Today, Marvel Studios announced in an Instagram story that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Moon Knight are both coming out on Blu-ray as Steelbook collectors’ editions. Both sets will be released on April 30. Marvel’s website lists the various bonus features on the discs, including behind the scenes featurettes, gag reels, and deleted scenes. Past Marvel shows on Blu-ray have retailed for $49.99.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier focuses on Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in the wake of Avengers: Endgame. After Steve Rogers lives out his life in the past and passes his shield onto Sam, Sam decides to give it to the U.S. government instead of taking on the mantle of Captain America himself. However, when the government in turn gives it to a “new” Captain America—and a terrorist group called the Flag Smashers takes matters into their own hands during the mass displacement following the Blip—Sam and Bucky have to work together to carry on Steve’s legacy.
Moon Knight also takes place shortly after the Blip, but it takes a much more fantastical tone than The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) is a mild-mannered museum worker in London who’s fascinated with Egyptian mythology. Little does Steven know that he’s also Marc Spector, an American who’s the avatar of the Egyptian god Khonshu (Karim El Hakim and F. Murray Abraham). Together, Steven and Marc fight against Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), a religious zealot who seeks to awaken the goddess of judgment, Ammit (Sofia Danu and Saba Mubarak).
Marvel’s new Blu-ray releases join two fan favorite series
Previously, Marvel released two of its other early Disney+ shows as Steelbook Blu-ray sets: WandaVision and Loki. Both are available at Best Buy and other retailers. The Loki set includes an eagerly awaited scene in which Loki (Tom Hiddleston) turns his brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth) into a frog, while the WandaVision set includes a first look at the upcoming series Agatha: Darkhold Diaries.
Julia Glassman (she/her) holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has been covering feminism and media since 2007. As a staff writer for The Mary Sue, Julia covers Marvel movies, folk horror, sci fi and fantasy, film and TV, comics, and all things witchy. Under the pen name Asa West, she’s the author of the popular zine ‘Five Principles of Green Witchcraft’ (Gods & Radicals Press). You can check out more of her writing at <a href=”https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/”>https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/.</a>
ORLANDO, Fla. — New adventures await in a galaxy far, far away.
Disney World’s Star Tours ride at Hollywood Studios will soon include characters and locations from Disney+ series “Ahsoka,” “Andor” and “The Mandalorian,” officials with Disney announced on Tuesday.
What You Need To Know
Disney World’s Star Tours ride will soon include characters and locations from Disney+ series “Ahsoka,” “Andor” and “The Mandalorian,” officials with Disney announced
Guests can expect to start seeing the new additions on April 5
The changes are also coming to Disneyland California and Disneyland Paris
Guests can expect to start seeing the new additions on April 5.
The changes are also coming to Disneyland California and Disneyland Paris.
“With these additions, you’ll now have an opportunity to experience one of more than 250 storyline variations aboard the attraction, including a visit to the planet Peridea from the Ahsoka series,” said Walt Disney Imagineering Portfolio Creative Executive Scott Trowbridge in a post on the official Disney Parks Blog. “Urgent transmissions from Ahsoka Tano, Cassian Andor, Din Djarin and Grogu may soon be part of your next Starspeeder flight. These iconic characters will continue to add to the galaxy of stories aboard Disney’s first Star Wars attraction.”
Disney officials also stated that at Disneyland California, a ‘Season of the Force’ celebration will take place from April 5 through June 2. Guests can enjoy Hyperspace Mountain, themed food and drinks, merchandise and more. There will also be a new galactic fireworks show that can be seen from within Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on select nights.
ORLANDO, Fla. — New adventures await in a galaxy far, far away.
Disney World’s Star Tours ride at Hollywood Studios will soon include characters and locations from Disney+ series “Ahsoka,” “Andor” and “The Mandalorian,” officials with Disney announced on Tuesday.
What You Need To Know
Disney World’s Star Tours ride will soon include characters and locations from Disney+ series “Ahsoka,” “Andor” and “The Mandalorian,” officials with Disney announced
Guests can expect to start seeing the new additions on April 5
The changes are also coming to Disneyland California and Disneyland Paris
Guests can expect to start seeing the new additions on April 5.
The changes are also coming to Disneyland California and Disneyland Paris.
