It hasn’t been an easy year for any company. The pandemic has strongly influenced consumer behaviors and forced many companies to remain closed. Disney was no exception, as they struggled with the closing of their parks and theaters locking down. They had to postpone many of their biggest film releases. Black Widow was pushed back by an entire year as they struggled to figure out if they should focus on their streaming service. After a trial run with Mulan, it seemed like they were hoping to return to theatres. Even Pixar’s next entry Soul will be released for free on the service next month.
While they haven’t been able to make money at the Box Office, it looks like their investment with Disney+ has been a success. Their forecast was to reach between 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024. They have reached that first threshold within the first nine months. Now, they already passed 73 million within the first 11 months.
The service makes use of a large part of Disney’s vault. The company had a list of shows entering production after The Mandalorian kicked-off the streaming service’s launch. Sadly, the pandemic delayed most of their high-profile releases, so most releases were for younger audiences. With the recent announcement of Marvel Studios’ first show WandaVision eyeing January, it could see another boost in subscribers by then. It’ll be interesting to see how fast this service grows to compete with Netflix’s 195 million users.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
