The Disney Thread | Happy 90th to Donald Duck!

[ZeroHour]

15 hours ago, Porthos said:

 

 

Price is probably still too cheap to turn a (reliable) profit even at $14 a month (double the intro rate back in 2019, BTW).  Might be approaching the actual price inflection point though.

 

===

 

When it comes right down to it, the future for the masses is ad-supported tiers. It really is just about the only way new (read expensive) content for streaming makes financial sense, IMO.   Any system that is decoupled from popularity = revenue is fighting a losing battle, again IMO.  Even Netflix isn't that profitable.  Or rather, it really ought to be much more than it is.

 

If you can't make money on carriage fees* and/or retransmission agreements/syndication, and if the physical media market is crippled or at best has evolved into a boutique market, then just about the only real source of revenue will be upfront fees and ads.  As @TwoMisfits implied there is a point where folks will stop buying upfront, especially with the dual strikes.  At the same time revenue gotta come from somewhere.

 

And if corps insist on Walled Gardens (and it does appear that cracks are forming there), well what else is left?

 

I've been saying for years that consumers have been making out like bandits on streaming.  Well looks like the piper is gonna start asking to be paid.

 

* NB:  Even HBO, which is ad free, still got revenue from carriage agreements.  One of the biggest mistakes streamers made was following an HBO model of expensive Prestige TV content but then getting rid of soo many sources of revenue that the current situation was practically begging to happen.

I think it's inevitable that we start to see a second pay window emerge for all the big streaming shows and movies. If you're Disney+, you've probably already gotten the most out of Loki season 1 in the first year, so they probably only need to keep it as an exclusive for about that long. After that, sell the streaming rights to a free ad-supported streamer (those are going to continue to grow and I think we'll see more of them emerge). Now that season of Loki can continue to make money, you can reduce costs by paying Tom Hiddleston less upfront (A-listers are the other group that have made out like bandits because they're making huge money and don't have to worry about the product being successful) and cutting him into a piece of the backend pie, and you get more people catching up on season 1 on the ad-supported service who might subscribe to Disney+ to catch season 2 when it drops.

 

Everyone jumped into this business thinking that Netflix new best and copied their model verbatim, but Netflix, for all its success, has done a poor job developing secondary income streams for itself (if Disney had Stranger Things or the Witcher, they would be MUCH bigger consumer product juggernauts for instance). These companies need to reevaluate every part of the model. Every streamer that's watching Suits dominate the Netflix streaming chart should be thinking about how they need to be investing in finding new "old school" style television hits and not just expensive 6-10 episode event series.

[filmlover]

I have to laugh at Magazine Dreams still being on the schedule even though Disney/Searchlight have another movie (Poor Things) set to open the same day.

 

The theatrical schedule between now through the first half of 2024 from the presentation, seems like an unofficial confirmation Deadpool is delayed:

 

9/15: A Haunting in Venice

9/29: The Creator

11/10: The Marvels

11/17: Next Goal Wins

11/22: Wish

12/1: The Bikeriders

12/8: Magazine Dreams, Poor Things

12/22: All of Us Strangers

3/1: Elio

3/22: Snow White

5/24: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

6/14: Inside Out 2

[JWR]

12 minutes ago, filmlover said:

I have to laugh at Magazine Dreams still being on the schedule even though Disney/Searchlight have another movie (Poor Things) set to open the same day.

 

The theatrical schedule between now through the first half of 2024 from the presentation, seems like an unofficial confirmation Deadpool is delayed:

 

9/15: A Haunting in Venice

9/29: The Creator

11/10: The Marvels

11/17: Next Goal Wins

11/22: Wish

12/1: The Bikeriders

12/8: Magazine Dreams, Poor Things

12/22: All of Us Strangers

3/1: Elio

3/22: Snow White

5/24: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

6/14: Inside Out 2

 

Also the Fede Alvarez Alien movie and Captain America 4.

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

18 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

Good luck on the large price hikes when you can't make new material.

 

 

100%

 

I was already planning to cancel my Hulu/Disney+ deal that I got last BF for 5 bucks a month if it goes to regular pricing. If it goes even higher then it's a no-brainer.

 

[upriser7]

12 hours ago, The GOAT said:

How so? 

It might have generated lot of revenue but not much positive cash flow. Hotstar (Disney+ version in India) was super cheap...it's annual subscription in India is just around $18 per year..it used to be even cheaper. There is a reason why Hotstar didn't want to renew IPL rights...the rights were too expensive and Hotstar would have needed to raise their price a ton to make it work. It's hard to generate positive cash flow as a streaming platform in Indian market

[TwoMisfits]

1 hour ago, AnotherDayAnotherDollar said:

 

100%

 

I was already planning to cancel my Hulu/Disney+ deal that I got last BF for 5 bucks a month if it goes to regular pricing. If it goes even higher then it's a no-brainer.

 

 

I'm gonna get my 6 months of Hulu for $2.99/month on Black Friday (I'm sitting on a code good til Dec 4), and then enjoy the 6 months and give it away.

 

D+, I will be giving away Black Friday b/c they have nothing in the early 2024 pipeline anyway for D+...and the longer the strike, the more that nothing is gonna expand...

