Disney movies may come to Netflix amid enormous losses

❘ Published: 2023-11-09T11:47:35

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Following continued losses from its streaming division, Disney movies may come to Netflix once more.

Back in 2017, Disney made the announcement that it would begin the mass exodus of its content from Netflix and other platforms, instead bringing these titles over to its brand spanking new streaming service: Disney Plus.

But the House of Mouse has faced a rocky road since then, with 2023 – its centennial – proving to be one of its worst in recent history. One of those challenges is its streaming division, which lost $512 million in the second quarter this year, bringing total losses since Disney Plus was launched in 2019 to $11 billion.

Longtime CEO Bob Iger uno reversed his 2020 decision to retire and came back, with a new action plan in place to save money and boost revenue – and it looks like Disney could go full circle amid talks of licensing its movies to Netflix once more.

Disney movies may come to Netflix amid enormous losses

On Wednesday, November 8, Disney’s streaming business reported a loss of $387 million in the latest quarter – although this is a significant improvement on the $1.4 billion lost in the company’s Q4 2022, the House of Mouse is now considering licensing some of its titles to Netflix in a bid to improve cash flow further.

Although Disney’s deal with Netflix ended in 2017, it still licences certain movies to the streaming giant. Despite the major news, it appears Iger isn’t keen on selling the rights to its core brands.

As per Variety, the CEO said in yesterday’s earnings call: “Those are real, obviously competitive advantages for us and differentiators. Disney Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, for instance, all doing very, very well on our platform, and I don’t see why just to basically chase bucks we should do that when they are really really important building blocks to the current and future of our streaming business.”

While Disney’s report certainly shows signs of recovery, the online community hasn’t held back on sharing their thoughts – especially given the firm’s 2017 predictions that its streaming service would rival Netflix.

“Hey pundits how is your Disney Plus destroying Netflix prediction going for you,” wrote one on X/Twitter. “Told you you must have been on the weed to think that lol.” Another said: “Netflix and Prime are the only ones that work, the studio-based ones are gonna fade away to cut their loses.”

“Disney has come full circle with Netflix. How ironic,” added a third, while a fourth commented, “Those ‘Netflix is doomed!’ predictions aged like milk.”

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