One of the most common complaints I see on social media about Disney’s new streaming service is about how Disney+ original content is just full of remakes and sequels.

The launch lineup includes a live action remake of Lady & The Tramp, plus a new sequel series based on High School Musical and the first Star Wars live action series.  While these movies and shows might be great, they aren’t original.

And with so many remakes based on Fox franchises such as True Lies, Home Alone, Night At The Museum, Love Simon, Diary of a Whimpy Kid and Cheaper By The Dozen, plus other reported franchises returning including “The Proud Family”, “Monsters Inc”, “Toy Story”, “Phineas and Ferb”and “The Muppets”.  This is in addition to lots of other new Star Wars shows like the Clone Wars and a Rogue One Prequel.

Marvel is also bringing lots of new content to the platform including The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Wandavision and Loki.  Plus they are making a new animated series called What If plus other documentary series like Hero Project and more, but these are still drawing on the Marvel franchise.

It’s hard to say Disney isn’t mining its rich back catalog to take full advantage of nostalgia and brand recognition.

But there are a number of original Disney+ exclusive movies and shows coming to the platform.  National Geographic will be adding “The World According To Jeff Goldblum”, with a new documentary series based on the behind the scenes activities at the Animal Kingdom theme park in Walt Disney World.

Other new original content coming to Disney+ include Noelle, Reconnect, Encore, Timmy Failure, Togo, 29 Dresses, Stargirl, Dolphins Reef, Challenger Deep, Diary Of A Female President, Shock, Life and Deaf, Secret Society of Second Born Royals and many more.

The biggest problem with the majority of these new titles, is people don’t react to them in the same way as they do to a franchise.  I’ve seen this with my own stories and videos on What’s On Disney Plus, anything original draws much less reaction.

Disney is getting the exact same criticism for its movie releases, since the majority of their big movies are from existing franchises, either as remakes or sequels.  All of this years biggest blockbusters are existing franchises, they draw people in, but there isn’t anything groundbreaking from Disney.

The argument could be made for movies from 20th Century Fox now offering something unique, but the recent box office failures of those movies, show unfortunately that people won’t go to the cinema to watch something original as often.  Which is one of the reasons Disney movies like “A Wrinkle In Time”, “Penguins” and “Queen of Katwe” didn’t do as well at the box office.

Which is where the benefits of streaming services come in, because people are more likely to try something out if they don’t have to “pay” for it.

While the Disney+ Original lineup doesn’t look as strong as the “franchise” line up, there are plenty of new shows and movies there, plus it will be having the added benefit of getting content from other divisions like the Disney Channel, National Geographic and ABC.

I’d love to see more original content that isn’t based on existing franchises, but its a balancing act and Disney is leaning more on its franchises to build its subscriber base, since that’s its strongest asset.

Do you think Disney+ has enough originals?

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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