In March, Disney officially took over 20th Century Fox which didn’ just bring the Deadpool, X-Men and Fantastic Four franchise back to Marvel. It also means Disney now owns the upcoming Avatar movies which will alternate Christmas release with the next Star Wars trilogy. This also affects what will then appear when and where on home entertainment streaming services. Many fans feared Netflix is about to lose all Disney-owned blockbuster franchises as well as some of the biggest shows on the planet.
Things are most clear-cut for some of Netflix’s biggest TV shows.
Netflix only has the rights to Friends until 2019, but retains the rights to many other ongoing shows as long as they are in production and then for some years after the show ends, according to the original terms and contacts.
According to Bloomberg News: “Of the 10 most popular licensed programs on Netflix, at least eight will be on Netflix for years to come… Grey’s Anatomy, The Walking Dead and a slate of shows from the CW network, including Riverdale and Supernatural, will stay on Netflix for as long as they remain on the air — and then for three to six years after that, said the people.”
It is more complicated with the major film properties.
Ant-Man and the Wasp was the final major Marvel movie which automatically transferred to Netflix. Captain Marvel and the Avengers Endgame will start the new pattern where movies go to Disney+ instead.
Disney’s new platform launches on November 12 this year in the US, with no announcements yet about other territories. This is great news for UK Netflix subscribers.
However, a surprising new report also claims that all those Marvel and Star Wars movies WILL still come back to Netflix in the US.
Bloomberg says that in the US: “Under their current deal, every movie released between January 2016 and December 2018 — including epics like Black Panther — will be back on Netflix starting around 2026…
“And when the big Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar films return to Netflix in a few years, they’ll disappear from Disney’s own online service.”
Of course, in an era of instant consumption, how many fans will be happy to wait up to ten years to see their favourite blockbusters?
The report also noticeably does not offer the same reassurances about everything after December 2018, which will include the Marvel smashes from this year plus Star Wars Rise of Skywalker, Aladdin and Lion King. Let alone the enormous slate of releases lining up in the near future.
