Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: STAR

  • 20th Century Studios’ ‘The Princess’ Heading to Disney’s Streaming Services in July

    20th Century Studios’ ‘The Princess’ Heading to Disney’s Streaming Services in July

    It looks like Disney is continuing to build its 20th Century brand as a way to produce films and offerings for their streaming services. It has been announced that The Princess will premiere globally on July 1st. It’ll be made available under the Star banner in specific locations, its US release will be through Hulu and Star+ in Latin America. Le-Van Kiet of Furie fame is in the directing chair with The Kissing Booth‘s Joey King taking on the titular role.

    The story focuses on a strong-willed princess that does not want to be forcefully married to a sociopath. Yet, as retaliation, her father locks her up in a remote tower of his castle. As you might expect, her suitor has his own plans to take the throne and she’s forced to protect her family and the kingdom. King is joined by Dominic Cooper, Olga Kurylenko, and Veronica Ngo. Kiet is working off of a script from Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton with Neal H. Moritz, Toby Jaffe, and Derek Kolstad in the producing chair.

    It’s another 20th Century production that ended up as part of their streaming service repertoire, similar to No Exit recently. With the cinemas being filled with mostly well-known IPs, it’s unclear if this will be Disney’s overall strategy moving forward or if they’ll also give these smaller productions a chance in theaters. It would be a shame that after purchasing 20th Century Fox that most of their originals end up only as streaming services.

  • Disney+’s Website May Hint at Star Heading to the US

    Disney+’s Website May Hint at Star Heading to the US

    Disney+ has entered the competitive streaming market as the “family-friendly” offering filled to the brim with iconic IPs from the Disney library. Purchasing 20th Century Fox helped them expand it, but the limitations were starting to show themselves. Netflix and Amazon don’t have that restriction and can reach a wider audience as a result. We’ve seen Disney start to break away from its initial focus with some of its Hulu offerings, Black-ish, Grown–ish, The Wonder Years, and the Korean original series Snowdrop, heading to its service. Yet, there’s a chance they might be considering adding the Star branding to their US market.

    As noticed initially by What’s on DisneyPlus, the US home page featuring the bundle offerings of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ include a visual highlighting its offerings from the streaming service. Yet, what stands out is that the Star logo has also been included. There’s a chance that the service might be moving away from being split up into three but rather meld it into the Disney+ branding.

    Of course, the oddity of the Star branding being included lies in the fact that Hulu mainly takes over that function in the US. It’s unclear if they might test the waters with its inclusion, especially with a lot of confusion with what shows are being offered to the US or Europe. Star was launched last year for European markets and some Hulu series, such as the upcoming The Kardashians series, getting Disney+ branding but only for the European markets. The image has been taken down since but it’s inclusion is still curious if it’s nothing more than just an odd mistake.

    There have been hints that they are trying to include more products into their flagship streaming service, and it does open up the question of how far they might go with the new plans. Hulu now offers ways to directly access ESPN+ – another separate streaming service. They’ve also been testing live-streaming options which add to the possibility of Disney trying to diversify themselves from other streaming services more and more. We’ll have to wait but we might not find out until the next Investor’s Day presentation or even Disney+ day later this year.

    Source: Disney+ via What’s on DisneyPlus, Verge, The Direct

  • Disney to Announce Netflix Marvel Show’s New Streaming Home Soon

    Disney to Announce Netflix Marvel Show’s New Streaming Home Soon

    It seems like the news is just not stopping. what started with a sudden inclusion of a deadline on the Marvel Netflix series would end up in a discussion on what exactly was going on. Some believed it might be nothing more than a bug until Entertainment Weekly confirmed it. Not just that, Insider also announced that this change was due to the rights returning to Disney. Now, Deadline has also shared that we might find out what the future has in store for them soon.

    Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher, and The Defenders were all co-produced between Netflix and ABC Studios. Disney is currently keeping quiet on the returning rights, but Deadline shared that we can expect an announcement on their new streaming home sooner rather than later. Plus, it further re-establishes the fact that Marvel Studios can now further explore these characters in new projects moving forward.

    At this point, it seems likely given the darker themes of these series they will end up as part of Hulu’s offerings and internationally through the Star branding. Deadpool, Logan, Hit-Monkey, and MODOK were recently released as part of that branding and it wouldn’t be too surprised if it follows suit. We don’t know if these former Netflix Originals might even end up as “Original” series under these new streaming banners.

    Source: Deadline

  • Starz Blocks Disney’s Star Plus Expansion in Brazil

    Starz Blocks Disney’s Star Plus Expansion in Brazil

    Here’s an interesting development. During Disney’s Investors Day, they revealed their global expansion. Europe and Canada got Star as a new brand directly in Disney+ to add access to mature content. The United States keeps its Hulu branding as a separate service, but they’ve tested ut integrating multiple streaming options by integrating ESPN+. Their idea for the Latin America market was to create a Star-focused service titled Star Plus.

    Yet, it looks like those plans were swiftly halted by a judge in São Paulo. Starz successfully blocked their launch in Brazil with complaints on trademark infringement still active in Mexico. Argentinian court has denied Starz’s complaint. Judge Jorge Tosta wrote the following on the decision:

    The plaintiff proved to have priority of use and registration in Brazil over the word mark ‘STARZPLAY,’ including for identifying entertainment services, which grants it the right to protect its reputation and material integrity.