“With these additions, you’ll now have an opportunity to experience one of more than 250 storyline variations aboard the attraction, including a visit to the planet Peridea from the Ahsoka series,” said Walt Disney Imagineering Portfolio Creative Executive Scott Trowbridge in a post on the official Disney Parks Blog. “Urgent transmissions from Ahsoka Tano, Cassian Andor, Din Djarin and Grogu may soon be part of your next Starspeeder flight. These iconic characters will continue to add to the galaxy of stories aboard Disney’s first Star Wars attraction.”
Disney officials also stated that at Disneyland California, a ‘Season of the Force’ celebration will take place from April 5 through June 2. Guests can enjoy Hyperspace Mountain, themed food and drinks, merchandise and more. There will also be a new galactic fireworks show that can be seen from within Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on select nights.
If you’ve been looking for a fun watch for the entire family to enjoy, look no further than Iwájú, streaming on Disney + now!
Source: Courtesy / Disney
Kugali filmmakers—director Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, production designer Hamid Ibrahim and cultural consultant Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku spoke with BOSSIP about their new Disney series Iwájú. The project tells the story of a privileged island girl Tola and her friend Kole as they face tremendous danger from an evil man and his formidable helpers. Powered by their unique friendship, the pair use technology to overcome all obstacles!
Source: Courtesy / Disney
The series is set in a futuristic Lagos, but the Kugali team used the real Nigerian city as their main source of inspiration.
“Lagos is a huge city, one of the biggest cities in in in the world, so representing its entirety in a six episode miniseries is beyond the scope of that particular project,” Olufikayo Ziki Adeola told BOSSIP.
“Nevertheless, we wanted the show to at least give people a snapshot into the feel of Lagos, so although we feature a finite number of areas, the breadth of the areas that we feature give a representation as to the to the larger Lagos in many ways.”
Source: Courtesy / Disney
“Lagos is divided into the island — where the wealthy live, and the mainland — where the working class and those less fortunate live, and the physical locations that we go to in the story in both places give you a very clear sense,” Adeola continued. “So even though we feature one specific area of the island, if you go to almost anywhere in the island, having watched the show, you won’t feel like a fish out of water. Similarly in the mainland I think a lot of the mainland is centered in a specific place but if you go to other parts of the mainland, they’re also quite similar. So the key thing here is giving people a feel for Lagos and building something that is authentic.”
Source: Courtesy / Disney
Viewers are sure to love the advanced technology featured in Iwájú, including flying cars, robot pets and more.
“The first thing I looked at was ‘Where is Lagos, Nigeria right now?’ What would that future look like?” Hamid Ibrahim told BOSSIP. “I tried to avoid outside influences as much as I can… but we try to make it make sense for the Lagos we’re building and with Lagos everything was almost a consequence of the other thing. With the cars, in Lagos everybody I drives in a really crazy way, the traffic is insane — so the way the cars are built they have spherical wheels because you can move in every direction — right, left, back, front, very easily and that allows you to dodge around that craziness of traffic and then the wheels open up so you can fly. Of course they have flying cars! I don’t know why, maybe it just looks cool, but the specific reason was if you’re in Lagos traffic and you have enough money to fly over the traffic, you are going to fly over the traffic! So you have the flying cars to fly over the traffic. In Lagos, on the streets, a lot of vendors come to sell you stuff at your [car] window. In this world, you’re up in the air if you’re the most wealthy person. The venors want to reach the most wealthy people and make more money so they create drones that can fly up there to sell this stuff, so everything was built to serve real life Lagos where it is right now and kind of extend the vision of that 100 years from now and kind of build the possibility of it.”
Source: Courtesy / Disney
The Lagos of Iwájú is one where class issues continue to persist and our beloved Tola is too young to fully understand the dangers ahead. Her best friend Kole has a better idea of the realities of the world and they end up being put to the ultimate test of their relationship.
“The relationship between these two characters very was very deliberate because I wanted to give viewers the ability to experience a breadth of perspectives,” Adeola told BOSSIP. “With Tola you have a young girl who lives an affluent and privileged life and in Kole you have a young man who has had to deal with a significant amount of struggle in his life. When I reflect on my own childhood, I definitely was more in the Tola camp in terms of the conditions in which I grew up, and I often never could really fully understand the circumstances of people like Kole because there is such a huge division between these two worlds, even though you have people from the the mainland or from poorer communities coming to the wealthier communities to to work and and do a variety of of of tasks, it almost felt like we were of two separate worlds and I think part of what the story tries to achieve is how do we potentially bridge this gap.”
The merger, which is scheduled to complete by March of 2025, will have exclusive digital and broadcast rights to some of the key sporting events – including the next four years of popular cricket tournament IPL, flagship ICC events, domestic Indian cricket, FIFA World Cup, Premier League, and Wimbledon.
