Disney Intends To Move Forward With Theatrical Releases For 2021 Slate

With a combined 100 movies and TV series were announced today during Disney Investor Day, and 80% of them will go to Disney+, the studio has decided to keep its theatrical release schedule. At least for now, despite reorganizing the company for a future focused on streaming. 

Disney has taken notable titles such as Mulan and Hamilton from fading exhibitors at a time when they needed those movies the most. However, Disney was careful with its language today when it spoke about the titles intended for theatrical release and the titles destined for Disney+. 

Heading into today, there was worry that Disney was bound to follow the lead of WarnerMedia's pandemic response, which entails debuting debuting the 2021 slate in both theaters and the HBO Max streaming service on the same day. This move enraged talent, exhibitors, and is poised to do great damage to the theatrical revenue stream. 

Disney has surpassed 137M subscribers on their direct to customer services and has a goal of hitting 300-350M subscribers by fiscal year 2024. They're budgeting a spend of $8 to $9 billion in content for Disney+ in order to reach the goal. 

Disney CEO Bob Chapek was clear in his statements of having no desire to quickly abondon theatrical platforms for in-home entertainment. Chopek was excited about the $13 billion box office Disney had last year and clearly communicated their approach to carefully evaluate the consumer transition as the company moves forward.