Disney has announced that it has made a new agreement to bring its latest theatrical releases to Disney+ quicker in France.

The deal between Disney and the French film organisations BLIC, BLOC, and ARP will see Disney agree to finance and distribute French and European cinematographic works and films produced and distributed by Disney. This agreement will allow Disney+ subscribers to watch these films nine months after they are released in theatres.

Currently, new movie releases take 17 months to go from cinemas to Disney+, but Disney has been in negotiations to get this shorter.  Only a few years ago, Disney stopped releasing new movies, such as “Strange World”, in cinemas to try to highlight the problem with the French system.

Under this new three-year agreement, Disney commits to investing 25% of its annual net turnover generated in France to finance European and French cinematographic and audiovisual works. As part of this deal, Disney is committed to investing in filmmaking and will need to acquire and pre-acquire a minimum of 70 feature films over the three-year period in a wide range of genres and budgets.

Hélène Etzi, President of The Walt Disney Company France, said in a statement (translated):

“This agreement marks an important milestone for French spectators. Making films accessible to as many people as possible, first in theaters, and then much more quickly on the Disney platform, is an essential first step in meeting the French usages. This agreement demonstrates Disney’s unwavering commitment to the public, and its willingness to continue working with French talent and producers in the film and audiovisual sectors. ”

The film organisations state added:

“We are very pleased that Disney is joining the media chronology operators who have concluded a funding and distribution agreement with cinema, thus enabling it to strengthen its support for French and European creation, and offer its subscribers recent films. ”

Roger’s Take: The situation in France is unique because the government is much more stricter on global streaming services to protect its cinema, television and local production businesses.   Unfortunately, these rules, which originally would result in new movies taking years to arrive on Disney+ after a theatrical release, are not only not suitable for studios, but also consumer habits are changing, and subscribers want to get quicker access to the latest films.  This new deal speeds things up, but it also means Disney will need to pick up and create many more French films. This should also hopefully benefit both cinemagoers with more options and provide more locally made content for Disney+.

What do you think of this new deal in France?  Let me know on social media!

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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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