Best answer: Theatrical releases should arrive on Disney Plus (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 is finally over. Until now, it took scouring the various streaming services to see what was available from Dinsey; even then, the pickings were relatively thin. Before Disney+'s launch, we could also get our fix through DVDs and Blu-rays.
Now that Disney+ is out, the next question is how the company will handle physical media releases. While there isn't any official schedule out there from Disney as to when we can expect to see movies make it to the 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 gave 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 Disney+.
How can I watch?
Disney+ is available for a lot of devices and platforms. Here's a complete list of devices::
- 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
- Amazon Fire TV
- LG webOS smart TVs (2016 or newer)
- Samsung Tizen smart TVs (2016 or newer)
As much as we want it all, not everything is available right away. Disney+ will have hundreds of movies and television shows at launch ranging from decades-old classics to recent releases like Captain Marvel. The goal is to have at least 500 movies and 7,500 episodes of TV available to stream through Disney+ by the end of 2019. There are even going to be some new original series and films that will be exclusive to Disney+ such as WandaVision from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Bring on the magic!
Disney classics like Beauty and the Beast to fantastic shows from Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and others will be showing up for our entertainment through Disney+.