Cricket match streaming has been the prime driver of new users for streaming platforms in India. By securing numerous cricket rights, Disney and JioCinema have left rival services with minimal content options to attract fans.
“The combined new entity captures both digital and TV rights of key cricket sporting events in India, like IPL and ICC matches,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note Thursday.
“The 2023-27 IPL broadcasting now sit under the JV – Viacom 18 has digital streaming rights (won for US$2.9bn) while Star has TV broadcasting rights for US$2.8bn. In the IPL 2023, JioCinema streamed matches free for all users, which impacted Hotstar’s earnings. However, with the JV structure, we could see significantly better profitability.”
Data and image: Bernstein
The merged unit will also have exclusive India access to Disney’s movies and productions as well as the mouse company’s wide catalog of 30,000 content, the two firms said. It will also be the digital home for content from HBO, Warner Bros, Showtime and NBCUniversal.
Bernstein analysts estimated that the combined operations of Disney’s Hotstar and JioCinema will have a market leadership within India OTT with about 85% monthly active OTT user base.
Data, image: BofA
Star, part of Disney’s India property, commands 41% of the broadcast market in India. Combined with about 8% of the TV market that Viacom18 assumes in India, the merged operations — which will feature over a 100 TV channels — will command about 49% of the broadcasting market.
The two firms will command 56% of the Hindi-speaking TV audience in the country, according to an analysis by Bank of America analysts.
Though ideas at Disney aren’t always developed in a linear fashion—a prototype of an invention might be started years before the company finds the place to put it into action, or an idea for something artistically cool might germinate for a bit before Research figures out the technology—Smoot has worked on a few things with a hard deadline, including the lightsabers for the Star Wars Launch Bay in 2015 and the Galactic Starcruiser in 2022.
While one could argue that not everything Disney makes is pure, inspirational magic, Smoot designs everything he works on to either entertain or spark joy. “There are engineers that have to work on things that can hurt people or that aren’t necessarily that good, and that’s never something I have to worry about,” Smoot says. Instead, he jokes, he just concerns himself with how Madame Leota will “float” through her seance room every few minutes for years on end. (He also had a hand in the operation of the Haunted Mansion’s stretching paintings, which were refurbished a few years back.)
Citing Arthur C. Clarke’s third law that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” Smoot says part of his work is about conveying a smooth and perfect sheen of surprise. When parents take their kids to a Disney park, they want those kids to have the same experience they did, even if all of the tech has been replaced.
Smoot points to Madame Leona as an example. Online, people had all kinds of theories about how Disney made the Haunted Mansion character fly—proof that Smoot’s tricks worked. “I read some descriptions from people who loved it and how they thought it worked, and without going into too much detail, I’ll say they were completely wrong and completely simplistic,” he says. “That’s when I said, ‘OK, yeah, what we did was good.’”
It’s this kind of impact that moves Smoot’s work beyond the realm of cool gadgetry. Paiva says that “when we look at potential inductees, we’re looking for inventors who have US patents that cover their work, which certainly Lanny has, but beyond that, we’re looking for inventors whose work has made societal, economic, and cultural impact.”
While Smoot’s Disney career has certainly wowed and enriched the lives of park goers and cruise ship passengers over the years, his work on teleconferencing at Bell was also an important factor into his induction, as was his work with aspiring young inventors.
“I’ve become a bit of a role model for young Black kids and people of color and women who have been looked over or not been in the room where things are done,” Smoot says. “I came from Brownsville, and I didn’t have a lot of money. Even today, I am one of the most thrifty people when it comes to building things. Some people say, ‘I can’t start my work unless I have this much money,’ but I’m like, ‘OK, I have a broomstick and I can take the keyboard apart…’”
The Descendants franchise has proven to be one of Disney’s most successful straight-to-streaming film series. The series focuses on the children of the villains in Disney animated movies, who live as prisoners in the slums of the Isle of the Lost. However, the descendants have adventures in the neighboring kingdom of Auradon, where the children of Disney heroes live. The series features numerous redemption arcs, villainous turns, intricate costumes, and dance numbers.
Each Descendants film features a slightly different cast of villains and heroes, with a few recurring faces: Mal (Dove Cameron), daughter of Maleficent; Ben (Mitchell Hope), son of Belle and the Beast; Evie (Sofia Carson), daughter of the Evil Queen; Jay (Booboo Stewart), son of Jafar; and Carlos (Cameron Boyce), son of Cruella De Vil.
