Sure, we don’t know the exact launch date. And no, we don’t know when certain films and series will premiere. But what we do know is that Disney is planning on launching its own streaming service in 2019 and it’s going to be a monster, meant to compete with the likes of Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu. And leading the projects coming to the service is a brand-new live-action “Star Wars” series. And boy, it’s not going to be cheap.
In a profile on Disney executive Ricky Strauss, who is one of the streaming bosses behind the scenes, the New York Times dropped some information on what we might expect with the as-yet-untitled Disney streaming service. First and foremost, the Mouse House is not going to be cheap with their new original programming.
“Quality is going to be critical,” said Strauss.
And if budget can correlate to quality, then Strauss and Disney have quite a few quality projects coming audience’s way. Leading the way is the aforementioned untitled “Star Wars” streaming series. The NYT article says that Disney is going to put about $100 million down for 10 episodes of the series. Simple math says that each episode (which we can assume will be an hour-ish in length) will have the budget of a decent-sized indie film.
“‘Star Wars’ is a big world, and Disney’s new streaming service affords a wonderful opportunity to tell stories that stretch out over multiple chapters,” writer-producer Jon Favreau said.
He continued by talking about what Strauss brings to the table, “Marketing is about telling a story, and his background in that area allows us to collaborate and create new content.”
As for the rest of the new content coming to the streaming service, the studio is currently working on at least nine projects, each ranging in budget from $20 million to $60 million. And as for series, those will be given budgets between $25 million and $35 million. As you can see, Disney is not interested in making anything cheap.
Of those new films and series, viewers can expect live-action versions of “Lady and the Tramp” and “The Sword in the Stone,” as well as “Noelle,” starring Anna Kendrick. And on the series side of things, Disney is working on projects associated with “High School Musical,” “Monsters, Inc.” and “The Muppets.” And joining the live-action “Star Wars” series is the new season of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” animated series.
The Disney streaming service is expected to launch sometime in 2019.
Doesn’t sound that pricey to me. Not for Star Wars. An hour for 10 mil? That’s cheap (and the same cost as Goliath!). Look at what Amazon are splurging on LotR!