NEWS: Disney Shares LOTS of Movie, Television, and Entertainment Updates!

We’ve gotten a LOT of Disney entertainment news lately!

The Mandalorian season 2 premiered recently on Disney+, Soul is headed to Disney+ this December, and we recently got to watch trailers for the new Mickey Mouse animated short series and Black Beauty! Today, we got even more entertainment news from Disney.

Direct to Consumer

In Disney’s Forth Quarter and End of Fiscal 2020 report, Bob Chapek, the current Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, was quoted as saying “The real bright spot has been our direct-to-consumer business, which is key to the future of our company.” 

In fact, Disney shared that as of the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020, Disney+ had more than 73 million paid subscribers for Disney+. The chart below actually shows how many paid subscribers (in millions) there are for Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, and Disney+ definitely appears to be doing well.

Chapek said the subscriptions to Disney+ have far surpassed their expectations in just its first year.

Chapek also referenced Disney’s recent business restructuring to focus on direct to consumer content, and the way it separates content creation from distribution. He noted that this will accelerate their pivot to a “DTC (direct to consumer) first business model.”

In terms of looking toward the future, Chapek noted that “It’s very clear to us that new content adds subscribers.  So I think you’ll see a continued increase in investment in our direct-to-consumer platforms.” He also said that we will see how Disney is going to “put a lot of wind in the sails of our Disney+ business and heavily invest in it.” Chapek said the Company will be “heavily tilting the scale from linear networks over to our DTC business” as they se this as the “primary catalyst for growth as a company.” More details are expected during the investor day scheduled for December.

Animation

In terms of animation, during today’s earnings call, Chapek noted that Disney’s animation teams able to work remotely during the closures.

We did hear recently that a documentary was actually going to be released regarding the completion of Soul in quarantine, so we’re definitely interested to learn more about what that process was like.

Live Action

In terms of live action matters, Chapek said that they were able to institute health and safety measures to allow live-action production to resume, but the unpredictability of COVID may result in unforeseen impacts on future productions.

Studios

On the studios side, Chapek said they have been able to restart or complete production on all of the projects previously impacted by COVID including projects from Marvel Studios, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Disney Live Action, and Lucasfilm.

Chapek also said they anticipate having 8 new projects up and running by January.

Television

Over on the tv side, Chapek said Disney has “more than 100 live action, scripted and unscripted, projects in active production, with dozens more in various stages of pre- or post- production.”

ABC

Chapek gave some special recognition during today’s call to ABC, saying that it is now ranked #1 and delivers some of the most popular shows on television including Dancing with the Stars. He also applauded the ABC News teams for their efforts in working around the clock to ensure that viewers have the most important and accurate information, particularly as it pertains to COVID-19.

He specifically pointed out that Good Morning America has held its spot as the #1 morning newscast for the 8th straight year and that World News Tonight consistently ranks as #1 evening newscast. He said there’s no question that “ABC News is America’s #1 news source.”

ESPN

Chapek also discussed how Disney successfully hosted the NBA and MLS in Orlando. He said it this was also been a big win for ESPN in broadcasting those games, along with several other sports. According to Chapek, if you look at the most watched cable shows on tv this year, more than half have been life sports. Chapek noted that “Sports are a powerful draw despite the disruption of the pandemic.”

Chapek said ESPN digital and ESPN+ have also performed exceptionally well, and that ESPN+ continues its positive subscriber growth, with over 10 million subscribers as of the end of the fourth quarter, “nearly tripling in size over the past year.”

Overall

In summarizing his thoughts on entertainment, Chapek said that Disney is “more committed than ever to investing in our businesses, in particular our DTC strategy” which he says Disney sees as “the key driver of significant long-term value” for the Company. Chapek also noted that they can’t wait for everyone “to see the extraordinary content that’s being created for our full portfolio of streaming services.” Sounds exciting! 

We’ll continue to keep you updated as we learn more from Disney about the future of their entertainment!

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