As we have been following this past month, the Netflix-Disney relationship quickly became strained when Disney announced that all future theatrical releases will no longer become available on Netflix after the film leaves the theaters. Although this announcement stated that their relationship would last until 2019 like originally planned, Netflix had hoped that Star Wars and Marvel films would still be negotiable. After all, the two media giants have had huge successes releasing original content for Netflix with the two popular franchises.
However, it looks like a final decision has been made long before 2018.
Disney plans on moving forward with their own streaming service. The mass media company will remove all Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel films from Netflix upon dissolution of their contract. As confirmed by Disney CEO Bob Iger last Friday at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media’s Communications and Entertainment Conference, both the Star Wars and Marvel franchises will be a part of a Disney streaming service set to launch in 2019.
The Netflix-Disney partnership comes to an official end with early 2019 releases Avengers 4, Frozen 2, and Star Wars Episode IX.