In my review of
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I expressed concern over how Disney owns pretty much everything, and when I say everything, I do mean
everything. Even before they purchased Fox which gave them ownership of
The Simpsons and
X-Men, they still had ownership over major film production companies such as Marvel and Lucasfilm, giving them
The Avengers,
Star Wars, and more. And it certainly helps that their own films are already as appealing as they are, just look at the box office numbers for the remakes of
Aladdin and
The Lion King.
They’ve become perhaps the single most dominant company in the entertainment industry, and the fact that they hadn't created a streaming service before is honestly surprising, which now leads us to Disney+.
For the two people out there who haven't heard of Disney+ yet, it is Disney's answer to Netflix (and get ready to see them get brought up a lot here), and they are filling it to the absolute brim. Every Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and Disney film ever made is being made available at launch, which is convenience at its finest. But wait, there's more! Similarly to Netflix, Disney+ will have plenty of exclusive shows and movies, many of which are based upon the previously mentioned properties, including the continuation of
Star Wars: The Clone Wars! Wow! This sounds like Disney has created the ultimate streaming service! .....and that's what concerns me.
Not that I doubt the quality of the service itself, I'm sure it'll be just fine. But what scares me is its potential, the appeal it carries, and how destructive it may be to the film industry.
For starters, it's no surprise that when a film hits a streaming service, that's the one place where you can watch it. There are instances where those films do make it to theaters, but their distribution is so poor that most people would end up having to wait for the streaming release. Netflix has expressed interest in getting better theatrical releases for their films, but even with the latest Martin Scorsese film on the way they could only get it and all their other upcoming films a limited release for about three weeks before being made available via streaming.
Now that Disney is getting a streaming service, chances are we'll see the same issue arise here, and possibly in a much more harmful way. It's already been announced that the upcoming remake of
Lady and the Tramp is coming exclusively to Disney+, and considering how massively successful Disney's live-action remakes have already been, it wouldn't be surprising if people subscribed to it just to watch the movie. If that were the case, Disney would see that they could easily get enough money through putting their new releases on the service more often, and then it could become a habit.
They could easily put the sequels to
Black Panther and
The Simpsons Movie on Disney+ without a theatrical release and still make a big profit. What about Rian Johnson's upcoming Star Wars trilogy who's to say that won't just be thrown on it, along with all other upcoming Star Wars movies? Then imagine what how other major film companies would see this. Naturally, they would likely see that they could make just as much money through the same means and create their own streaming services, like if Warner Bros. made Warner Bros.+ where you could watch every DC Comics movie ever made, and where all future DC Comics movies could be seen.
So, with all these movies on streaming services, what will be in theaters? Sure plenty of independent films could still be seen, but with films based on major IPs being made only available on those services, there's no way that theaters would be able to survive. Even if a big release would come out in theaters, the general public wouldn't find that form of releasing a film appealing anymore because of how common straight-to-streaming releases are, and the film would possibly flop, making the streaming service route evermore likely for companies.
Even if Disney ends up being the only film distributor to make a service like this, the fact that their films would be more commonly obtainable through Disney+ would still take a big toll on theater chains, regardless of what other films they would get, especially since
Avengers: Endgame, a Disney owned property, just became the highest grossing movie ever. And with less successful theaters comes tons of closures, which means that not only would the theatrical experience suffer tremendously, but thousands would also end up being out of work.
The other issue that could result from this platform is that with such a major focus on beloved properties, independent filmmaking is likely to take a big hit. Look at Netflix, for example, say what you will about a good number of films that they've put out, but there is no denying that they've done a great job of bringing tons of smaller movies with new ideas through fruition. With a new major competitor though, this may come to a change.
Disney+ is obviously being made as a means to challenge Netflix, and with its wide number of beloved film series being made readily available there, Netflix will need to keep up. In order to do this, they'll need to focus more on getting bigger names to battle it out with Disney better. Thus, independent films won't be their priority anymore.
Netflix may not only one who supports indie cinema, the shift to an even wider focus on making big releases than there already is would mean that independent films would be made less and less, and even the studios dedicated to making those films would shut down because of a lack of interest. Not convinced? Well, remember how many people placed indie movies
Lady Bird and
Moonlight as among their favorite films of all time upon their release?
Perhaps the most harmful effect this service Disney+ may have would on the film industry though would be how it could effect some of the most important filmmakers of all time that are still working today.
Think back to the two previous points I made here. Netflix will likely start focusing more on household name brands in order to fight off Disney, meaning newer ideas will likely be rejected by them. Remember how Netflix got us
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs from the Coen Brothers and
Roma from Alfonso Cuarón? What if they have new ideas that they can't get anyone else to back? What will happen to their ideas then? It might get picked up by another company, but considering that Martin Scorsese's upcoming film
The Irishman is only happening because of Netflix since Paramount turner it down, chances are some of the best ideas from your favorite directors will never see the light of day.
Even when they could get a streaming giant to pick up their work, it would likely suffer because far, far more often than not they were intended to be seen in theaters, and streaming services will most likely just put the film on streaming day one to be seen on mobile devices and TV screens. Think people won't care? There are tons of people online you can find who have watched movies on their phones and complained about the film because it wasn't great to watch on said phones. People will likely think less of their work, and directors will be more unsatisfied with their work because of how much streaming giants prefer skipping theatrical windows.
Indeed, the fall of the theatrical experience would certainly spell bad news for those directors. So many of them have expressed the desire of having their films shown in theaters, so what will happen when theaters are essentially gone? It wouldn't surprise me if some of them just quit making movies altogether because of it, I would definitely expect Quentin Tarantino to skip out on his tenth and final film if this were the case.
So there you have it, with Disney+ have as massive of a chance as it does of blowing up, you have the likelihood of a threat to theatrical screenings, indie filmmaking, and the craft of some of the most brilliant people in the film industry. That's not even all that worries me, as I could list even more consequences that could result from it. But hey, I get to watch every
Star Wars movie and every episode of
The Simpsons on one service now!
Maybe I'm wrong, though. Maybe the theatrical experience will carry on as it is now, and independent movies and projects from highly acclaimed filmmakers will still be able to find companies to back them just fine, even with Disney+ in the picture. But for now, I think it's best to stay by my skepticism. Because with Disney, you always know that a desire for some cash is gonna be involved.
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