Will they return in Descendants: The Rise of Red? What’s the movie about, anyway? Here’s what we know.
Descendants 4 plot
(Disney+)
Keeping with Descendants tradition, Descendants 4 will introduce characters from a classic Disney movie: this time, Alice in Wonderland. According to Deadline, the plot will focus on Red and Chloe, the children of the Queen of Hearts and Cinderella, respectively. Together, they must travel back in time to prevent a coup in Auradon. Deadline also reports that “a new royal baby” will factor into the plot.
Descendants 4 cast
(Disney+)
So far, there’s no word on whether Cameron and the rest of the main characters will return in Descendants 4. However, Disney has released the names of a few new and returning cast members.
When is Descendants 4 coming out? The film was reportedly filmed from January to March of 2023. Since Descendants 3 came out about a year after filming wrapped, Disney could potentially set a spring2024 release window for Descendants 4. Nothing official has been announced, though.
Julia Glassman (she/her) holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has been covering feminism and media since 2007. As a staff writer for The Mary Sue, Julia covers Marvel movies, folk horror, sci fi and fantasy, film and TV, comics, and all things witchy. Under the pen name Asa West, she’s the author of the popular zine ‘Five Principles of Green Witchcraft’ (Gods & Radicals Press). You can check out more of her writing at <a href=”https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/”>https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/.</a>
Walt Disney Animation Studios teamed up with Pan-African entertainment company Kugali for visually stunning Sci-Fi series IWÁGÚ “bursting with unique visual elements and technological advancements inspired by the spirit of Lagos,” per the official synopsis.
Set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria, the vibrant coming-of-age story follows Tola–a young girl from the wealthy island and her best friend, Kole–a self-taught tech expert as they discover the secrets and dangers hidden in their different worlds.
Check out the trailer below:
In IWÁJÚ, Kugali filmmakers (including director Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, production designer Hamid Ibrahim, and cultural consultant Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku) take viewers on a unique journey brought to life by the voices of Simisola Gbadamosi, Dayo Okeniyi, Femi Branch, Siji Soetan, and Weruche Opia.
Source: Disney Animation/Kugali
“Crafting the narrative of ‘Iwájú’ has been a journey of creative alchemy, blending the rich cultural tapestry of Lagos with imaginative leaps into the future,” said co-writer Adeola Hudson.
Collaborating with my Kugali co-founders and the visionary artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios has been nothing short of magical. The heartbeat of my hometown resonates through every scene, and I am thrilled for the world to experience this unique fusion of tradition and futurism.”
With “authenticity and creativity at its heart,” Kugali is an African-owned and operated storytelling collective spearheading Africa’s modern emergence into the diverse media landscape.
Founded in 2017 by Tolu Olowofoyeku, Olufikayo Adeola, and Hamid Ibrahim with the purpose of sharing African stories with a global audience, Kugali Media has paved the way for a new generation of African storytellers.
The innovative company also entered the bustling video game market with Disney Iwájú: Rising Chef (in collaboration with Maliyo games) which takes players into the world of IWÁJÚ where they can explore authentic African delicacies through a fast-paced and accessible cooking game that celebrates the culture and cuisine of Nigeria.
Source: Disney
“Maliyo Games was the perfect studio to bring this authentic African-driven story to life with an original game,” said Sonoko Ishioka, Executive Director, Product Development, Disney Games.
“Through this collaboration with Disney and Kugali, Maliyo Games has captured the essence of IWÁJÚ by bringing their own vision, talent and expertise to a unique game inspired by vibrant Nigerian culture and cuisine.”
Disney Iwájú: Rising Chef will be available for purchase on iOS/Android on Feb. 28 along with all 6 episodes of IWÁJÚ streaming on Disney+.
BOULDER, Colo. — A team from CU Boulder has partnered with Pixar Animation Studios to build an emotional learning platform based on the 2015 movie “Inside Out.” Now it’s giving students, parents and teachers access to free mental health tools.
The “Inside U” program, from CU’s Renee Crown Wellness Institute, helps kids and their caregivers who may be struggling with how to respond to certain feelings, building off the characters from the movie.
In the movie, it follows the main character “Riley” through the eyes of her emotions — Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear.
The “Inside U” storyboard platform use’s kids’ interest in the movie to create buy in for learning about their feelings.
