This week, Disney announced that MUFASA: THE LION KING will make its streaming debut on Disney+ on March 26th. When it comes, it will have been 96 days since the movie opened in theatres, marking the third straight Disney family release to have an extended run in theatres before premiering on Disney+.
Both MOANA 2 and INSIDE OUT 2 were also exclusive to theatres for lengthy periods. Given the financial successes of all three films, we expect to see more of the same in the upcoming year.
The renewed practice of long theatrical runs is a change in how Disney is planning out their releases. Infamously, in 2022 Disney cancelled the theatrical release of its Pixar movie TURNING RED, instead shifting its release to Disney+. This decision was made during the tenure of short-lived former CEO Bob Chapek when the company’s primary focus was on building up the subscriber count for Disney+.
However, the result was profoundly damaging both to Disney and Pixar Studios, as it set an expectation with the public that Disney’s feature film output was being directed to Disney+ rather than movie theatres. This contributed to disappointing results for Disney theatrical division in 2023.
Since stepping back into his former role, current CEO Bob Iger has unwound some of those COVID-era strategies and given new emphasis on theatrical releasing. Iger has pushed for sequels to successful franchises such as INSIDE OUT, MOANA, and LION KING as a way to get families back into the habit of going to theatres.
Each of these releases has proven itself to have “long legs” in its theatrical run followed by a second wave of success on streaming. This validates the notion that a movie’s success in theatres winds up boosting interest when it eventually becomes available on streaming. For at least some movies, this pattern seems to be emerging as a new trend in distribution.
