Disney is working to bring the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe collection — 23 titles to date — to its Disney+ streaming service, but Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home are unlikely to be included.
Ricky Strauss, Disney’s head of content and marketing for Disney+, told The Verge at a recent media day in New York there aren’t any plans to bring the two movies over to Disney+. Although both Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, were co-produced by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, the rights belong to Sony. That makes it infinitely more difficult for Disney to bring the movies over to its own streaming service.
“We love our friends at Sony, but we don’t have any plans to have the live-action Spider-Man movies on Disney+ ” Strauss said. “We will have all the Spider-Man animated shows that we did so they’ll be on there under the Marvel banner. But who knows what can happen in the future?”
Disney has worked out multiple deals to get much of the MCU back. That includes making last-minute deals just days before Disney+’s launch, according to a Disney executive. It explains why there are now several more Marvel titles available on Disney+ than what Disney announced less than one month ago. It also explains this lengthy thread from the official Disney+ account published earlier today.
Then, last week, Disney announced Avengers: Endgame would be available on Disney+ one month earlier than expected, moving up from December 11th to November 12th. Kevin Mayer, Disney’s head of direct-to-consumer services, told press that it was a one-time occurrence where a movie still within its home release window (the three-month period after a movie leaves theaters) would be cut short. Exceptions were made for Endgame because of Disney+’s launch and there only being a few weeks left in the home release window.
Netflix will remain a major roadblock for Disney+ at launch. The only films that aren’t on the service are those that will remain on Netflix until the end of 2019 (Black Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Infinity War and Thor: Ragnarok). These four movies will become available on Disney+ beginning in 2020, once the contract with Netflix expires. It’s also why seven installments in the Skywalker saga will be available to stream on Disney+, but not Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Eventually all Disney IP will end up on Disney+, according to executives. It’s just going to take some time — and patience — for rights to revert back to themselves.