“I’ve tried both strategies of coming in with more like the scientist-educator hat,” one of the app’s co-creators Dr. Sam Hubley said. “You get eyes glazing over, maybe even eyes rolling a little bit, and the engagement is just so much harder. But if we come in and lead with this really cool movie, and how it can be helpful, there’s this immediate leaning in.”
Children’s mental health awareness rose during the Covid-19 pandemic because of isolation and time away from friends. So CU’s Crown Institute was formed to help bridge the gap between the tools available and access to them.
They partnered with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver to build the “Inside U” platform.
“We see kids can pretty easily relate to anger,” the Crown Wellness Institute director Julia Zigarelli. “And we find that fear and sadness right now with a lot of kids. Anxiety and sadness are bubbling up to the surface.”
The program was designed for kids 6 to 12 years old. They hope to expand it into school districts around the Denver metro area.
The Disney Pixar movie “Inside Out 2” is due out this summer which takes “Riley” through the teenage years.
CU Boulder partners with Pixar for emotional learning platfo
The Follow Up
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Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Bad Batch find themselves up against, and running away from, some kind of giant creature. “Why,” grunts Wrecker, the team’s beefy strongman as he huffs along, “why is there always a huge monster?” It’s a fun gag, because really, with The Bad Batch, there almost always is a huge monster. But it’s also an awkward truth of the show at large.
Bad Batch has struggled to find a balance between telling a variety of one-off stories of the week (like, say, the perpetual huge monster the ragtag clones always seem to find regardless of what their mission was) and a larger narrative with its titular heroes.
Image: Lucasfilm
It’s why, for the most part, the series and its characters have largely felt stuck in place, even as the relentless Rise of the Empire encroaches further and further on the world and surviving characters of the Clone Wars—save for Omega (Michelle Ang) and conflicted team turncoat Crosshair (Dee Bradley Baker, perpetual voice of every Star Wars clone), the team hasn’t really grown in character beyond their initial introductions. It’s also why arguably the most interesting plotlines the series has developed so far—like seeing the young Hera Syndulla and the burgeoning re-emergence of Ryloth’s resistance groups in season one, or season two’s plotline about the lack of social welfare for Clones as the Empire turns towards its Stormtrooper program—have, by and large, not involved the Batch at all. The series has mostly kept its momentum restrained, content to only barely advance its world and characters as it distracts itself with another monster of the week.
All that changes in its third and final season—which returns today on Disney+ with a three-episode premiere, the first batch of 15 episodes—even though the huge monsters are definitely still there (in the first eight episodes, provided for review, there are at least five, depending on your hugeness threshold). Coalescing around the fallout of that three-part premiere, which itself focuses on the captured Omega and Crosshair as they reconnect and endure their separate lives in the underbelly of the Empire’s mysterious cloning research facility at Mount Tantiss, The Bad Batch’s final outing takes a more serialized approach than its predecessors, deftly drawing together plot elements that have built in fits and starts over the show so far. It’s been a long time coming, and occasionally to the show’s own frustration in the past, but even as season three moves on from one story to the next, everything feels like it’s coming together to focus on one particular endgame—one with potentially huge ramifications for both the characters we’ve come to know over the course of the show and the wider connective world of Star Wars in this tumultuous time period.
Image: Lucasfilm
Everything matters here, and not simply in a quantifiable, wikiable “canon” way—it’s just that instead with this tight focus on its endgame drawing together myriad characters and stories at the nexus of Mount Tantiss and what the sinister Doctor Hemlock (Jimmi Simpson) has in store beneath its peaks, Bad Batch finally feels like it’s making effective use of the time it’s got. From the big monster action sequences, to character threads coming home to roost as the Batch reckons with the loss of Tech in season two’s climax while also dealing with the return of the lost members to its fold, season three spends its first half in service of starting to dig back into its characters in ways it rarely has so far, using the pressure cooker of its overarching scenario to really put the screws on its characters, and explore in what ways they really have changed in the long days since Order 66. Once again, this is in large part done most well through the lens of Omega and Crosshair, but this unlikely duo doesn’t just bring out the best in themselves but also draws that out in the rest of the crew, leading to some really satisfying moments of character work that feel like earned payoffs given how scattershot the series’ episodic nature has been in service of those characters in the past.
