Just days ago we learnt that Netflix’s India projects includes a series and a series of films. One called Hotel Mumbai that won’t be heading to the theatres but the streaming giant instead despite great potential. How times change.
But there is a bigger battle brewing as Netflix has to spend time and energy to battle Disney who has just announced the name of their upcoming streaming platform, Disney Plus. And, given the profits they recorded with Marvel films, among other projects, it will be one hell of a battle.
However, not one to back down, Netflix is fully prepared to go to war with Disney Plus when it arrives next year, according to Netflix boss Reed Hastings. “They’ve got so much content [like] Star Wars and Marvel, they’ll be a great competitor,” Hastings said. “And that will push us to do the best work of our lives.”
As for Disney, they earned record profits, having made a profit of nearly $12.6 billion dollars on $59.4 billion dollars in revenue. Among the projects expected from Disney come 2019 include Timmy Failure, aimed at children; Stargirl that is based on Jerry Spinelli popular young adult book of the same name and Togo with Willem Dafoe starring in the lead role.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is getting a spin-off series that will hit Disney Plus next year. A number of Marvel limited series are also in the pipeline including one-off series for Avengers’ characters such as Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, Scarlet Witch, essayed by Elizabeth Olsen and a team-up between Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie).
That, and Marvel Studios, owned by Disney will pull its content off Netflix, which means the streaming giant will have to deliver on original content. With Amazon breathing down its neck and Disney’s partial ownership in Hulu, it won’t be as easy as Hastings thinks.