It’s been a very busy couple of weeks for Disney. The company celebrated the anniversary of its flagship streaming platform Disney+ with Disney+ Day, which saw the streaming debuts of “Thor: Love And Thunder” and the live-action adaptation of Disney’s classic animated film “Pinocchio.” That was followed by the D23 Expo, Disney’s fan exposition that featured a slew of news and announcements regarding upcoming projects from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and more.
The company also offered some hints at the future of the service at recent industry events. Company execs have pointed to an ambitious merging of Disney's two major business units, its media arm and its parks. Disney CEO Bob Chapek offered more hints about what that potential blending might look like in comments to the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference this week.
“If we can have a universal guest experience, recognize that a person who spent seven days in the park, 24 hours a day, and we know all that information about them, is the exact same person who watches XYZ on Disney+,” he said, “we can now customize and personalize an experience way beyond anything we’ve ever been able to do before, bringing now the two pieces of The Walt Disney Company into one for one common guest experience … Disney+ will become a platform for consumer engagement with The Walt Disney Company, not just a movie service platform.”
The ambitious plan to merge a Disney parks experience with a Disney+ experience highlights the unique capability Disney has to merge streaming with a physical experience. No other streaming service can offer that kind of combined encounter, for the simple reason that no other company has theme parks to integrate with their streaming platform. NBCUniversal has Universal Studios, of course, but Peacock does not currently have the library or the intellectual property to compete with Disney+ on that level.
Virtual reality will play a big part in the integration of Disney media and Disney parks. The company gave audiences a tiny taste of its ambitious plans recently when it released the short film “Remembering.” The film allows viewers with iOS devices to download a special free app, which unlocks an augmented reality experience that people can enjoy from their own living room.
Disney calls this advancement “Next-Gen Storytelling,” and it will also tie into the Disney parks experience. The company wants to put virtual ride-throughs of its theme park attractions on Disney+, with the ability for viewers to not only enjoy the rides themselves but get up and “walk around” if they want to look at an animatronic pirate up close.
The plans for the future of Disney+ are incredibly ambitious. Fully integrating Disney+ with Disney’s park experiences would be a new frontier in its commitment to immersing fans in its brand.
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.”