Once the public face of squeaky-clean, harmless family entertainment, the Walt Disney Corporation has evolved into a widespread conglomerate known as much for the properties it controls as the films it produces. With subsidiaries including Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, National Geographic, A&E, 20th Century Fox, ESPN, Hulu, and Pixar, Disney has a commanding control of some of the world’s most lucrative franchises, plus an extensive library of film and TV classics. Its streaming service Disney+ signals a new interest in controlling its own online distribution, setting aside decades of licensing partnerships. Follow along with The Verge as we look at Disney’s new films and shows, and its strategies for dominating the box office and the streaming dollar.
If you’re tired of a family member messing up your Continue Watching queue, you can now remove TV shows and movies by pressing and holding your remote’s select button on Apple TV and hitting “Remove.” You can also find the option within the three-dot menu next to a show on the iOS app and the web.
Disney says this feature is coming to more platforms “in the coming weeks.”
A Death Star is coming together in the latest trailer for Andor’s final season, and every member of the Resistance seems to know exactly what needs to be done to take the thing out.
That’s according to The Wrap, which says the showrunners from Percy Jackson and the Olympians are in line to produce the show. This adds one more to the list of rumored Hasbro IP adaptations we’ve heard about, like the in-development live-action film and TV “universe” based on Magic: The Gathering, a Monopoly movie, new Clue projects, and a D&D series with Netflix.
0To get folks hyped up for the upcoming debut of Andor’s second season on Disney Plus April 22nd, Disney has put the show’s entire first season on Hulu and uploaded its first three episodes on YouTube. Additionally, on March 13th, Andor creator Tony Gilroy will host a live, hour-long rewatch event streamed on YouTube “with select talent,” which better be code for “Diego Luna and national treasure Kathryn Hunter.”
Jack Kirby, the iconic comics artist who co-created Marvel’s X-Men and Avengers, and originated DC’s New Gods, is the subject of Kirbyvision, a new documentary from director Ricki Stern (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, UFOs: Investigating the Unknown).
According to Stern, the doc is her way of pushing for Kirby to finally receive some of the recognition he deserves as the creative wellspring companies like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are still drawing from.
Disney is reportedly laying off 200 employees (about 6 percent of its workforce) from its ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks units.
The latest round of firings will impact ABC’s 20/20 and Nightline news magazine shows, whose production teams are being consolidated into a single unit. And Disney also plans to wind down 538, which the company bought back in 2018.
Correction: Nate Silver left 538 in 2023.
Disney Plus’ new Daredevil series is an uneven reboot that’s fighting to leave its past behind.
Puck reports that Kennedy, who has steered franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, has informed the studio and others that she will step down by the end of 2025.
In 2023, Kennedy announced three new Star Wars films before murkier reports appeared last year about a new trilogy, and we just saw a new trailer for Andor season two. If there is a change at the top, then it could come with some clarity about the series’ future on big and small screens alike.
[puck.news]
You might not have been keeping up with the development of Marvel’s Nova, Strange Academy, and Terror, Inc. Disney Plus series, but Deadline reports that the studio is putting all three on hold as it rethinks which projects it wants to prioritize for the MCU’s future.
Peter Parker only had eyes for Pearl Pangan in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s first season, but that might change when the show returns with a new version of Gwen Stacy in tow.
Marvel’s latest Captain America movie.
Disney Plus’ new animated Spider-Man series wants you to appreciate what being a community-focused hero looks like.
Last year’s price hikes helped Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus bring in a $293 million profit during the last three months of 2024, making it the second profitable quarter in a row. However, Disney Plus lost around 700,000 subscribers, bringing its total to 124.6 million globally.
Ahead of Fantastic Four: First Steps’ new trailer debuting tomorrow, Marvel has dropped a kitschy teaser hyping up the team’s launch into space.
A recent update to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World mobile apps now lets users track the status of mobile food orders (from select venues in Disney’s US parks) on the iPhone’s lock screen or in the Dynamic Island. Users can also notify a restaurant to start preparing their order once they’re nearby, without having to open the mobile app.
As the NFL’s Netflix broadcasts threaten to dominate Christmas and people fret over ratings drops, today’s slate of NBA games includes a “Dunk the Halls” simulcast — similar to other overlay broadcasts we’ve seen recently — available on Disney Plus.
Instead of Jalen Brunson and the Knicks vs. Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, it’s their cartoon avatars, with occasional drop-ins from recognizable characters. Are any of you watching this instead of Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson?
We got a healthy dose of Star Wars and Marvel shows on Disney Plus this year, but the more mature series from Hulu helped balance things out.
Pixar’s Win or Lose won’t have the story in one of its later episodes, according to The Hollywood Reporter:
A spokesperson for Disney confirmed that the story arc was removed and provided the following statement to THR: “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”
Disney has also reportedly pulled a trans-inclusive story from the final season of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
For reasons that only Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston, and Jane Kaczmarek know, Disney Plus has ordered four episodes of a new Malcolm in the Middle revival in which “Malcolm (Muniz) and his daughter are drawn into the family’s chaos when Hal (Cranston) and Lois (Kaczmarek) demand his presence for their 40th wedding anniversary party.”
Most everyone’s feeling festive in the new trailer for Doctor Who’s latest Christmas special, but the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) himself seems to be dealing with an existential crisis.
Neither he nor his new buddy Joy (Nicola Coughlan) seem to know why there are two of him at the same place and time. But they’ll probably have a blast figuring it out when the epidode debuts on December 25th.
Disney Plus’ latest Star Wars series is trying to speak directly to a new generation of young fans.
Even if Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’s “The Goonies, but in space” premise doesn’t sound like it’s up your alley, you gotta admit that this kid’s all-terrain hover bike is sick as hell. If this is the kind of heat the show’s bringing when it premieres tomorrow, it might be something really special.
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Feels like it’s been ages since we heard anything about Pixar’s Elio from co-directors Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian, and Adrian Molina. But the studio has just dropped another trailer teasing how an alien bathroom is one of the most beautiful things young Elio (Yonas Kibreab) will see on his space adventure when the film hits theaters on June 13th.