Yes, we sat through the entire Disney Investor Day presentation, and this is what storytelling and streaming on Disney+ looks like over the next few years.
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Proving that the end of the world is nowhere near the foreseeable future, the gods of pop culture have been hard at work on this fine, foggy Friday. No matter what time you managed to wake up, you will most likely have been met with Taylor Swift’s surprise release of evermore (the sister to her earlier release of the cozy album, folklore), the out-of-nowhere resurfacing of Matches by Britney Spears featuring the Backstreet Boys (a lost track off her previous album, Glory), and the premiere of the local flick, Four Sisters Before The Wedding on iWant. While all these are truly noteworthy, it doesn’t quite come close to the deluge of drops orchestrated by entertainment juggernaut, Disney on its all-too important investor day.
From the dizzying overview of business presentations, commercialization strategies, and creative content updates, it is clear that there now exists a paradigm shift to the direct-to-consumer-first focus of streaming, which is a pivot obviously encouraged by the pandemic. Dusting off the unyielding rigor of the traditional, the star of the presentation from among the innovative services of Hulu and ESPN+ was of course, Disney+. Following its first day sign-ups of 10 million, the subscriber count of the streaming service has gone up to 86.8 million this December, which is well within reach of its 2024 target of 90 million. Clearly, it is a massive hit as it already is, but Disney is setting it sights to even greater heights.
“We’re incredibly proud of how much our stories have been embraced by people around the world.”
-Bob Chapek
“Given that storytelling is at the heart of everything we do at Disney, we’re incredibly proud of how much our stories have been embraced by people around the world,” says CEO, Bob Chapek, who on top of creative excellence now accounts for data-driven insight to propel Disney as an even more formidable stronghold in the future. “This is especially important now given the consumers rapidly changing consumption behavior and the prolonged uncertainty due to the pandemic. As circumstances change, we will continue to consider these and other critical factors when determining what steps we may take to most effectively distribute our programming. Our goal is to serve consumers in the best way possible.”
Guided by the enduring wisdom of Walt Disney, the multimedia company that is rooted in exceptional entertainment that is deeply rooted in emotional connection is evolving, growing, and reinventing right before our very eyes and at our fingertips. “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths,” the trailblazing legend said. Bob Chapek underscores this in the contemporary context, especially since the concept of normal has been pulverized by the pandemic. To further illustrate, its big-ticket summer blockbuster entry, Mulan, could not be pushed further, premiering on Disney+ early this year, which is the same template that the upcoming release of Soul is set to take on come Christmas Day. “I strongly believe it is this perpetual willingness to constantly challenge the status quo, to be visionary in our thinking, to take smart, bold risks, and to make strategic investments in our future that allows our company to thrive in increasingly dynamic environments.” On the verge of setting into uncharted territory, Disney is going all out with over 100 projects in the pipeline, which includes 10 Marvel series, 10 Star Wars series, 15 Disney and Pixar series, and 15 Disney and Pixar features covers ground until around 2023.
Clearly, Disney has no chill at all, and with good reason. With its five-year plan accelerated within a truncated few months, the dismantling of the gatekeepers and overlords of age-old habits are about to get a rude reckoning, because the future of entertainment is here and there is nothing they can do about it. There is no more messing around, because this time, it’s full stream ahead for Disney.
Be prepared to catch your breath, because we are consolidating every mind-blowing announcement, confirmation, and matters of fact from Disney Investor Day 2020 that you should definitely keep a close eye on from here on out. However, there is still no word on when Disney+ will be available in the Philippines. But they did say that there will be a bigger push for foreign markets next year, with announced launches in Hong Kong and Singapore. Besides, they can’t premiere a Disney animated film about a Southeast Asian warrior princess without docking on local shores, right?
We’ll be waiting, Disney.
LUCASFILM
Rogue One prequel, Star Wars: Andor (Diego Luna)
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen)
The Acolyte (Written by Leslye Headland)
Lando Calrissian Series
Star Wars: Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson)
Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic (Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
Star Wars: Visions
Willow (Warwick Davis, Directed by Jon M. Chu)
Children And Bone
The Droid
Rogue Squadron (directed by Patty Jenkins)
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford, Directed by James Mangold)
DISNEY FILMS AND DISNEY+ ORIGINALS
Flora & Ulysses
Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (Emilio Estevez, Lauren Graham)
Turner & Hooch (Josh Peck)
Big Shot (John Stamos, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jessalyn Gilsig)
The Mysterious Benedict Society (Tony Hale, Kristen Schaaled)
Beauty & the Beast Prequel (Luke Evans, Josh Gad)
Swiss Family Robinson
Percy Jackson And The Olympians
Hocus Pocus 2 (Directed by Adam Shankman)
Three Men And A Baby (Zac Efron)
Chris Paul Biopic
Cheaper By The Dozen (Gabrielle Union)
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid
The Ice Age Adventures Of Buck Wild (Simon Pegg)
Night At The Museum
Jungle Cruise (The Rock, Emily Blunt)
The Lion King (Directed by Barry Jenkins)
The Little Mermaid (Halle Bailey, Daveed Diggs, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Jacob Tremblay, Jonah Hauer-King, Awkwafina)
Rescue Rangers: Chip N’ Dale (John Mulaney, Andy Samberg)
Disenchanted (Amy Adams)
Peter Pan & Wendy (Jude Law, Yara Shahidi)
Pinocchio (Tom Hanks, Directed by Robert Zemeckis)
Sister Act 3 (Whoopi Goldberg)
Cruella (Emma Stone)
DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS
Raya And The Last Dragon (Kelly Marie Tran)
Baymax!
Zootopia+
Moana Series
Iwaju
Encanto (Music by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush, Co-directed and co-written by Charise Castro Smith)
Tiana The Series
PIXAR
Inside Pixar
Pixar Popcorn
Dug Days (Bob Peterson)
Cars The Series
Win Or Lose
Luca (Enrico Casarosa)
Turning Red
Lightyear (Chris Evans)
MARVEL STUDIOS
WandaVision (Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany)
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Spider-Man 3 (Tom Holland, Zendaya)
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier (Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan)
Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Luke Wilson)
Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)
What If…?
Shang-Chi (Simu Liu, Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina)
Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani)
Captain Marvel 2 (Brie Larson)
Eternals (Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek)
Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Vera Farmiga)
She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslaney, Mark Ruffalo)
Moonknight
Thor: Love And Thunder (Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale)
Guardians Of The Galaxy: A Holiday Special (Written and directed by James Gunn)
I Am Groot
Blade
Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quanumania (Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer)
Black Panther II (Directed by Ryan Coogler)
Armor Wars (Don Cheadle)
Ironheart (Dominique Thorne)
Secret Invasion (Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelson)
Fantastic Four (Directed by Jon Watts)