The end of the Disney+ fad

Disney has begun moving away from Disney+ shows and moving to theatrical releases, ending what we can look back as a pandemic fad of content meant for streaming services. With a huge increase of people staying at home and watching shows and movies on Netflix and Youtube with the pandemic, so many companies tried to strike when the iron was hot and created their own streaming services, with tons of new shows and movies to fill them with.

This streaming gold rush impacted everything in the entertainment industry, from videogames to content creators on Twitch and Youtube (like me) to television shows, the surge in viewers meant a surge in money sent to entertainers everywhere.

Shows and movies that would never have been made before suddenly got revivals and new installments in a bid to bring people in. Star Trek got revived, Star Wars got a ton of live action shows for the first time, Marvel Studios became a TV studio pumping out a ton of live action shows, and more.

Animation got a massive revival, with Netflix and Hulu and Disney and Paramount and a ton of other places creating new shows, bringing a boom to the industry. Not only did my Youtube channel explode because of the massive surge of new people watching Youtube and animation, the producer for my upcoming short film also got the chance to produce for Hulu and offered me a job.

Although at first this seemed great for people watching shows and the people making shows, in the end, it was not to last.

Because of the fundamentally different business model, the shows were different than what people expected. Since the goal was to gain monthly subscribers, and not to create weekly content to sell ads against, the new TV shows were super short and super expensive to make. Only 8-10 episodes long (instead of over twice that), and it took years for a new season to appear (if it ever did). The visuals of the shows were spectacular, indistinguishable from big budget movies, so much so that when The Mandalorian and Grogu movie (based on The Mandalorian TV show) was made and went to theaters, no one could tell any difference from the TV show.

Disney would have made millions if this was a movie instead.

Streaming also scammed the creatives making the shows. Since the streaming services did not need to pay royalties, working on TV went from being a reliable job to a gig economy. When the creatives went on strike, the companies cancelled a ton of projects, including the ones my producer was working on, laying them and everyone off.

It also scammed the companies making these shows. The expense of making all these shows did not pay off, as the profit generated from the monthly subs was pitiful compared to the box office revenue, television advertising revenue, and home video revenue that they lost out on. The sheer increase in content for those big franchises also turned what would normally be event releases into “who cares”. When there’s a new Marvel or Star Wars show or movie every three months, people stop watching and people stop caring, because it’s not a big deal anymore.

I didn’t like the whole idea either, as all the streaming shows felt underwhelming and too short for me. The Ironheart show, Ashoka show, the Obi-Wan show, Spider-Noir, the Star Trek shows, so many shows seemed like 2 hour long stories stretched to 8 or so hours; they had none of the upsides of serialized storytelling (getting to know characters through many stories over a long period of time), they would have worked better as movies.

So it’s over. Disney is moving away from Disney+ shows, doing more theatrical releases instead. The new Kingdom Hearts show is even coming to the Disney Channel. Imagine that, a new cable TV show in 2026.