And while yes, there are some fun one-offs in these first eight episodes—a particular highlight sees Hunter and Wrecker begrudgingly team up with Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) in a desperate bid for information—none of it feels necessarily “wasted,” in either distracting from the central plot or away from digging into its characters more, all weaving itself into this singular path towards Tantiss and Hemlock, again and again. It works, not just because it means we actually get to sit with our heroes and watch them develop and bounce off each other more, but because it effectively sets the stakes for the season at large as something that really matters—grand in the scheme of Star Wars itself, and The Bad Batch’s place in its timeline, but more crucially grand in terms of what matters to our heroes as people, especially.
Image: Lucasfilm
Where the show has previously struggled to make its most interesting worldbuilding personally matter to the Batch, season three marries the personal and galactic stakes together perfectly, keeping everything compelling as it ticks over from week to week. It’s a reflection of a much stronger, more confident show, one that feels like it’s finally ready to nail down the story it wants to tell with its characters and is laser focused on doing so. Time will tell if the back half of the season will effectively pick up on the strengths of its front—but The Bad Batch has set a stage brimming with potential for an incredibly satisfying end to this chapter of Star Wars animation if it sticks the landing.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch’s third and final season begins streaming on Disney+ today, February 21, with a three-episode premiere.
Securing physical copies of a number of Disney classics is about to get a lot harder. Disney has announced today that after 23 years of service, it will be shuttering the Disney Movie Club later this year. Disney Movie Club is a subscription service for diehard fans that, since 2001, has provided an avenue for them to secure DVDs and Blu-rays of countless pieces of Disney media. Members would receive monthly releases, but the real boon of the service was the Disney Movie Club’s deep cuts, which were often mostly-forgotten classics that are otherwise very difficult to get a hold of.
Disney’s New Post-Apocalyptic Anime Proves The Mouse Has Good Taste
A statement from the company reads, “After 23 magical years, it’s time to say goodbye. After serving over 10 million valued Club Members, we have made the difficult decision to close the Disney Movie Club. We will miss the opportunity to be part of the lives of so many Disney fans, including you, but we will be forever grateful for the time you’ve chosen to spend with us.”
Disney’s move to close the Disney Movie Club comes on the heels of a new deal the company has struck with Sony, which will see the latter taking over the production of physical media on behalf of the former. The deal, first reported by The Digital Bits, does not clarify whether or not Sony will offer its own similar service in light of Disney Movie Club being closed down.
Physical media has been trending downward for a long time thanks to the emergence of digital releases and the advent of streaming services, making a move like this all but an inevitability. Disney launched its own streaming service, Disney+, in late November of 2019, and the service has largely been touted as an incarnation of the promise the Disney Movie Club once held. But you don’t own the films and TV shows on Disney+; they can be taken off the service at any time. And despite its status as Disney’s digital vault, Disney+ is still missing a number of titles that are currently only available in a physical capacity through the Disney Movie Club. The shuttering of the service in a few months, paired with these titles’ absence on Disney’s preeminent service, has many wondering what’ll happen to the precious titles that haven’t been brought over and have no other physical releases available.
The announcement of Disney Movie Club’s shuttering notes that the service will be retired in July of this year, but current members will have until May 20 to place any remaining orders. If you’re a collector of vintage Disney movies and shows, or even just an advocate for the proliferation of physical media and ownership of it, it’s best to act fast.
Here in the U.S., ten new episodes of Bluey just dropped on Disney+. (Those episodes aired months ago in Australia, but hey, you take your quality family TV when you can get it.) Now, hot on the heel(er)s of the new batch of episodes, two new episodes are rumored to be in the works: including one called “Ghost Basket.”
According to the ever-truthful authority that is Random Corners of the Internet, “Ghost Basket” is an upcoming episode of Bluey season 3. It will supposedly air after “The Sign,” the 28 minute long special that’s due to hit the U.S. and Australia simultaneously sometime in 2024. “Ghost Basket” will supposedly be accompanied by another episode called “Surprise!”
Along with the rumors that the episode exists in the first place, people are claiming that it’s a Halloween-themed episode, and that it’s already aired in India.
Here’s the truth, though. Neither the official Bluey website nor Disney+ has any reference to “Ghost Basket” or “Surprise!” This might mean that news about the episodes has simply leaked, leading to all the rumors. But as of this writing, there’s no official confirmation that the episodes are coming.
So if you’re looking for definitive answers about what “Ghost Basket” is and when you can watch it, I’m sad to report that there’s no official news yet.
Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of Bluey to watch
If you need some Bluey in your life, seasons 1-3 are currently streaming on Disney+, with a total of 151 episodes. Not sure where to start? We’ve compiled a list of best Bluey episodes of all time, along with a list of the best Bluey episodes for adults. Enjoy!
From Stranger Things to Barbie, Disney fairytales, and a Halloweentown of your own—various creative destinations have undertaken the task of transporting guests into their own movie moments. This includes the pink-on-pink mid-century vibes at Palm Springs’ Trixie Motel, and thethemed rooms at Disney Parks’Disneyland…
No, it’s not a “Glitch.” Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” concert film will finally find its streaming home.
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)” will be available to stream with a Disney+ subscription worldwide starting Friday, March 15. The streamer’s version of the movie includes five bonus songs that were not in the theatrical or digital versions of the movie, Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the company’s earnings call Wednesday.
Disney+ is already the home of Swift’s “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions,” released in 2020. Swift’s 2020 documentary “Miss Americana” is on Netflix, which also formerly housed her “Reputation Stadium Tour” film.
The “Eras Tour” movie, which was filmed in August during three of the the L.A. shows on Swift’s record-breaking tour, was released in theaters on Oct. 13. The theatrical version featured 44 songs and had a 2-hour-45-minute runtime, while omitting the five added songs from the vast setlist.
At the global box office, the movie pulled in $261.7 million — making it the highest-grossing concert film to date, Variety reported. It also earned a Golden Globe nomination in the new cinematic and box office achievement category.
Swift released a digital version of the concert film through Universal Pictures on her birthday, Dec. 13. That version can be rented for $19.89, a nod to the singer’s birth year. That version includes three bonus songs — “Wildest Dreams,” “The Archer” and “Long Live” — not included in movie-theater edition, bringing its run time up to 3-hours-1-minute.
The Disney+ version will be even longer. Among the extra songs on the Disney+ version will be “Cardigan,” from the 2020 album “Folklore.” The other four mystery songs will be pulled from the acoustic section of the setlist, Swift wrote on Instagram.
“This week is truly the best kind of chaos,” Swift said. “I’m thrilled to let you know I’ve found a streaming home for The Eras Tour Concert Film, and that home will be (Disney+). For the first time we’ll be showing the entire concert … and I’m calling it, huge shock, ‘Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)’. Available starting March 15 which is actually very (soon).”
The Instagram photo that Swift posted about the film’s streaming home is a black-and-white version of the movie poster, continuing the recent aesthetic of her social media accounts after surprise-announcing her 11th studio album on Sunday.
While accepting the 2024 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for her album “Midnights,” Swift revealed that her next album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” will be released April 19, featuring 16 songs plus a bonus track. At the Grammys, she also won Album of the Year for “Midnights,” breaking the record for most album of the year awards ever won by an artist.
Swift continues her Eras Tour — which has already pulled in an estimated $1 billion in gross ticket sales — with shows in Japan and Australia this month. But the singer likely will make a pit stop back to the states in between her international shows, as fans speculate she will make it to the Super Bowl on Sunday to support her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The Walt Disney Company and Epic Games will collaborate on an all-new games and entertainment universe Image: Disney / Epic Games
Disney is making its biggest push yet into video games. On February 7, the Mouse House and Fortnitecreator Epic Games announced plans to create new games and an entertainment universe where consumers can “play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more,” company representatives said in a press release.
Why This Under-the-Radar AAA Title Is More Than Just A Far Cry Clone
“Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with the hugely popular Fortnite in a transformational new games and entertainment universe,” said Disney CEO Robert Iger. “This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion. We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”
“Disney was one of the first companies to believe in the potential of bringing their worlds together with ours in Fortnite, and they use Unreal Engine across their portfolio,” said Epic CEO Tim Sweeney. “Now we’re collaborating on something entirely new to build a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem that will bring together the Disney and Fortnite communities.”
Disney x Epic Games
This isn’t the first time Disney and Epic have collaborated. Fortnite has hosted several Star Wars-themed events over the years, including last year’s Find the Force event honoring the Prequel Trilogy. Back in 2020, Fortnite’s Nexus War with Galactus event based in the Marvel universe drew more than 15.3 million concurrent players, according to the press release announcing the deal.
While it’s tempting to think of Disney as primarily a producer of movies, TV, and Baby Yoda merch, it’s had a finger in the gaming pie for some time. This little nugget from the press release surprised me a little. “Licensed games from Disney garnered more than 150 award nominations, wins and other accolades in 2023, including multiple Game of the Year nominations for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Disney mobile games have 1.5 billion global installs, and to date, nine Disney games franchises have each grossed more than $1 billion in sales.” Who knew?
Anyway, congratulations to both these desperately cash-strapped companies who so sorely needed a chance to make more money.
Actress Gina Carano on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Lucasfilm and its parent The Walt Disney Co. over her 2021 firing from the series “The Mandalorian.”
In the suit filed in federal court in California, Carano alleged she was wrongfully terminated over controversial posts made on X, then known as Twitter. In one post, the actress compared the divided American political climate to Nazi Germany. She was also accused of mocking transgender people and mocking mask-wearing during the COVID pandemic.
“The truth is I was being hunted down from everything I posted to every post I liked because I was not in line with the acceptable narrative of the time,” Carano said in a Tuesday post on X. “My words were consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist. It was a bullying smear campaign aimed at silencing, destroying & making an example out of me.”
Her suit made several references to the “Star Wars” world.
“A short time ago in a galaxy not so far away, Defendants made it clear that only one orthodoxy in thought, speech, or action was acceptable in their empire, and that those who dared to question or failed to fully comply would not be tolerated,” the suit alleges. “And so it was with Carano.”
According to the suit, Carano’s posts were made while she was off-duty and away from the workplace. She alleges she was fired because she “dared voice her own opinions, on social media platforms and elsewhere, and stood up to the online bully mob who demanded her compliance with their extreme progressive ideology”
In August of last year, Elon Musk offered to fund the legal bill of people unfairly treated by their employers “due to posting or liking something” on X. Carano replied, saying she thought she qualified.
“As a sign of X Corp’s commitment to free speech, we’re proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano’s lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment, or discrimination,” the company wrote.
“Please let us know if you would like to join the lawsuit against Disney,” he said.
Carano is seeking compensatory damages to be determined at trial and a court order that she be recast on the show. She’s also seeking punitive damages.
“As for me, I would love to pick up where I left off & continue my journey of creating & participating in story-telling, which is my utmost passion & everything I worked so hard for,” she said Tuesday. “It has been difficult to move forward with the lies & labels stuck on me, backed & encouraged by the most powerful entertainment company in the world. I am grateful someone has come to my defense in such a powerful way & look forward to clearing my name.”
Disney and Lucasfilm have not yet responded to requests for comment. At the time of her firing, a Lucasfilm spokesperson called Carano’s posts “abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
ESPN, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery said on Tuesday they are joining forces to launch a streaming sports service.
The platform will include offerings from at least 15 networks and all four major professional sports leagues. The paid service is scheduled to debut this fall via a new app, although subscribers will be able to bundle it with Disney+, Hulu and Max, according to a statement from Warner Bros. Discovery.
Each company will own a one-third stake in the joint venture, the statement said.
The plans come amid increased competition in the business of streaming sporting events, with industry giants including Amazon and Netflix recently striking deals to add sports content for their streaming customers. In announcing the new venture, Walt Disney-owned ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. said the new platform would provide access to thousands of high-profile sporting events, from NFL games to Formula 1 racing.
With viewers’ attentions split between TV, cable, streaming services and social media platforms, sports programming remains a draw, experts note.
“Sports rights remain the only investment that guarantees a steady supply of must-see content and will therefore likely remain a key part of any streamer’s growth strategy,” analysts with investment advisory firm MoffettNathanson Research said in a recent report.
The new platform will include games from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, NASCAR and college sports, including the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball Tournament, as well as golf, tennis and the FIFA World Cup. It will include offerings from 15 TV and cable networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS and truTV.
“The launch of this new streaming sports service is a significant moment for Disney and ESPN, a major win for sports fans and an important step forward for the media business,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. “This means the full suite of ESPN channels will be available to consumers alongside the sports programming of other industry leaders as part of a differentiated sports-centric service.”
The announcement of the bundle also comes as ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery are preparing to enter negotiations to renew their NBA rights, which expire at the end of next season. ESPN has also been searching for strategic partners as it prepares to launch a direct-to-consumer product in the next year or two.
The companies said that more details would be released later, including pricing.
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
Hulu is preparing to crack down on subscribers who share their logins with family, friends and former flings, following similar moves by competitors such as Netflix and Disney+.
Beginning March 14, Hulu users will only be able to share their account logins with members of their own household, the company said Wednesday in an email to its subscribers. The new policy is already effective for Hulu customers who subscribed on or after Jan. 25.
“We’re adding limitations on sharing your account outside of your household, and explaining how we may assess your compliance with these limitations,” Hulu said in the email.
The company added that it would limit or terminate the accounts of users who violate the new rules. