Disney Plus has been the breakout success among a wave of new streaming services — it has a deep library of shows and movies, buzzy originals …
Disney Plus has been the breakout success among a wave of new streaming services — it has a deep library of shows and movies, buzzy originals and — sometimes — big-screen movies to watch the same day they first hit theaters. But the era of streaming brand new theatrical movies on Disney Plus seems to be near its end. On Sept.2, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be released in theaters only for 45 days, with no certainty that Disney Plus will get it on day 46. That’ll follow Disney Plus ‚ biggest film release so far, its megabudget Marvel movie Black Widow stream on Disney Plus same day it hits theaters July 9, for an extra fee. Called Premier Access, this streaming-release model requires a $30 payment on top of the regular price of a Disney Plus subscription. But with Shang-Chi returning to the pre-pandemic practice of giving new movies an exclusive window in theaters only, Disney seems prepared to put day-and-date release behind it later this year. But Disney Plus just raised prices. As of late March, Disney Plus‘ monthly subscription now costs $8 in the US, a price increase of $1 a month; its annual plan went up $10, to $80 a year. And Disney’s three-service bundle — combining streaming access to Hulu, Disney Plus and ESPN Plus — also went up $1 a month to match. But the monthly rate of Disney Plus is still roughly half the price of HBO Max and a discount compared with Netflix’s cheapest tier, which is $9 a month. This pricing flex comes as Disney Plus has thrived in the midst of the so-called streaming wars, a period over the last year and a half when seemingly every major media company (and some tech ones) rolled out their own streaming services to take on the likes of Netflix. Disney Plus has signed up more than 100 million subscribers, far outpacing all the new competitors from Apple, HBO, NBCUniversal, Discovery, ViacomCBS and others. One media analyst called Disney Plus „one of the greatest product launches of all time.“ Disney Plus‘ solid footing also spurred the company to remove its seven-day free trials for new members, as of June 2020. And the coronavirus pandemic has triggered major changes in Disney Plus‘ role in how the company releases new movies. Some of Disney’s theatrical films have switched to being streaming-only Disney Plus originals, like Hamilton and Pixar’s Soul. But the biggest change is Premier Access, its new model for charging an extra fee to stream big, new movies on Disney Plus the same day as they hit theaters. Disney first tested this for its live-action remake of Mulan, which it released on Disney Plus in September as a $30 add-on to the service’s regular subscription price. So is Disney Plus worth it? All the details about Disney Plus are below, but basically: If you love Star Wars or Marvel, or if you have kids, you may find yourself with yet another subscription. Disney Plus is the Hollywood giant’s hub for streaming almost everything Disney produces, plus select extras it licenses too. Generally, you can expect Disney Plus to have a wide selection of shows and movies from Disney ’s franchises like Star Wars, Marvel Pixar, National Geographic and the family-friendly movies and animation from Disney’s eponymous studios. And because Disney acquired Fox, Disney Plus also streams some Fox shows and movies like The Simpsons, select X-Men movies and a large, diverse catalog of movies, like Night at the Museum and Hidden Figures to name a couple. (Just none that are rated anything more intense than PG-13.) Disney Plus also has its own exclusive originals, like The Mandalorian from the Star Wars universe, and a slate of live-action Marvel series that tie directly into the plots of the blockbuster movies. In the US, the Disney Plus service costs $8 a month, or $80 a year. The standalone Disney Plus service costs comparable amounts in other countries in their local currencies. Disney Plus‘ US price deeply undercuts the $14 monthly fee for Netflix’s most popular plan in the US, which lets you stream to two different devices simultaneously in high definition. But Disney Plus allows all subscribers to stream to four devices and access 4K content at no extra cost — features Netflix charges $18 a month to unlock on its premium tier. Way back in 2017, Disney’s then-CEO, Bob Iger, noted that Disney Plus pricing at launch would reflect the „fact that it will have substantially less volume“ than prime competitor Netflix. As the months and years pass, Disney Plus is accumulating a bigger catalog of exclusives and originals. As that happens, it’s widely expected the company will continue pushing its price higher. Disney Plus no longer offers a standard free trial. It eliminated its one-week free trial program in June 2020, shortly before the premiere of Hamilton. But other deals may unlock Disney Plus free (or at no added cost). For example, Disney and Verizon have a deal that gives a free year of Disney Plus starting on launch day to all the carrier’s customers with a 4G LTE or 5G unlimited account, as well as new customers of Verizon’s Fios and 5G home internet services. Those who prepurchased a Disney Plus plan such as the now-expired three-year discounted subscription deal can stack their one free year on top of it, according to a Verizon FAQ. The company also offers a bundle that combines Disney Plus with Hulu (with ads) and ESPN Plus, offering a discount if you subscribe to all three of those streaming services for $14 a month. Put another way, you can subscribe to all three of Disney’s main streaming services for the same price as a standard Netflix subscription. In January, the company introduced a higher tier of that bundle, one that removes the ads from Hulu. The package with ad-free Hulu, Disney Plus and ESPN Plus will cost $6 more than the basic bundle — equivalent to the same cost increase you’d pay to step up from ad-supported Hulu to ad-free Hulu as stand-alone services. The ad-free-Hulu bundle is $20 a month. The Marvel original series, like almost everything on Disney Plus, are part of Disney’s standard catalog, so anybody who’s a Disney Plus subscriber can watch them. You can sign up for Disney Plus directly at disneyplus.com, or you can do it through the Disney Plus app on a variety of devices, like Android phones, Apple’s iPhone, Roku streaming devices and others. Typically, Disney original series episodes are released weekly early Friday mornings at midnight PT/3 a.m. ET. However, Loki is breaking that precedent; it’ll land on Disney Plus early each Wednesday, also at midnight PT/3 a.m. ET. Disney’s latest animated feature film, Raya and the Last Dragon, was first released on Disney Plus in early March as part of what it calls its Premier Access model. The option to purchase Raya early on Disney Plus ended May 4; people who’ve already paid for it will continue to have access, but no new purchases can unlock it now. But Raya and the Last Dragon soon will be available to all Disney Plus subscribers at no additional cost, starting June 4. The Premier Access release plan for Black Widow, which is scheduled for July 9, should be generally the same as Raya’s and other Premiere Access titles that came before. With Premier Access, films cost an additional $30 to unlock in addition to the price you pay for a Disney Plus subscription. You can purchase access to the film on disneyplus.com and on the service’s app for Apple (including iPhones), Google (including Android phones), Amazon, Roku and other platforms. The service will automatically prompt you to pay with your payment method already on file and request you enter details like a credit card CVV number. Purchasers are able to watch these movies for as long as they remain active Disney Plus subscribers. The price varies internationally in local currencies, but the value of the international prices is generally on par with $30. Taxes vary by country. In some countries, purchasers will need to pay taxes on top of the purchase in addition to its advertised price.
