Disney on Thursday held a four-hour presentation called Investor Day, in which the company laid out the plan for their post-pandemic future with Disney+, as well as Disney’s planned theatrical releases.

The company announced a huge subscriber number for Disney+, took the wraps off a huge number of projects for that streaming service connected to Star Wars, Marvel, and numerous other established Disney projects. The company also announced a new Star Wars live-action film. And while rival Warner Brothers said this month that they will release their entire 2021 slate on HBO Max, Disney did not take that step with its biggest planned blockbuster, announcing that “Black Widow,” the next Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, will be released exclusively in theaters as scheduled, next May.

“The tremendous success we’ve achieved across our unique portfolio of streaming services, with more than 137 million subscriptions worldwide, has bolstered our confidence in our acceleration toward a [director-to-consumer]—first business model,” Bob Chapek, the CEO of Disney, said in a statement after the event. “With our amazing creative teams and our ever-growing collection of the high-quality branded entertainment that consumers want, we believe we are incredibly well-positioned to achieve our long-term goals.”

Some highlights from the event:

• Disney, which announced a corporate restructuring earlier this year that emphasizes streaming, said at the event that Disney+ had 86.8 million subscribers as of December 2, with the company’s three big streaming services—Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+—combining to notch 137 million subscribers. Netflix has slightly under 200 million global subscribers.

• Disney also issued a forecast that it will reach a total of 300 to 350 million total subscriptions by fiscal 2024.

• While Disney did not announce that it was combining Disney+ and Hulu, as had been rumored, it did announce that it will offer a new bundle of the three services, including the ad-free version of Hulu, for $18.99 a month. Disney also announced an agreement with Comcast to offer an integration of  Disney+ and ESPN+ with Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex platforms. ESPN+ will also be integrated further into Hulu. 

• The company had a lot to announce in regard to Star Wars. The next Star Wars feature film, Disney announced, is Rogue Squadron, which will arrive in theaters in December 2023, and will be directed by Patty Jenkins, the director of both Wonder Woman and this year’s sequel, Wonder Woman 1984. A Star Wars feature, directed by Taika Waititi, is also in development. There were also announcements of ten different Star Wars-related shows for Disney+, including the Mandalorian spinoff Ahsoka, a live-action show called Rangers of the New Republic, a “spy thriller” called Andor, and an animated show about R2-D2 and C-3PO. Also, the Obi-wan show with Ewan McGregor is called Obi-Wan Kenobi, and will feature the return of Star Wars prequels actor Hayden Christensen, as Darth Vader.

• The next Indiana Jones movie, which is under the auspices of Disney-owned Lucasfilm, will begin production in 2021, Disney announced, with Harrison Ford returning. 

• Disney also announced that it has signed up the Kardashians, to create a new show for Hulu and also “create new global content under a multi-year deal.” 

• As for Marvel, Disney announced final dates for 2021’s Disney+ Marvel shows. WandaVision: is coming January 15, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on March 19, and Loki in May. Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye are also set for unspecified dates in late 2021. On the Guardians of the Galaxy side, a Guardians holiday special is set for the holidays in 2022, with Groot set to star in a series of shorts.

• As for Marvel feature films, there were none released in 2020, but three are set for 2021: Black Widow on May 7, Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings on July 9, and Eternals, on November 5. Four more are set for 2022: Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Captain Marvel 2, and Black Panther, which is proceeding under director Ryan Coogler despite the recent death of Chadwick Boseman. The character of T’Challa, Disney said, will not be recast, but the new film will “continue to explore the incomparable world of Wakanda and all of the rich and varied characters introduced in the first film.”

• New Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy movies are set for 2023, with other Marvel films for the future including the previously announced Blade, and also Fantastic Four, which will be directed by Jon Watts.

• On the Disney Animation front, Raya and the Last Dragon, which is set for March, will have a similar release strategy as Mulan did this year: It will come out in theaters, and also with “premium access” on Disney+.

• Zootopia and Moana are both set for Disney+ series adaptations, in 2022 and 2023.

• As for Pixar, its next release is Luca, which comes out in the summer of 2021, followed by Turning Red in 2022, and Lightyear: an “original story” of Buzz Lightyear, also for 2022, in which Chris Evans will replace Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz.

• Disney did announce that some movies originally set for theaters, including Peter Pan & Wendy, Pinocchio, Cruella, and the Enchanted sequel, Disenchanted, will head to Disney+. Another animated film, Encanto, will come out later in 2021, with a theatrical release set.

• Jungle Cruise, starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson, is set to come out in theaters in the summer of 2021. And John Mulaney and Andy Samberg will star in a live-action reboot of Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers, in 2022. 

• Disney also announced that it is pursuing various revivals of pop culture properties of the past. They’re working on: A Disney+ adaptation of the 1988 Willow; a Disney+ sequel movie to Hocus Pocus; a remake of Three Men and a Baby starring Zac Efron; a Kenya Barris-headed remake of Cheaper By the Dozen; spinoffs of Ice Age and Night at the Museum, a theatrical prequel of The Lion King, and a remake of Turner & Hooch.

• There are also plans for movies based on the lives of two NBA stars, Chris Paul, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

• Disney now owns FX, and therefore they have announced several shows that will have new seasons in 2021, including Atlanta, Dave, American Horror Story, and Mayans MC. And It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia—now, incredibly, under the auspices of Disney—has been renewed for four additional seasons. All of those shows will arrive on Hulu as well.

• New Hulu shows will include a crime series called Only Murders In The Building, starring the unlikely trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, and The Dropout, starring Kate McKinnon, about the life of Theranos swindler Elizabeth Holmes.

• Hulu’s signature show, The Handmaid’s Tale, has been renewed for a fifth season.

• ESPN, meanwhile, announced that it has grabbed the sports rights to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) from CBS, and that Stephen A. Smith will host a nightly ESPN+ show. And The Man in the Arena, the previously announced, Last Dance-like documentary series about Tom Brady, will be an ESPN+ exclusive.

“There is no media company, past or present, that could engineer that presentation, and maybe none that ever will,” Steven Zeitchik of the Washington Post said on Twitter.  “It was like Comic-con crossed with an upfront mated with WWE Raw guided by Beatlemania.”

Of course, all of these announcements, and especially the dates, are very much subject to change. After all, more Star Wars movies announced since Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012 have either fired their directors or not come to fruition at all than not. And the release calendar has adjusted frequently during the pandemic and is likely to continue to do so for some time to come.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters