In September 2017, Disney announced plans to create its own streaming video service — a platform created to challenge Netflix, Hulu, and similar high-end streamers. Just over a year later, that service was given a name, Disney Plus, and on April 11  Disney unveiled a first look at the service in all its Disney-fied glory, as well as information on pricing and a launch date of November 12, 2019. All for an expected $7 a month!

Disney Plus (also known as Disney+) is intended to compete with industry leader Netflix and the various other direct-to-consumer streaming video platforms currently in use and in development. It will also include some high-profile exclusive content and (eventually) every movie in Disney’s expansive library, including a number of previously hard-to-find animated features.

Disney also shared some other details including a road map for the service’s first year, which is set to include 25 original series (starting with titles like its new Star Wars series The Mandalorian), a whole slate of films from its vault (including classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, and Pinocchio), and, in a surprise reveal, all 30 seasons of The Simpsons, fresh off the brand’s new acquisition of Fox properties.

Here what it will include:

Approximately 7,000 episodes of television series and 400 to 500 movies are expected to be available on the service when it launches, including some of the aforementioned shows and films. First and foremost among the content will be projects tied to Disney’s Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Disney-specific properties, with an overall family-friendly theme to the content.

Every single movie in the Disney catalog will eventually be available on the service, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger, dispensing with the so-called Disney “vault” that kept classic films locked away for extended periods.

The studio’s upcoming movie slate — which includes Frozen 2, Toy Story 4, Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, and a live-action remake of The Lion King — will also have exclusive streaming availability on the service, with Captain Marvel becoming the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie not available on Netflix.

Disney Plus won’t just be a greatest-hits collection, though. There will be original content on the service, too.

Original Marvel shows planned for the service include series based on Hawkeye, Falcon and Winter Soldier, and Scarlet Witch and the Vision. A series following The Avengers villain Loki is also in the works, with the original MCU actors reprising their roles for the shows.

Another animated series called What If? will feature alternate-universe tales featuring MCU characters voiced by the live-action actors who portray them. The series will explore what would have happened if certain events in the MCU transpired differently.

Several original Star Wars projects are also in development along with a spin-off of Disney Channel’s High School Musical franchise, called High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, will be part of Disney Plus’ original live-action offerings.

Series or movies based on the following properties are also rumored to be in development:

• 3 Men and a Baby
• Don Quixote
• Father of the Bride
• Flora & Ulysses
• Lady and the Tramp
• Magic Camp
• Noelle
• The Paper Magician
• The Parent Trap
• The Sandlot
• Stargirl
• The Sword in the Stone
• Timmy Failure
• Togo
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

and these Unscripted Series:

In April, a report indicated that Disney Plus is developing 10 unscripted series for its streaming platform. They include the following projects.

Marvel’s 616

An anthological documentary series will explore Marvel’s legacy of stories, characters, and creators and the “historical, cultural and societal context that has become inseparable from stories of the Marvel Universe.”

Earthkeepers

The creators of Chef’s Table helm a cinematic documentary series following the people changing the way we see the animal kingdom, including conservationists and the animals they’ve devoted their career to studying.

Be Our Chef

Angela Kinsey of The Office hosts a Disney-inspired cooking competition that will ask contestants to create a dish that “represents their family through a Disney lens.”

Cinema Relics: Iconic Art of the Movies

An anthology series that explores the props and costumes that made films unique.

Encore!

The Good Place actress Kristen Bell serves as producer on this series, which brings together former castmates of a high school musical and tasks them with re-creating their original performance.

Marvel’s Hero Project

This series puts the spotlight on inspiring kids who have dedicated their lives to selfless acts of bravery and kindness.

(Re)Connect

A family that has reached their breaking point gets the help they need in this series that explores the issues driving families apart and the ways they can resolve those issues.

Rogue Trip

Bob Woodruff and his 27-year old doppelgänger son, Mack, host this travel guide to all the places the average tourist is least likely to venture.

Shop Class

A competition series featuring inventive students tasked with designing, building and testing new contraptions.

Untitled Walt Disney Imagineering documentary series

This show chronicles the history of Walt Disney Imagineering and the people, craft, and business behind Disney’s theme park magic.

Non-Disney content

Disney Plus will also feature some non-Disney owned content, including material from National Geographic, that it is in the process of acquiring through its purchase of 21st Century Fox’s magazine and affiliate TV businesses.

After 15 months of planning, the Walt Disney Company has formally sealed the deal on its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

With 21st Century Fox’s iconic collection of businesses and franchises, Disney will be able to provide more appealing high-quality content and entertainment options to meet growing consumer demand; increase its international footprint; and expand its direct-to-consumer offerings, which include ESPN+ for sports fans, the highly-anticipated Disney+ streaming video-on-demand service launching in late 2019; and Disney and 21st Century Fox’s combined ownership stake in Hulu.

