The big Disney+ news may have been about all the Marvel series that are headed for the yet-to-launch streaming platform, but Star Wars fans weren’t left in the lurch when it comes to details, either.
The galaxy far, far away is also part of Disney, and it will also have a significant bit of source material available for streaming. We already know a good deal about some new projects, namely The Mandalorian. And as it turns out, the movies that launched a thousand flame wars online will be available for streaming as well.
At Disney’s investor day, Lucasfilm chief Kathy Kennedy confirmed that Disney+ will house the trilogies as well as the one-off films that currently occupy the cinematic canon. According to Deadline, the service expects to have all the Star Wars movies within the first year that Disney+ exists.
One interesting note is that it the current TV rights to Star Wars movies isn’t under Disney’s umbrella.
The consolidation move is an eye-opener given Turner’s longtime control of several Star Wars installments. In 2016, the companies set a deal that included basic-cable rights to 10 Star Wars films. The value of that deal was estimated at $250 million over a seven-year term. Many Wall Street analysts had raised the specter of Turner’s foothold as a potential stumbling block for Disney.
Turner and WarnerMedia reps did not immediately respond to Deadline’s request for comment. With Disney hungry to consolidate the offering and avoid any embarrassment of not having a comprehensive offering, one viable scenario is that it made an attractive offer to AT&T-owned WarnerMedia. While WarnerMedia is preparing a streaming service of its own, it has opted to license certain titles such as the Warner Bros.-produced Friends.
What Deadline is saying here is that, though Disney executives are certainly hoping this happens, it’s not a done deal yet just yet. And though the Netflix exodus has happened for many Marvel shows, the Star Wars world still has some stragglers. Solo, for example, is still on Netflix as of publication. So there are some letters to dot and cross here, perhaps, but if Lucasfilm says it’s happening, it’s almost certainly happening.