Disney/Marvel Cinematic Universe films are something we’ve all seen before

Disney made a big deal of having their giant trove of classic animated films accessible alongside the sizable collection of MCU movies all in one place. The thing is the regular viewer has probably already seen all of those movies already. Would the urge to rewatch 2008’s Iron Man be strong enough to convince you to pay up when it's been on TV for a while anyway?


Star Wars and MCU series in a time of franchise fatigue

The Star Wars revival under Disney has been a bit of a mixed bag so far–for both the sequels and standalone stories. Meanwhile, talk of MCU fatigue isn’t as unthinkable as it was five years ago–that’s how we get reviews for films like Ant-Man and Captain Marvel calling them “typical origin story.” They just don’t have the big event feel of past films or the upcoming Endgame.


So producing multiple series based on Loki and the Scarlet Witch could be the best thing ever–or it could suffer from the same fate as Netflix’s bunch. Meanwhile Star Wars gets the Mandalorian–the first ever live-action SW series–and it’s legitimately exciting but the polarizing Solo still burns in recent memory.



Yet another subscription to pay

Probably the biggest barrier locally, if you already have Netflix and Spotify billing you every month, do you really want to add one more service? It's easy to stay in the inertia of being locked in to a monthly service, but signing up for a new one? Just imagine all the free Spotify users out there.


Titanic! Avatar! Alien!

Just like number one, Disney also has a pretty pile of Fox movies under their ownership. And again, unless you subscribe to a streaming service specifically to watch old movies then you need something else to excite you.



Perhaps that’s really where the Disney+ unveil underwhelmed us: the focus isn’t on new stuff but legacy content or spin-offs attached to established franchises. The hype around Netflix lately has always been its new original series like The Umbrella Academy or Love Death & Robots that pique your curiosity. No one asks if you’ve seen Okja over lunch.


Creating new, exciting content is surely not beyond Disney and their mountains of cash, but until they focus on those then Disney+ isn’t a must-subscribe just yet.