[The GOAT]

1 hour ago, upriser7 said:

It might have generated lot of revenue but not much positive cash flow. Hotstar (Disney+ version in India) was super cheap...it's annual subscription in India is just around $18 per year..it used to be even cheaper. There is a reason why Hotstar didn't want to renew IPL rights...the rights were too expensive and Hotstar would have needed to raise their price a ton to make it work. It's hard to generate positive cash flow as a streaming platform in Indian market

Damn, that's even two times lower than my Black Friday Disney+ deal 

[ZeroHour]

14 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

I'm gonna get my 6 months of Hulu for $2.99/month on Black Friday (I'm sitting on a code good til Dec 4), and then enjoy the 6 months and give it away.

 

D+, I will be giving away Black Friday b/c they have nothing in the early 2024 pipeline anyway for D+...and the longer the strike, the more that nothing is gonna expand...

I'm not sure it's quite so barren as all that. I bet both Echo and Skeleton Crew get pushed back to 2024 because of the strike (and Echo probably ends up being a weekly release). They've also finished shooting on The Acolyte, Ironheart, and Agatha, right? So those should all be on deck for 2024 (assuming Ironheart and Agatha can release without another round of reshoots, never a safe bet with Marvel). Plus they have that Percy Jackson show that shot ages ago. Not saying any of those are of any interest to you personally, but it's probably second half of 2024 before Disney+ starts feeling the pipeline issues at the earliest.

[kayumanggi]

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

On 8/10/2023 at 12:43 PM, ZeroHour said:

I'm not sure it's quite so barren as all that. I bet both Echo and Skeleton Crew get pushed back to 2024 because of the strike (and Echo probably ends up being a weekly release). They've also finished shooting on The Acolyte, Ironheart, and Agatha, right? So those should all be on deck for 2024 (assuming Ironheart and Agatha can release without another round of reshoots, never a safe bet with Marvel). Plus they have that Percy Jackson show that shot ages ago. Not saying any of those are of any interest to you personally, but it's probably second half of 2024 before Disney+ starts feeling the pipeline issues at the earliest.

 

I can only speak for myself, but I'm not sure you listing those shows changes the narrative. I'll give Skeleton Crew a chance because of Watts, but all I've read about it sounds like I'm not the demographic for it. Agatha, Echo, Ironheart will find an audience like Ms. Marvel, but it's not something that will change directions. Out of those I'm only half interested in Agatha, but you can't really do a whole show about Agatha, so Wanda has to be there. Maybe introduce Selene.

 

Furthermore if someone doesn't like the Star Wars or Marvel Universe then you just reiterated the service is pretty barren for them.

 

EDIT: I should also say that Disney+ is coming up on 4 years as a service. Waiting for the second half of 2024 - when the service will be 5 years old - for them to fix the pipeline issues is not something most people are willing to do. I remember the same pipeline narrative would be addressed in Fall 2021/Spring 2022 yet here we are.

Edited August 14, 2023 by AnotherDayAnotherDollar

[poweranimals]

On 8/10/2023 at 6:32 PM, kayumanggi said:

 

And we never got episode 10. 😭

[ZeroHour]

7 hours ago, AnotherDayAnotherDollar said:

 

I can only speak for myself, but I'm not sure you listing those shows changes the narrative. I'll give Skeleton Crew a chance because of Watts, but all I've read about it sounds like I'm not the demographic for it. Agatha, Echo, Ironheart will find an audience like Ms. Marvel, but it's not something that will change directions. Out of those I'm only half interested in Agatha, but you can't really do a whole show about Agatha, so Wanda has to be there. Maybe introduce Selene.

 

Furthermore if someone doesn't like the Star Wars or Marvel Universe then you just reiterated the service is pretty barren for them.

 

EDIT: I should also say that Disney+ is coming up on 4 years as a service. Waiting for the second half of 2024 - when the service will be 5 years old - for them to fix the pipeline issues is not something most people are willing to do. I remember the same pipeline narrative would be addressed in Fall 2021/Spring 2022 yet here we are.

I wasn't referring to the quality or the overall strategy for Disney+. That's a whole separate conversation. I was talking about whether the strikes are affecting their output which won't be the case for awhile. Whether or not these shows are good or bad, they are the ones that Disney+ was always going to release in the first half of 2024. For better or worse, their pipeline is pretty much the pipeline Disney planned for this period. It'll be late 2024, first half of 2025 when we see the strikes having big effects on their pipeline unless they decide to space out some of these shows more that they already have in the can.

[SpiderByte]

Please for the love of GOD LET 6PM PT BE PERMANENT

[SpiderByte]

This was originally set for 2024, so my guess is it moved up because of the strike disrupting what their regular release plans were.

[ZeroHour]

5 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:

This was originally set for 2024, so my guess is it moved up because of the strike disrupting what their regular release plans were.

You're right. End of December means its been switched out for Skeleton Crew. Guessing they want to make sure they have Star Wars shows for 2024.

[JWR]

48 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:

This was originally set for 2024, so my guess is it moved up because of the strike disrupting what their regular release plans were.

 

Probably.

 

Still, this looks fun. Cautiously optimistic. 

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, ZeroHour said:

You're right. End of December means its been switched out for Skeleton Crew. Guessing they want to make sure they have Star Wars shows for 2024.

 

Or it needs pickup work that can't be done thanks to the dual strikes.

 

Not too surprising though.

[SpiderByte]

Between this and Prey Disney seems to be big on releasing their streaming stuff physically now. Good change!

[SpiderByte]

Theyve rolled back Dancing with the Stars being only live on Disney+, now it's live on ABC as well. I wouldn't be shocked if the Oscars is similar.

 

 

[Ryan Reynolds]

Disney finally selling physical copies after years of bootleg copies being sold on ebay/etsy . I guess after peaking on D+ subs they may be rethinking their strategy .