Is Disney’s New Movie ‘Strange World’ Streaming? When Will it be Available on Disney+?
Are you and your family craving a little out-of-this-world adventure this holiday season? If so, Disney has the perfect new movie for you. “Strange World,” the newest animated feature from Walt Disney Studios, is coming to theaters on Wednesday, Nov. 23.
The film follows the Clades, a legendary family of explorers who are not as effective at getting along as they are at discovering new adventures. As the family prepares to undertake a journey to a mysterious planet named Avalonia, they must set aside their differences and learn to work together. The film features an impressive voice cast, including Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, Jaboukie Young-White, and Alan Tudyk.
Check out a Trailer for ‘Strange World’:
If that looks like the perfect, heartwarming family adventure movie for you and your crew, you might want to know when the movie will head to streaming on Disney+. It’s been a while since Disney had a theatrical release that wasn’t a Marvel Studios film, so a little digging is necessary to find out when fans might expect to see “Strange World” on Disney+.
That’s not true of French users, however. Despite French laws that mandate a theatrical release for movies before they head to streaming, “Strange World” is being sent directly to streaming in France. Disney called the French policy “anti-consumer,” and insisted it would continue to make decisions about theatrical movies on a case-by-case basis.
U.S. customers will get no such day-and-date release, so we have to turn to other domestically released Disney movies for clues. Disney’s last animated feature film was “Encanto,” which came to streaming a mere 30 days after its release in theaters. If “Strange World” followed that model, it could be on Disney+ before Christmas, but that is unlikely, as the movie musical was still contending with a much more COVID-cautious public as the pandemic was seeing a surge at the end of 2021.
Looking at Marvel movies for hints only muddles the picture even further. “Eternals,” the MCU film released closest to Thanksgiving last year, hit theaters on Nov. 5, 2021 and landed on Disney+ on Jan. 12, 2022 — 68 days later. Similarly, the Marvel film that immediately preceded “Eternals” was “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” and it arrived on streaming after a 70-day window. The studio’s most recent release “Thor: Love and Thunder” got 62 days in theaters before making its streaming debut on Disney+ Day on Sept. 8 this year.
Then there’s the Iger factor. Disney recently defenestrated CEO Bob Chapek (metaphorically) in favor of bringing back former boss Bob Iger. Chapek’s regime was perceived to be more focused on profit than on user experiences, and that could mean that Iger will lean toward a shorter theatrical window for “Strange World,” in order to make it available for home viewing more quickly.
With all of these factors, it’s difficult to nail down a streaming date for “Strange World.” Our best guess would be that the movie follows as closely to the 30-day window that “Encanto” used. However, with COVID less of a concern this year (and movie theater operators are pushing studios to keep films in cinemas longer), it will probably be closer to 45 days, which would allow the movie to be available for streaming as early as Sunday, Jan. 7, 2023 — so it would probably stream that Monday or Tuesday.
This would give Disney enough time to capitalize on families looking for kid-friendly entertainment during their winter breaks. So, look for “Strang World” to arrive on Disney+ within the first week or so of the new year.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”