBO Max has postponed a much-publicized reunion of
"Friends" cast members that was supposed to be available when it
launches in May.
Disney+ had planned to spend $1 billion or more on original
programming this fiscal year, producing 50 original series and 10
movies or stand-alone features a year by 2024.
The three Marvel shows whose productions were suspended are
scheduled to kick off an important slew of more than a half-dozen
Disney+ superhero series over the next several years.
The first, a Captain America spinoff called "The Falcon and the
Winter Soldier," was slated to premiere in August.
Whether the releases of "Falcon" and the other Marvel shows,
"WandaVision" and "Loki," are delayed by weeks or months remains
unclear.
A bright spot on the fall calendar: the second season of "The
Mandalorian," the Star Wars spinoff that became the service's
breakout hit soon after launching. Production on the latest season
wrapped before the coronavirus hit.
If the new shows and movies aren't available in winter, Disney
may be able to use its live-action reboot of "Mulan" to goose
sign-ups. That movie is scheduled to hit theaters in July -- if
they are open by then -- which would put it on track to debut on
Disney+ around December.
--Joe Flint contributed to this article.
Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 30, 2020 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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