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In a bold financial move, it would appear that Disney is willing to sell content, including movies and series, to its rival companies. What could this mean for the Mouse’s company?
Despite drastic changes made in the last year, The Walt Disney Company remains one of the most influential entertainment enterprises in the world, creating timeless stories for a century and captivating the hearts of audiences worldwide with movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Peter Pan (1953), Frozen (2013), Encanto (2021), Coco (2017), and more. And if we add that the multi-million-dollar corporation owns Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios, in addition to Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Studios, it is easy to see why The Walt Disney Company is recognized as one of the world’s most admired companies.
While Disney broke box office records with some of the most successful movies of 2022, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($955M global), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($842M global), Thor: Love and Thunder ($761M) and Avatar: The Way of Water ($2.130B global), Disney is reportedly considering to sell its content to its rival companies, including movies and series, seeking to make a more significant profit from its content library.
This bold financial move would imply licensing movies and television series to rival media outlets as Disney Plus is not bringing the expected profit, despite a significant investment to boost the company’s streaming platform.
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This bold move is still uncertain, as The Walt Disney Company has not released any official information. However, if Disney decided to move forward with the sale of its content, the change could put an end to Disney’s original programming being available exclusively on Disney Plus and Hulu, the company’s streaming platforms. The change would surely not affect current Disney original productions like The Mandalorian, Loki, Andor, and other fan-favorites on Disney Plus.
Before Disney Plus launched, The Walt Disney Company had several licensing contracts with rival streaming platforms like Amazon Prime and Netflix, which were slowly phased out as Disney launched its own streaming service in 2019. Whether or not the company will adopt a similar strategy in the future is yet to be seen, as structural changes continue within The Walt Disney Company after the return of CEO Robert Iger.Â
Should Disney license its movies and series to other streaming platforms? Let us know what you think in the comments below!