Disney Plus streaming service: Release date, price, shows and movies to expect – CNET

Disney is betting big on its 2019 streaming service called Disney Plus, and it'll finally give us the best picture yet of what to expect.

Thursday, Disney will hold an investor day at its Buena Vista studios in California. Disney CEO Bob Iger, who's called the streaming service the company's "biggest priority" this year, is expected to lead a presentation that may include demos of the Disney Plus app and potentially teasers, trailers or behind-the-scenes footage of its exclusive original shows.

Even ahead of the event, Disney was sprinkling new details about the service, such as releasing details about its Pixar series spinoff of Monsters Inc. The show, called Monsters at Work and slated for 2020, takes place six months after the events of Pixar's original film, and John Goodman and Billy Crystal will reprise their roles of Sully and Mike.

Much of the original programming planned for Disney Plus leans into the company's franchises like Marvel and Star Wars. Some shows — like the live-action, big-budget Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian — have completed filming. Meanwhile, some programs have only just started shooting, such as Marvel spinoffs like one show based on Avengers character Loki and another featuring Scarlet Witch. The Marvel programs, each set to be six-episodes long, are intended to be ready when Disney Plus launches late this year.

And Disney has ended its streaming deal with Netflix, so Disney Plus will be the only place to stream the company's new movies, starting with Captain Marvel, after they premiere in theaters. Not only that, Iger revealed in March that the service will house the entire Disney "vault" of motion pictures "fairly soon" after launch.

If you're feeling monthly fee fatigue, sorry, but that's the direction the entertainment business is headed. Netflix trots out original shows and movies on a near daily basis. CBS is pumping its CBS All Access service full of Star Trek shows and other original programs. (Note: CBS is CNET's parent company.) NBCUniversal, HBO owner WarnerMedia and Apple are all building their own streaming services. Even DC Entertainment now has its DC Universe streaming service full of shows, movies and comics.

And then there's Hulu, which is controlled by Disney after its $71.3 billion takeover of 21st Century Fox closed last month. Once Disney Plus launches, you'll need to remember to subscribe to Hulu too if you want Disney's edgier material, like four planned Marvel cartoons aimed at adults. Disney Plus is where the expanded company's family-friendly content will live.

So, is the Disney Plus streaming service something worth paying for? The details that we know so far are below, but basically: If you love Star Wars or Marvel movies, you may find yourself considering yet another subscription before the year is out.

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What's the Disney streaming service?

The Disney Plus streaming service will be a competitor to video streaming services such as Netflix. Customers will be able to subscribe with a still-unannounced monthly fee to get access to TV shows, movies and other content from the world of Disney.

Disney's other streaming services — Hulu and sports-focused ESPN Plus — will run on the same tech platform so you can subscribe to them with the same password and credit card info. But Disney plans for all three to be individual subscriptions.

ESPN Plus will, clearly, focus on sports. Hulu is expected to continue to stream content from three of the broadcast networks and its own original series, like The Handmaid's Tale and Castle Rock. Hulu will also be where Disney streams its more adult-oriented fare. It's where a new Marvel collection of grown-up animated series will stream, and it's likely where Deadpool-like content will live now that Disney owns Fox.

Disney Plus is supposed to include all of Disney's family-friendly fare. It'll have content from Disney proper, Marvel, Lucasfilm (so: Star Wars), Pixar and National Geographic.

When's the release date?

You'll be waiting even longer than Avengers: Endgame for this. Disney says it's shooting for a release in late 2019.

The company is expected to reveal many of the specifics about Disney Plus on Thursday, when it'll hold an investor meeting to detail all its streaming plans, including a "first look" at Disney Plus and some of the programming it's producing for it.

How much will it cost?

Disney hasn't yet announced pricing for its streaming service, but expect it to cost less than Netflix.

Iger said in November 2017 that his company's service price will reflect the "fact that it will have substantially less volume" but plans to make up for it with high-quality programming from across its entertainment empire. More than a year later, however, Iger said the company still hadn't decided what it'll charge.

How will this affect Disney stuff on Netflix?

Disney will mostly disappear from Netflix by late 2019.

Since 2016, Netflix has been the first place to watch Disney's movies with a subscription. That deal meant Netflix was the go-to place for the biggest US blockbusters of the last three years. The top two movies of 2017 and the top three movies of 2016 and 2018 were all from Disney, and Netflix has been the place to binge them all.

But Disney decided against renewing that Netflix deal as it plotted its own competitor. Starting with Disney's 2019 slate of movies, all those films are destined for Disney Plus. That means Captain Marvel, the first movie Disney is releasing theatrically in 2019, will be the first movie Netflix misses out on. It also means that Mary Poppins Returns should be the final Disney movie that will have some type of release window on Netflix.

Netflix's Marvel Defenders shows are complicated, though. Netflix has put out five original series based on Defenders characters in partnership with Disney. In 2018, Netflix canceled three of them: Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Then in 2019, Netflix canceled the last two: The Punisher and Jessica Jones. Kevin Mayer, the Disney executive in charge of Disney Plus, has said Disney Plus could possibly revive the canceled shows. But the terms of their original deal could restrict Disney Plus from any revivals until 2020, according to a report.

A third, and now final, season of Jessica Jones is still set to arrive on Netflix sometime in 2019. But after that, all we know about the future of these characters is Marvel Television chief Jeph Loeb teasing fans that the characters will continue in some form. But the only thing for sure about that form right now: It won't involve Netflix.

Shows and movies: What will I be able to watch?

Disney Plus will include content from the Disney brand itself, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and National Geographic. In fact, it's organizing the service's app by those exact categories. Generally speaking, Disney plans to make Disney Plus the catch-all for its family-friendly content, while Hulu — which Disney controls after its takeover of 21st Century Fox — will be its subscription for edgier, more adult-oriented fare.

Disney Plus will be the only place you can stream all of Disney's theatrically released movies starting with Captain Marvel and the rest of its 2019 slate. It will also house the "entire Disney motion picture library," according to Iger, including all the classic animated movies in what the company calls the Disney vault. And of course, the company is developing a slate of original, exclusive shows and movies for the service.

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