communications relay login

Disney+ gets UK release date

Disney’s new streaming service is scheduled to start in 2020.

By Saelanna Fri 08 Nov, 2019 3:44 PM
Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, which will include the likes of Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and National Geographic, is due to land in the UK and much of Western Europe on 31st March 2020. The service is set to launch in the USA, Canada and the Netherlands on 12th November 2019 and in Australia and New Zealand a week later on 19th November. The service’s biggest title at launch will be “The Mandalorian”, Jon Favreau’s TV series set in the Star Wars universe but the service will also feature many staples from Disney’s extensive back catalogue, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi. Disney spent $70bn acquiring 20th Century Fox in March 2019, so is able to incorporate content such as the first 30 seasons of The Simpsons into the Disney+ catalogue as well.

However, according to Tech Radar, only 8 of the 23 Marvel Cinematic Universe movies will be available on Disney+ right from the initial release date and these are Iron Man, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame. This doesn’t seem like the most logical selection of movies from the franchise but some of the other MCU movies are tied up in existing licensing deals and are not able to be streamed consistently around the world. Additionally the rights of the 2008 Hulk movie and the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies are owned and distributed by other studios (Universal and Sony respectively) and can’t appear on Disney’s streaming service. It’s likely that most of the other MCU movies will appear on Disney+ eventually but there’s been no confirmed date set for their arrival yet so if you’re planning a binge you might want to wait.

One of the most exciting things about Disney+ is the prospect of new and exclusive Marvel TV shows that might actually hold up against their cinematic counterparts, and make up for some of the misfires of recent times. The first new and exclusive show to arrive [in late 2020] will be “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” with both Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan reprising their respective roles for the small screen. After that, in early 2021, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany will be reunited as Scarlett Witch and Vision in “WandaVision” and Tom Hiddleston will also be returning to cause havoc in his own Tesseract-fueled branch of reality in “Loki”. Looking as far ahead as late 2021 Hawkeye will also be getting his own show, starring Jeremy Renner as the titular bow-wielding Avenger.

On the animated side of things no fewer than 25 of the biggest names in the MCU, including Hayley Atwell and Samuel L Jackson, have been confirmed to be returning to voice their characters in “What If…?”, a show due to arrive in mid-2020 that explores alternative storylines such as what might have happened if Peggy Carter had been given the super-soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers. Disney will be using even more new series to introduce us to the likes of Ms Marvel, She-Hulk and Moon Knight, who will all have their own shows but there is no confirmation as to when we are likely to see these characters hit our screens. Interestingly (but perhaps not unsurprisingly) Marvel boss Kevin Feige, has been quoted as telling Marvel fans they will need to watch these new shows to keep up with what’s happening in the wider MCU. Bloomberg reported that If you want to understand everything in future Marvel movies he [Feige] says you’ll probably need a Disney+ subscription, because events from the new shows will factor into forthcoming films such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (the Scarlet Witch will be a key character in that movie and the Loki series will tie in too).

At launch Disney+ will cost $6.99 per month in the US, the UK price is yet to be officially announced. Disney has confirmed that DisneyLife, the British and Irish streaming service, will be rebranded as Disney+ in March 2020 and current DisneyLife subscribers can expect to hear how to transition their subscriptions to the new service soon. This does leave many current DisneyLife subscribers (including me) wondering why shows like The Mandalorian can’t just be added to the existing platform in the meantime...

What did you think of this article? Will you be subscribing to Disney's new streaming service? Let us know by commenting below!

WRITTEN BY Saelanna - mary.harvey@ufplanets.com
EDITED BY Infinity
7 Comments
Fri 08 Nov, 2019 3:47 PM
Oh yes! I saw the german Disney+ announcement yesterday and I am so hyped for March next year to be able to see The Mandalorian Smile
Fri 08 Nov, 2019 3:50 PM
Ohhhh boy, this means a Star Wars marathon like I haven't seen before!
Fri 08 Nov, 2019 8:33 PM
No star wars originals until 2024

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/...ls-until-2024/
Fri 08 Nov, 2019 8:35 PM
Cry
Well okay, shows only then.
Wed 13 Nov, 2019 11:43 AM
Little update. I got disney+ and it does have all the star wars movies.
Wed 13 Nov, 2019 2:21 PM
Seems to be very location specific for what you have access to Bar'ol. It's rather silly though that you get movies 1-7 and TLJ will be released on D+ only after Rise of Skywalker comes out lol

Gonna be busy the next few weekends getting all those movies in before ROS!!! Cool
Wed 13 Nov, 2019 4:19 PM
Seems to be very location specific for what you have access to Bar'ol. It's rather silly though that you get movies 1-7 and TLJ will be released on D+ only after Rise of Skywalker comes out lol

Gonna be busy the next few weekends getting all those movies in before ROS!!! Cool
Oh I wasnt saying I was watching them just saying what I said before is wrong lol. By the time it gets to you all I'm sure more will be added.