Disney+ has been a godsend for a quarantined planet. The app first launched in November of 2019, just a few months before the coronavirus shut down most of the world. Now Apple has named the service the best Apple TV app of 2020. Android users in the U.S. voted Disney+ their favorite app of 2020 as well.
The Disney streaming service was the third most-downloaded app across the entire world in 2020. (Only Zoom and TikTok were downloaded more often.)
Disney+ offers blockbuster movies and much-loved TV shows. You can stream nearly all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and every Star Wars film, along with animated Disney and Pixar classics. The Disney streaming service costs $7.99 / month, or $95.88 / year ($5.83/month). You can bundle it with Hulu and ESPN+ for just $12.99 a month (cheaper than Netflix).
Users of the service are treated to an incredible vault of legacy content thanks to Disney’s decades of box office domination, along with the company’s acquisition of the 20th Century Fox properties, including Avatar, the X-Men films, and The Simpsons.
The Disney+ story would be incomplete without giving additional credit to The Mandalorian - an absolute smash hit original series that many Star Wars fans prefer to the theatrical films released in recent years. Unlike Netflix’s binge model where an entire season hits the service at once, Disney+ chose the old school model of one episode per week. That appears to have paid off for The Mandalorian, as the break between episodes allows memes and fan content to circulate on social media throughout each season.
The service also made an enormous splash with their surprise release of Hamilton. The Lin-Manuel Miranda musical smash was supposed to hit theaters in 2021, but Disney took advantage of the summer movie vacuum and slid the Broadway hit to their streaming service on July 3.
With a massive library of hits, a low price, and incredibly popular originals, Disney+ is proving itself as an 800-pound gorilla in the streaming wars.