Disney+ has proven to be a hit after just a few weeks of availability. 10 million subscribers signed up at launch, and ‘The Mandalorian’, the first live-action ‘Star Wars’ series, has become a buzzy must-watch. The only thing that might hamper Disney+, in the long run, is that it is strictly DISNEY in its branding, meaning everything must be family-friendly. As ‘The Mandalorian’ shows, that doesn’t mean everything has to be for kids but there will be a limit on just how much violence and other mature elements will be on display.
Chairman of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International Kevin Mayer says to expect more adult-targeted fare in the future, but that Disney+ isn’t rushing any projects out just to get them out there.
“We are adding more stuff that’s aimed at grown-ups. It takes lead time to create really high-quality original programming. We have them coming on in a cadence we think it is the right cadence that we can make sure it’s high-quality. We don’t want to rush things through just to have volume, that’s not our philosophy. We want to do fewer things better.”
Some adults have already expressed that they got bored with Disney+ really quickly. The vast majority of what’s on it are things for children, whether its classic animated movies or Disney Channel sitcoms. On the flip side, there is some material on Disney+ that is already for adults– not in the sense that they include profanity or anything, but in that they are things that no kid would have any interest in. (‘The Imagineering Story’, ‘Encore!’, etc.)
RELATED: Disney+ Did Not Come Without Issues As Many Customers Report Account Hacks
Fortuitously, after buying 20th Century Fox, Disney became the majority owner of Hulu and then the sole owner after Comcast sold its 1/3 share to them. Disney has already announced that this is where its R-rated movies (mostly from the Fox library) like ‘Deadpool’ will go, along with ‘The Family Guy’, which is just a little too edgy for Disney+.
It remains to be seen what Disney+ has in mind for its “adult” programming. One clue might arrive when Hulu rolls out ‘High Fidelity’ in February. This series, starring Zoë Kravitz, and based on the 2000 movie of the same name (which co-starred Kravitz’s mother, Lisa Bonet), was intended for Disney+ but in April it was shifted over to Hulu.
Once that series debuts, viewers will have a better idea of what does and doesn’t work for Disney+. (From the looks of things, ‘High Fidelity’ seems to include some alcohol consumption, but then again, so did ‘Pinocchio’. Plus smoking. And gambling. All at the same time.)
So what do you think so far? Will you hang on to Disney+? Or is it too oriented toward kids?
Source: Cinema Blend
