Disney declares war
It wasn’t much – and it wasn’t long. But early on Tuesday morning, a short, strippedback video posted to brand new Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts said a hell of a lot.
‘‘Some of the most beloved stories in the world are moving to a new home,’’ scrolled the words over a 13-second blur of scenes from Star Wars, Moana, Up and Guardians of the Galaxy. Confusingly, there was also footage of a cheetah running at full tilt.
At the end, something interesting happened. A collection of corporate brand names popped up, and they were big ones. Disney was followed by Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, all joined together by plus signs.
National Geographic came last – explaining that cheetah clip.
It was, of course, an advertisement for Disney+, the biggest of several big-name services set to shake up the television streaming market by the end of the year.
Tuesday’s video landed with a few scant details. We now know Disney+ will combine content from all of those brands at a cost of NZ$9.99 a month, and will be available from November 19, one week after Disney+ launches in America, Canada and the Netherlands.
That means you and the family can settle in to your Christmas holidays with a tum full of turkey and choose from every Marvel, Star Wars or Pixar movie ever made, then stream as many nature documentaries as you can handle, before nodding off.
That’s still about all we know. Disney didn’t include footage from any of its new shows slated for launch, like The Mandalorian, a long-awaited live-action Star Wars series created by Jon Favreau that includes dual roles for Taika Waititi, who will voice a new droid, and direct the finale.
There was nothing about the rumoured standalone shows for Avengers characters Loki, Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch, and the Home Alone reboot – Macauley Culkin tweeted, ‘‘Call me’’ after Disney’s announcement – was nowhere to be seen.
It doesn’t matter. There’s plenty of time between now and November to hype all of that. This was still a Thor-sized flex.
In a mere 13 seconds, Disney drew its lightsabers and declared war.
Netflix should be shuddering. The streaming giant was already having a tough time this year, with subscriber numbers reportedly dropping for the first time in July, news that affected its share price. Earlier this month, it announced price hikes of up to 19 per cent in New Zealand, making its cheapest package $11.99 a month – and subscribers were vocal about their disappointment.
Making matters worse, Netflix’s foundation shows, big dramas such as Orange is the New Black and House of Cards, have come to an end and it hasn’t launched a reliable, compelling drama since Stranger Things in 2016.
Lately, Netflix has valued quantity over quality, which is a risky move. Anyone who’s suffered the curse of the Netflix scroll – getting lost while searching for new shows – knows the feeling Bruce Springsteen was singing about when he declared there were ‘‘57 channels and nothing on’’.
It traditionally launches shows on a Friday and today’s big release is Rust Valley
Restorers, a reality show about classic car enthusiasts living at the base of the Rocky Mountains, which hardly screams must-see TV.
Quality control is one thing, but competition is another and that’s looming as the biggest problem facing Netflix, as well as other paid local services like
Lightbox and Neon, along with the free ones, including TVNZ OnDemand, which also runs the HeiHei platform for kids.
At $9.99 a month, or an annual fee of $99, Disney+ is undercutting the competition in a big way. Disney+ knows parents and kids are a crucial streaming market and, from Woody to Wall-E, with Pixar it’s got the goods to get them.
But Disney+ isn’t the only challenger battling for your eyeballs. Also launching before the end of the year is Apple TV+, with a slate of new shows made by JJ Abrams, Steven Spielberg, M Night Shyamalan and Ronald D Moore. It also has The
Morning Show, which follows a morning news crew, stars Steve Carell, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon and, inexplicably, has a budget bigger than Game of Thrones.
There’s also the Oprah factor – and only fools ignore Oprah. She might give everyone a car. It could happen. She’s Oprah. She can do anything.
Amazon Prime Video, which has been quietly delivering
superior content for several years now, is an underdog, but one you don’t want to underestimate. Not only does Jeff Bezos’ streaming service offer the cheapest subscriber rates at present, it also offers incredibly high quality control, delivering shows like Fleabag, Good Omens,
Homecoming and The Terror on a regular basis.
It also announced a giant flex of its own recently. You may have heard – it’s spending a record US$1 billion on a Lord of
the Rings television series, which is being partly shot in New Zealand.
Netflix’s days are hardly numbered and a short, basic video clip isn’t much to go on. But those 13 seconds could herald a massive shift coming to the streaming world. Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars isa huge lineup of material and the
Star Wars series alone means they’ll get my cash for at least the first month.
When Disney+ kicks out of the starting blocks in November, it could take off like that cheetah, leaving everyone in its tracks.