Netflix is trying to get as much bang out of its soon-to-expire Disney deal as possible.
In the U.S. and Canada, Netflix will debut Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. The streamer announced the premiere date for “Avengers: Infinity War” in a tweet Monday.
But Netflix’s deal with Disney will end in 2020, and Netflix will not have rights to any new releases starting in 2019 under the output deal with for pay-TV-window rights to Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar films.
Disney ended the Netflix pact in 2017 to roll its own streaming service, dubbed Disney+, which is set to launch in late 2019. Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger revealed the moniker earlier this month as part of the Mouse House’s quarterly earnings report. Disney also launched a placeholder website to collect email addresses for prospective subscribers.
Released in April 2018, “Avengers: Infinity War” grossed more than $2 billion at the box office, including $679 million domestically, per Box Office Mojo. That puts it as the fourth-biggest release ever, behind “Avatar,” “Titanic” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”