Disney has a lot of bases covered when it comes to its movie offerings, from live action remakes/adaptations of its classic animated movies and Pixar offerings to installments from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars franchise. This has cemented Disney as the biggest filmmaking titan in Hollywood, and next year, the company will jump into the streaming game with its own subscription service. We've already learned over the course of this year about some of the original content that will be available exclusively on the Disney streaming service, but it's now been clarified that with next March's Captain Marvel, every Disney movie released in theaters will also flow directly to the service, right as the studio's deal with Netflix expires.
Back in 2012, Disney and Netflix signed an agreement that gave the latter rights to air all of the former's live action and animated movies that were released in 2016 and afterwards. But once Disney announced that it was launching its own streaming service, the countdown began for the Disney/Netflix deal to expire, and when 2019 rolls around, that'll be it for this alliance. Although Netflix exclusive Marvel TV shows like Daredevil and Luke Cage will remain on that service, The New York Times reports that on the movie side of things, Captain Marvel, the MCU's penultimate Phase 3 entry, will kick off the trend of Disney's theatrically released movies heading straight to the streaming service once they've enjoyed their time in theaters. Obviously there will be many (if not all) of Disney movies from decades past that will also be available on the service, but on the streaming side of things, this is the only place you'll be able to find the Mouse House's theatrical offerings.
If you go on Netflix right now, you'll find Disney movies like Cars 3, Thor: Ragnarok and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but their time there is wrapping up soon. In the Marvel corner, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War still haven't premiered on Netflix, but even if they, and Ant-Man and the Wasp when it arrives on home media, do get some Netflix time, it will only be weeks or months at most. Disney is preparing to shake up the streaming world in a major way, and along with original content like a live action Star Wars TV series and the Lady and the Tramp remake, including its latest theatrical movies will be a good way to entice subscribers. That's not to say that there aren't still issues, as Disney is reportedly trying to buy back the TV rights to the Star Wars movies from Turner, but at least where its future releases are concerned, Disney has that covered.
The Disney streaming service is set to launch sometime in fall 2019, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on its progress. The 1990s-set Captain Marvel flies into theaters on March 8, 2019, and if you're interested in finding out what's coming out later this year, look through our 2018 release schedule.
