Disney flexes its streaming prowess with big content plans. And a price hike
LA TimesDisney made some major “Star Wars,” Marvel and Pixar announcements at its investor day on Thursday. Disney said it has 10 Marvel series, 10 “Star Wars” shows and 15 live-action, animated and Pixar shows in the works for Disney+. Iger, in remarks filmed on a soundstage at Disney’s Burbank studio lot, said the success of Disney+ so far encouraged the company to create a production lineup “much more robust than we had initially anticipated.” “We’ve clearly positioned ourselves as a leader in the direct-to-consumer space, and the fact is, we’re only just getting started,” said Iger, who oversees content efforts across Disney. Disneyland in Anaheim has been shut down since March, and the movie studio has pushed films that were supposed to come out this year into 2021, including Marvel’s “Black Widow.” The company last month said it suffered a net loss of $2.8 billion for the 2020 fiscal year, plummeting from a profit of $10.4 billion a year earlier. Many of Disney’s biggest movies will continue to go to theaters, including “Black Widow,” starring Scarlett Johansson, a Buzz Lightyear origin story from Pixar and an animated feature, “Encanto,” with music by Lin-Manuel Miranda.