Presaging a massive expansion of Disney Plus programming, Disney announced on Thursday at least 35 new titles from Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Disney Animation and Pixar Animation will be coming to the streaming service starting in 2021.
Kareem Daniel, Disney’s new distribution chief, announced during the Disney Investor Day presentation that 10 “Star Wars” series, 10 Marvel series, and 15 Disney and Pixar Animation series will be coming to Disney Plus. He did not specific the time frame, and promised further specifics will be announced by executive chairman Bob Iger later in the presentation.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was announcement of 10 “Star Wars” series, the most aggressive creative expansion of the franchise since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. To date, Disney has released five “Star Wars” feature films and one series, “The Mandalorian,” to Disney Plus, with at least three other series in various stages of development: One focused on Obi-Wan Kenobi with Ewan McGregor, one a “Rogue One” prequel series focusing on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor, and a female-centric series from Leslye Headland (“Russian Doll”).
Notably, Daniel said nothing about new “Star Wars” feature films.
Marvel Studios, by contrast, has already announced eight titles for Disney Plus, almost all of which are in some stage of development or production. “WandaVision” will premiere on Jan. 15, and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and “Loki” are expected to debut in the first half of 2021 as well. The animated series “What If…?,” and live-action series “Ms. Marvel,” “Hawkeye,” “Moon Knight,” “She-Hulk,” and an untitled series focusing on Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury are all in the pipeline as well.
More to come…