Best answer: Theatrical releases should arrive on Disney+ about four months after they hit Blu-ray and DVD.
- Enter the fantasia: Disney+ (From $7/mo at Disney+)
Putting the magic on hold
The anticipation for Disney’s streaming service, Disney+ launching November 12, is steadily building and for good reason. Until now, it took scouring the various streaming services to see what was available; even then, the pickings were relatively thin. The other factor for getting our Disney fix is through physical media like DVD and Blu-ray. While there isn’t any official schedule out there from Disney as to when we can expect to see movies make to their streaming service after discs, we do have a good idea when that could be.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter the senior VP of content, Agnes Chu did give some insight as to the plans:
Chu says the conversation around which projects make sense for streaming is guided by their budgets but also focused around determining whether a project warrants a theatrical release. “There are films that work really well in theaters and require the big screen,” she says. For those films that are released in theaters, Disney doesn’t plan on changing any windows to bring them sooner to Disney+, which means there will be around a seven-month wait for titles like the upcoming Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to hit the service (Toy Story 4 should become available in early 2020).
The current timeline from theatrical release to streaming works a bit like this: Disney will release a film into theaters, where its run is usually 90 days, shortly after that it shows up on digital for purchase, and then 2-3 weeks later we see it arrive for 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD. Finally, about four months after its release onto physical media, we should see the film arrive on streaming service, which moving forward will be Disney+ instead of places like Netflix.
How can I watch when it does arrive?
Disney+ is being made available for a lot of devices and platforms when the service goes live. Access is coming to gaming consoles, smart TVs, mobile devices, and more. Here’s a complete list of devices Disney has committed to at launch:
- Android Mobile Devices
- Android TV
- Chromecast
- iPhone
- iPad
- Apple TV
- Xbox One
- PlayStation 4
- Desktop web browsers (plugins are unknown)
- Android TV-based Sony TVs
- Roku streaming players
- Roku TV
However, Amazon Fire tablets, Fire, Sticks, and Cubes won’t have access to Disney+ on November 12. There have yet to announce as to when that might be resolved, but hopefully, it can be sorted out to allow another avenue for catching Disney+ shows.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0FRDaHnITI?modestbranding=0&html5=1&rel=0&autoplay=0&wmode=opaque&loop=0&controls=1&autohide=0&showinfo=0&theme=dark&color=red&enablejsapi=1]
Though when the service does go live, there isn’t going to be everything, Disney+ will have hundreds of movies and television at launch ranging from decades-old classics to recent releases like Captain Marvel. They have stated that the goal is to have at least 500 movies and 7,500 episodes of TV available to stream through Disney+. There are even going to be some new original series and films that will be exclusive to Disney+ such as Wanda Vision from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I’m ready, let’s go
Disney+
From $7/mo at Disney+
Bring on the magic!
When Disney+ launches on November 12, we’ll get Disney classics like Beauty and the Beast to fantastic shows from Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and others will be showing up for our entertainment.
