Disney will massively ramp up the volume of Marvel and Star Wars series on its Disney+ streaming service.
Kareem Daniel, Chairman, Media and Entertainment Distribution for The Walt Disney Company, revealed Wednesday during the Disney Investor Day presentation that it would launch “roughly” 10 Marvel series, 10 Star Wars series and 15 live-action, animation and Pixar series over the next few years.
“With these Disney+ originals, along with theatrical releases and library titles, we will be adding something new to the service every week,” he said.
Fifteen all-new Disney live-action, Disney Animation, and Pixar features will also be released directly on Disney+.
This comes as the second season of The Mandalorian is wrapping up on the service.
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Disney, which unveiled the news as part of its presentation, didn’t give any detail on the series, but it is likely to include the upcoming Cassian Andor series, which is a prequel of Rogue One from Jared Bush and Tony Gilroy; a new Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series with Ewan McGregor; and a female-centric series from Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland.
Daniel’s comments marked his public debut following a major restructuring of Disney’s content and distribution business similar to what’s happening across big entertainment conglomerates from Comcast’s NBCUniversal to AT&T’s WarnerMedia. His portfolio is flanked by three Content Creation groups led by Alan Horn and Alan Bergman (Studios), Peter Rice (General Entertainment) and James Pitaro (Sports).
Speaking just after Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Daniel described the new management structure he’s a key part of as a way to highlight the critical direct-to-consumer space, gather insights and work efficiently with Disney’s partners.
The move was meant to “allocate creative budgets across platforms to maximize engagement and impact,” he said. “We are prioritizing our DTC platforms” — no surprise. But he said the revamped teams are committed to a range of content, some of which will debut in movie theaters and on linear networks first and some day-and-date, as well as ramped up investment on the host of new original content for Disney+.
“Today you will see this new strategy reflected” he said, as creators and executives tell their stories at an event that’s expected to last four hours.
Over the next few years, roughly 10 @Marvel series, 10 @StarWars series, 15 Disney live action, @DisneyAnimation, and @Pixar series, plus 15 all-new Disney live action, Disney Animation, and Pixar features will be released directly on @DisneyPlus.
— Disney (@Disney) December 10, 2020
Jill Goldsmith contributed to this story.