The acquisition includes 21st Century Fox’s renowned film production businesses, including Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Family and Fox Animation; Fox’s television creative units, Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Productions and Fox21; FX Networks; National Geographic Partners; Fox Networks Group International; Star India; and Fox’s interests in Hulu, Tata Sky and Endemol Shine Group. Disney and 21st Century Fox entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice last year under which Disney will divest 21st Century Fox’s Regional Sports Networks.

Disney’s release of Marvel Studios’s Captain Marvel,  starring Brie Larson, shattered the glass ceiling in its box office debut with $456 million in worldwide ticket sales, including $153 million in North America and gave the domestic box office a much needed jolt after the first two months of the year struggled to compete with 2018. The twenty-first entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe delivered the franchise’s seventh largest opening weekend of all time while grossing more over its first three days than the combined totals of any previous three-day weekend so far this year.

Captain Marvel is the 21st Marvel Studios film, going back to 2008, a year before Disney bought the franchise. They have all come in No. 1 at the North American box office on their opening weekends.

Marvel and Disney’s first comic book adaptation featuring a woman in the lead role made also made cinematic history acquiring the following titles:

• Biggest domestic debut for a female-led comic book superhero movie
• Biggest overseas debut for a female-led movie
• Biggest worldwide debut for a female-fronted movie
• Biggest opening weekend for a female-directed feature

Other stats: Captain Marvel boasts the top domestic opening since Incredibles 2 in June 2018, and the third-biggest ever for the month of March behind Beauty and the Beast, whose worldwide launch included $174.9 million in the U.S., and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million), unadjusted. In terms of female-led properties, Beauty and the Beast retains the crown for the all-time top start in North America.

Internationally, the film delivered an estimated $302 million, making it the fifth highest international opening weekend of all-time and the sixth largest worldwide debut ever.

Captain Marvel touched down in virtually every major market, save for Japan. So far internationally, Captain Marvel is pulling in more money than any superhero film introducing a new character.

Costing $150 million to make,  Marvel’s Captain Marvel is another win and a testament to the company’s brand and Disney’s marketing prowess. Moviegoers, undeterred by a campaign to derail the pic with negative audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, awarded it with an A CinemaScore and strong exit grades.

 

The biggest winner of the 91st Academy Awards wasn’t the company with the most wins, but the one that stands to gain the most this time next year.

With a $71.3 billion merger between Disney and Fox expected to close in the coming weeks, all eyes are on the combined powerhouse studio and what that might mean for Oscar

Disney hauled in four Oscar wins on Sunday, taking home trophies for costume design and production design as well as the prize for animated short and original score. While it was a good showing for the House of Mouse, the real bonus will come from its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

Owning the film arm of 20th Century Fox not only grants Disney a number of Marvel characters that had been sold off before it acquired Marvel in 2009, but also the powerhouse Fox Searchlight studio. Fox Searchlight is a sister company that operates independently from 20th Century Fox and has produced films like “The Shape of Water,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Birdman,” all of which won best picture at the Oscars in the last decade.

Together 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight won seven Oscars on Sunday, the most of any other company, including best actress and best actor, two of the most prestigious awards of the night.

Fox’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” had the most wins of any film with four Oscars, including for Rami Malek’s portrayal of Freddie Mercury. The film also took home trophies for sound editing, sound mixing and film editing.

From Fox Searchlight, “The Favourite’s” Olivia Colman hoisted the best actress Oscar at the end of the ceremony and “Skin” won for best short film.

Disney’s “Black Panther” earned three Oscars — for costume design, production design and score, while “Bao” took home the award for animated short.

In addition to the prestige of an Academy Awards, “Black Panther,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “The Favourite” together brought in more than $2.3 billion at the global box office, according to Comscore data.

Because of its Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar and Disney brands, the studio already set a new industry domestic box office record of $3 billion for 2018, while Fox grabbed $1.23 billion and a Disney/Fox combined worldwide box office is $10.2 billion worldwide.

Looking at its combined slate, Disney/Fox accounts for well over 20 films that will be distributed this year. So, clearly, the merger increases studio’s odds to win more awards next year.

Disney/Marvel’s “Black Panther” went back-to-back into the Oscar history books on Sunday evening.

Ruth E. Carter and Hannah Beachler became the first African-Americans to win in their respective categories. Carter was first up as she took home an Academy Award for costume design, then Beachler followed her with a win in production design at the 91st annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Beachler and Carter played influential roles in helping “Black Panther” become a cultural phenomenon. Both said they wanted to infuse the pride of the African diaspora into the film.

“Marvel may have created the first black superhero. But through costume design, we turned him into an African king,” said Carter, who drew inspiration for the film’s stylish and colorful garments from her travels to Africa. She spoke with people of the continent to understand the history of each artifact to ensure the different characteristics were represented properly in the film.