Once the public face of squeaky-clean, harmless family entertainment, the Walt Disney Corporation has evolved into a widespread conglomerate known as much for the properties it controls as the films it produces. With subsidiaries including Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, National Geographic, A&E, 20th Century Fox, ESPN, Hulu, and Pixar, Disney has a commanding control of some of the world’s most lucrative franchises, plus an extensive library of film and TV classics. Its streaming service Disney+ signals a new interest in controlling its own online distribution, setting aside decades of licensing partnerships. Follow along with The Verge as we look at Disney’s new films and shows, and its strategies for dominating the box office and the streaming dollar.
Last week Marvel confirmed that a third season of the Disney Plus revival is in the works, but now we know when the second will arrive: Born Again will be born again on March 4th, 2026.
Avatar actress Zoe Saldaña was just talking earlier this week about wanting James Cameron to make a documentary about how much human artistry goes into films made with motion capture. And now, there’s a new trailer for Disney Plus’ upcoming Fire And Water: Making The Avatar Films doc out on November 7th.
A six-part documentary and Final Show concert film showcasing Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour are coming to Disney Plus on December 12th, featuring guest appearances from Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter, Ed Sheeran, and Florence Welch. The recent Disney price hikes might be a small price to pay for Swifties who missed out on the tour itself.
First, Yahya Abdul-Mateen showed up at the Fantastic Four: First Steps premiere, giving in-character interviews as Simon Williams — the star of Disney Plus’ upcoming Wonder Man miniseries. And now, Marvel has dropped a Wonder Man teaser that makes it seem like the show will be about an in-universe superhero movie reboot.
Disney’s notorious legal team complained Character.AI was damaging its brand and exploiting its intellectual property by allowing unauthorized chatbots of its characters.
Don’t worry, there’s still an abundance of bots pretending to be characters owned by other companies if that’s what you’re after, including hordes of Shreks and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Disney has had a tumultuous couple weeks. It pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air, suffered a widespread boycott, then reinstated Kimmel’s show last night. Sounds like the perfect time to raise prices.
supernova-high:
Hiking prices a couple of days after the disastrous decision to cave to Trump and kick-off a boycott of your platform that lost you thousands of subscribers? This is the kind of business thinking that AI just can’t replace yet.
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Despite Disney announcing the show’s return, the television operator in control of 39 local ABC affiliates across the US, including Washington DC, issued the following statement:
Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.
It’s unclear if Nexstar, the other major operator that’s also seeking FCC approval for a merger, will follow suit.
That might have been “part of the reason” the company figured things out with Jimmy Kimmel to bring his show back, according to independent journalist Marisa Kabas.
ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel in fear of Donald Trump is already casting an ugly shadow on the Disney brand.
Soon, Disney Plus subscribers will have access to a “curated selection of content” on a new digital comics platform that’s being developed by Disney and Webtoon. In addition to thousands of classic titles from the Marvel, Star Wars, and 20th Century Studios brands, the platform will feature original Webtoon series.
There’s been a backlash to the news that RedZone’s “commercial-free football” promise is coming to an end, but the host explained on X that the new ads shouldn’t be too intrusive with a few points, matching an earlier report by Front Office Sports:
While Marvel has released TV-MA projects before, the new trailer for Marvel Zombies makes it look like the series is really going to earn that rating by piling on as much (animated) blood and guts as possible.
Charles already declared Alien: Earth “one of this year’s strongest new shows,” so I wasn’t shocked by how much I liked its debut. I was surprised by the scale of its sets, and this featurette has more detail about how they managed that by filming outside in Bangkok.
Following talks first reported two years ago, ESPN is acquiring the NFL Network and rights to the fan-favorite RedZone Channel in exchange for the league taking a 10 percent stake in the sports network. It’s all fodder for ESPN’s upcoming streaming service which could launch this month for $29.99. ESPN parent Disney reports earnings later today so expect to hear more then.
[thewaltdisneycompany.com]
2027 will mark the 50th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope’s debut, and to celebrate the occasion, Lucasfilm is putting the movie back in theaters beginning May 4th of that year — just a couple of weeks before Star Wars: Starfighter’s premiere.
Disney Plus’ Eyes of Wakanda animated miniseries was slated to debut on August 6th, but the streamer has just bumped the show’s premiere up to August 1st and decided drop all four episodes at once.
Disney Plus is continuing to take steps into the world of live streaming, this time to promote The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Subscribers will be able to watch the red blue carpet event on July 21st, live from the film’s premiere at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. For the rest of us, the movie hits theaters on July 25th.
For cinematographer Alison Kelly, the key to Ironheart’s stunning visuals was strong behind-the-scenes communication.
The new “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” attraction debuting at Disneyland on Thursday, July 17th, marks the first time that the parks have portrayed the man himself as an audio-animatronic figure. The movements are fairly impressive, but the facial likeness requires a little imagination.
The new trailer for Marvel’s Eyes of Wakanda Disney Plus series doesn’t give all that much away, but it does make the show look like it’s going to be cool as hell when it premieres on August 6th.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ latest trailer features some cool new shots of the team using their powers to take on Galactus and the Silver Surfer, but its most surprising reveal is the fact that Ben Grimm can apparently grow a beard made out of his rock-like carapace.
Streaming platforms might be having a hard time bringing on new subscribers, but according to Nielsen’s most recent Gauge report, services like YouTube, Pluto TV, Roku, and Tubi overtook traditional broadcast TV and cable in terms of viewership for the first time last month.
That’s according to The Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin, who also said, “It felt less like watching a blockbuster in the modern sense than the greatest game of dressing up in the desert anyone ever played.”
The Hollywood Reporter points out that George Lucas has been tweaking the flick going back to its rerelease in theaters in 1981, along with this YouTube report from Cinema Savvy detailing “so many little things” that are different. If you want a better blend of the updates without CG fluff and “Greedo shot first,” you may have to wait for Harmy to get back from his honeymoon.
