Disney+ Set To Expand Drastically Internationally In 2021 With “Star” Brand
During the Walt Disney Company’s Investor Day event in December, new details were announced on how Disney+ would be expanding the amount of content available in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and across Asia on February 23rd 2021.
Disney+ will be adding a new sixth “tile” to its app called “Star”, that includes thousands of hours of movies and television from ABC, Freeform, FX, 20th Century Studios, 20th Television and Touchstone. “Star” will consist of more mature content from various genres, including comedies, dramas and thrillers. This will make Disney+ more comparable to Netflix or Amazon Prime, with much more variety for everyone, plus drastically increase the number of movies and shows available.
Within a year, the addition of “Star” on Disney+ will result in an additional 1000 unique titles being added including titles like Die Hard, Alien, Family Guy, Deadpool, Logan, Kingsman and much more. Full details on what will be coming to Disney+ via Star haven’t yet been announced, but are expected to be revealed in early 2021.
“Star” will also deliver brand-new originals from Disney’s General Entertainment studios in International markets, with over 35 first-run series set to premiere by the end of the first year.
There will also be some local programming added to Disney+ through the Star brand that is geared towards a more mature audience and will also help towards the “local” quotas required in many regions to run a streaming service.
To keep Disney+ suitable for audiences of all ages and the experience parents expect, new parental controls will include the ability to set limits on access to content for specific profiles based on content ratings and the ability to add a PIN to lock profiles with access to mature content.
With the increase in the number of movies and shows available on Disney+, sadly it does result in a price increase. Here is a look at the new pricing, which takes effect from February 23rd, 2021:
- Canada: $11.99/month or $119.99/annual
- Australia: $11.99/month or $119.99/annual
- New Zealand: $12.99/month or $129.99/annual
- UK: £7.99/month or £79.90/annual
- Euro: 8.99/month or 89.90/annual
- Norway: 89.00kr/month or 890.00kr/annual
- Denmark: 79.00kr/month or 790.00kr/annual
- Sweden: 89.00 kr/month or 890.00 kr/annual
- Switzerland: CHF12.90/month or CHF129.00/annual
- Singapore: $11.98/month or $119.98/annual
Existing annual subscriptions will continue to honour their existing price for up to 6 months in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe. So if you haven’t taken out an annual subscription to Disney+ yet, this could be a good time to upgrade to save before the new prices come into effect.
In Latin America, things will be done a little differently, since Disney will be launching Star+, as a separate streaming service, containing content from 20th Century Studios, ABC and much more, plus live sports from ESPN. Star+ will launch in Latin America in June 2021.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Disney is still committed to Hulu, which will be the home of Disney’s general entertainment content such as FX and 20th Century Studios content.
The addition of “Star” to Disney+ internationally will drastically increase the amount of content available to subscribers and provide a more balanced offering for every subscriber. 2021 will be a bumper year for Disney+ with so many movies and shows set to debut.
Are you excited for “Star” to arrive on Disney+?
Roger Palmer
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