    Starz has established its Starzplay streaming service and launched it in the Latin American market in 2019. Of course, it isn’t the exact same title but they have pointed out that Star Plus and Starzsplay will get generalized terms as “Star.” Plus, Disney’s marketing power also could harm Starz brand. It’s an interesting case, as it opens Disney to some new hurdles. They either have to rethink their strategy in Brazil or create unique branding for the location. Perhaps they’ll decide to extend the Hulu brand internationally as a result.

     

    Prime Video Channels: Amazon bringt Starzplay nach Deutschland

     

    Of curse, they can also take the European route by integrating it into Disney+, but the service was going to include ESPN offerings. So, there’s also the Indian Disney+ Hotstar branding that is more distinctive. It’s likely they’ll wait out until Mexico makes their decision before rolling out the brand, but it’s an interesting development that could have repercussions for Disney’s overall branding strategy. The official Twitter channel teased a strange new verified channel simply called The Streamer:

    Source: Variety, Twitter

  • Disney+ STAR Line-Up Includes ‘Lost’, ‘Deadpool’, And So Much More

    Disney+ STAR Line-Up Includes ‘Lost’, ‘Deadpool’, And So Much More

    Disney+ is doing its first major expansion in Europe and Canada. As Hulu remains a US-only service, the rest of the world is getting the new STAR brand. It differs between countries, as India has a unique offering with Disney+ Hotstar that includes sports content. The STAR expansion is going to premiere on the 23rd of February. There is a chance that different regions will have a unique line-up. It is mainly the result of local dealings, where the shows or films are exclusively available in existing streaming services. We haven’t received an overview of what shows are made available in different countries, but a post by @DisneyPlusUK offers our closest look at what we can expect.

    https://twitter.com/DisneyPlusUK/status/1354702270160658433

    I love the approach that they took here by creating the new STAR logo through the various show and film titles. A newsletter got sent out shortly after the announcement during Disney’s Investors Day, so we might see another get sent out that details what will be made available in different countries. The tweet calls this their largest content drop yet, so it may be the main template for what we can expect for the future of this new branding.

    So far, there has been no word if we will also see STAR Original series. It may be a way for Disney to create mature stories from Marvel Studios and LucasFilms. I made a theory on how the expansion may influence the future of how Disney+ content is handled, which you can check out here. This reveal also confirms that Deadpool will be made available under the STAR banner, so once that is unlocked, it may get added to the existing Marvel branding. We are only a few weeks away from the official release, so hopefully, we’ll get more details before it rolls out in selected countries.

    Source: Twitter

  • How ‘Deadpool 3’ May Redefine Disney+ and Hulu’s Future

    How ‘Deadpool 3’ May Redefine Disney+ and Hulu’s Future

    WandaVision finally premiered on Disney+ last month. It will be the first of many to fill out the service in the coming years and expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, they have big plans or the silver screen as well. As the cinematic future is currently a bit uncertain, the studio has been focusing on turning Disney’s premiere streaming service into their MCU hub. However, two future projects open up an interesting question about Marvel Studios’ future within the Disney+ restrictions. Deadpool 3 is confirmed to be an R-rated project that is part of the MCU. There is a good chance that the vampire film Blade will also share that rating. Now, Disney+ is expanding with mature content, which means they would be available on the service. Yet, once we open pandora’s box on their international strategy, it gets quite complicated. It won’t be easy for those that are searching for a central MCU hub on the franchise.

    So far, the streaming service managed to gain 86.8 million subscribers by the end of 2020 purely on family-friendly content. To put that in perspective, after being the dominant service on the market, Netflix only now passed 200 million subscribers. These are impressive numbers, but they also showcase the surprising speed of Disney+’s growth. Netflix’s key advantage is that they have no restrictions on their content. Even Disney’s strategy focusing on high-profile franchises to sell the service can only push a growth so far. They are already looking into expanding that offering to include more mature-themed content to ensure their exponential growth. Now, the problem is that this strategy is not as simple as it probably should be.

     

     

    So far, only Canada and Europe will receive the new STAR brand within the Disney-owned service. It gets complicated once we look towards the international market. Latin America is getting a singular streaming service known only as STAR+. Indian and other Asian markets have another unique offering in Disney+ Hotstar, which also includes sports programming. The STAR shows and films are available in the United States through Hulu. We still have no idea if there are plans to include the Spider-Man films. Sony Pictures still owns the franchise and determines its availability. You can read up on my thoughts on that matter by clicking here. So, the availability of the MCU is going to be quite disjointed as they start expanding. In addition, even when it is made available, the R-rated Deadpool 3 will most likely be categorized under the Hulu or STAR rather than the Marvel brand.

    If you live in the United States, you’ll only have access via an additional Hulu package. Let’s take this thought experiment one step further and say they want to expand with a Deadpool spin-off series. You’ll have this issue in addition to the uncertainty if this original show will even get a physical release. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige also seemed unsure if WandaVision would release on Blu-ray in a recent interview. So, if you want to binge the entire MCU on your Disney+ app, you’re out of luck as you need to switch between service or brand. If we move towards a digital dependency, Marvel Studios might push Disney to include Hulu as an app within the streaming app. Once LucasFilms also aims to expand Star Wars with mature series and films, Disney might consider centralizing their services. It may seem irrelevant in the short-term, but it is essential for Disney+’s branding strategy moving forward if they want to grow Disney+ internationally to compete with Netflix. Deadpool 3 most likely won’t release until 2023, so the next few Investor’s events might tease a new direction for the service.

    Source: Variety, TechCrunch, ComicBookMovie