Disney says its 'primary focus' for entertainment is streaming

[Mike Blakesley]

I suppose Disney executives are licking their chops at all the money they're raking in from Mulan. They'll do the same with Soul. The meeting they just had was probably full of things like "We can release a cool new thing on D+ every week, or maybe twice a week or maybe every day if possible. Imagine all the money we'll make from all this premium content!"

Until the "folks" get sick and tired of coughing up more and more money for more and more "premium content" from more and more "services." When it gets to the point where you have to pay out of pocket for every single thing you want to watch, who knows what will happen.

However, millions of people don't seem to mind paying $120 or more for a day at the Magic Kingdom (including me, I feel like the experience is worth it) so all bets are off, I guess.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I somehow doubt the numbers that were given until now, where about 29% of all U.S. Disney+ subscribers paid $30 for one-time access to Mulan. That's more than four times the monthly subscription cost for the base subscription.

Meanwhile, the movie pretty much bombed in China, where theaters are generally open and which was somewhat of its main target audience...

And there is still a distinctive difference in experience between visiting a Disney theme park and watching a Disney movie. For those $120 you get about 8 to 10 hours worth of very immersive entertainment. Off course, it doesn't stop with the entry fee, you also want to eat, drink and maybe buy some overpriced souvenirs. But still, the amount of excitement and satisfaction derived from a theme park is hardly comparable to what you get from watching a movie at home, especially the forgettable kind of junk that's currently being produced.

[Mike Blakesley]

I just got off the "State of the Industry" call from NATO. As to the original topic of this thread.... the consensus is that it's just a reorganization, like I said at the top. It is the media (as usual) that grabbed onto and blew up the notion that they're abandoning theatrical, or going "all in" on streaming, etc. They still have a streaming division, a theatrical division, a free-TV division, etc.

Of course, as with everything these days, it could all change completely by noon tomorrow, or sooner.