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Netflix-Disney Deal: ‘Star Wars,’ Marvel, And Pixar Films Available To Stream In September

By Andrew Galbreath
Published on: 06:18 PST, May 24, 2016

Netflix will offer streaming of the catalogs of Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm in September.

Disney and Netflix finalized the deal in 2012, but now Disney is set to finalize it by making Netflix the exclusive U.S. subscription TV service for all its films. The offer is exclusive to Netflix, so you won’t have the option to watch the same movies through other paid services such as Hulu, Amazon Prime, or HBO. The deal means all the latest releases owned by Disney would go straight to streaming after DVD, Digital, and Blu-ray release, according to the Verge.

“Beginning in September, Netflix will be allowed to stream all Disney films — including Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm titles — in the same window that they’d typically be made available to HBO, Starz, and other paid TV networks. That’s still after the Blu-ray and digital releases, but it’s much, much sooner than the long and often unpredictable wait that Netflix customers had to put up with before.”

The Disney-Netflix pact may be yet another milestone in a new age of internet television. The agreement covers all Disney films released in the year 2016 and beyond, which would include such blockbusters as Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, Finding Dory, Doctor Strange, and The Jungle Book, as well as new entries in series like Star Wars (including the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), and Indiana Jones. Netflix is reportedly paying a hefty sum of hundreds of millions of dollars per year for all this.

Still, the deal is a huge win for Netflix, who will be able to stream live-action and animated films produced by Disney and all its subsidiaries, including Walt Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Disneynature, and Lucasfilm. No doubt this is a huge asset for the company in the ongoing war between streaming services for exclusivity rights.

Netflix already boasts streaming of several old Disney classics, such as Dumbo, Pocahontas, and Alice in Wonderland as part of the multi-year deal. Marvel’s Daredevil debuted on the video-streaming service last year as part of this new exclusive partnership. It’s worth noting that the pact is applicable to new theatrical releases only since older Disney classics have to be released under separate licensing agreements.

Netflix announced the oncoming influx of movies in a blog post about its new summer content. The streaming giant typically uses the popular movie summer months to update its catalog with new features, and this year is no exception.

Ted Sarandos, the current content boss of Netflix, proudly announced, “From September onwards, Netflix will become the exclusive U.S. pay TV home of the latest films from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar.”

While there is no concrete information as to what titles will be added to streaming later this fall, September should see the list of Disney titles expanded considerably. This is the first time the public has had a hint as to how the Disney-Netflix deal would go into effect. The deal with Disney is part of a larger strategy by Netflix of replacing non-exclusive content with exclusive content, according to ValueWalk.

“Netflix’s latest move is a part of its bigger ambitions of hosting more unique content. Last year, the video-streaming giant revealed that it has no plans of renewing its Epix deal, and this effectively means that a number of big-name movies were pulled from the platform in the US. Typically, Netflix puts the summer period into use for rejiggering its content library, and same goes for this year as well. However, Sarandos plans to replace some of the non-exclusive titles with the new exclusive movies and TV shows, but he gave no details on what exactly will be leaving the service.”

Netflix has reportedly spent $6 billion on new exclusive content this year alone, including content acquisition and original programming.

[Image via ibreakstock/Shutterstock.com]

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