On Nov. 12, Disney+ launched more than ten shows and movies, in addition to releasing previews for new content.
Here is a recap of the most notable announcements from the Disney+ Day event that lend a hand in showing what direction Disney is heading toward.
One of the bigger projects that has caught attention is the revival of the X-Men ʼ90s animated series, partly because it is the first time Disney has dealt with the franchise on a substantial level.
Disney choosing to revive this series makes sense, as it introduced many to the characters and was massively popular, therefore creating a lot of nostalgia to capitalize on. However, going so far back to an old series could mean that Disney plans to do the same with other projects.
Certainly, that could mean the revival of other series that play to fan demands like “X-Men: Evolution” or “The Spectacular Spider-Man.” But this could be good or bad depending upon the direction these teams take and how they deal with different circumstances across large gaps of time.
A reboot of “The Proud Family” was also announced, which goes to show how Disney is using its streaming platform to fill the void created by the cancellation of old 2000s shows.
Many studios are following the trend of digging deep into their catalogs for series that were abandoned to fill the new need for a large content library for their streaming services.
Speaking of obscure, abandoned properties, the announcement of a sequel series to the 1988 fantasy film “Willow” is one of the surprises of the event largely due to the film’s relative obscurity.
Continuing the story of “Willow” as a TV show and the upcoming X-Men series is interesting because they reveal Disney’s fundamental ethos regarding its new shows.
The House of Mouse is getting experimental with franchises and how to present them, but they are still not creating or betting big on any new ideas from new creators.
The announcement of these specific projects instills the idea that Disney is only trusting new shows on their platform to properties that people will recognize, that way it makes the platform look more appealing.
Meanwhile, they test these showrunners and see how much success they can bring with such limits in place.
The massive success of Marvel and the breadth of content of the Star Wars franchise are the main reasons why the future of those properties headline an event like Disney+ Day. It could be that Disney sees enough audience demand to justify series like “Obi-Wan” or “Moon Knight.”
Overall, the main takeaway from the event is that there are some series that show promise as well as experimentation. Although, brand new properties and confidence in new ideas appears lacking with the line up shown.
