With cinemas closed for the foreseeable future, the Hollywood landscape is having to adapt. That means all kind of major movie delays, production halting, and more films receiving streaming and VOD releases for audiences to watch while stuck at home. Last week saw Disney announce a bunch of new dates, including a fresh slate for Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – along with the news that Kenneth Branagh’s Artemis Fowl adaptation will now be released on the Disney+ streaming service. According to Bob Iger, it won’t be the only film from the studio to do so – with more heading for an online release.
Speaking to Barron’s, the Disney CEO confirmed more Disney movies are headed for a Disney+ release – if not the major blockbusters. “There are some we’ve decided to put on Disney+,” Iger said. “We already announced one, Artemis Fowl, that would have been released in theaters. Others we’ve simply delayed. In some cases we’ve moved things onto Disney+ faster than we would have. Frozen 2 was one of them, but Onward would be the biggest example. It was in theaters when this happened. We moved to a pay-per-view period for a couple of weeks where people could buy it and own it. And then we ended up putting it on Disney+.
“In terms of movies going ahead after Artemis, there may be a few more that we end up putting directly onto Disney+, but for the most part a lot of the big tentpole Disney films, we’ll simply wait for slots. In some cases we’ve announced new ones already, but later on in the calendar.”
Sadly for us UK members of Disney+, we can’t stream Frozen 2 or Onward on the service yet – though the Frozen sequel is due to arrive on 17 July. No word yet on when the latest Pixar film will make it over this way. As for the upcoming Disney films set for Disney+, it remains to be seen what those are – beyond Pixar's Soul and Mulan, which are sure to remain cinematic, the studio has The Empty Man, a 20th Century Studios (formerly Fox) horror which likely doesn’t fit under the Disney+ banner, though Disney Studios’ own fantasy drama The One And Only Ivan, starring Bryan Cranston and Angelina Jolie, could be a candidate for the streaming service. In the meantime, here are the 23 things you can watch right now on Disney+.
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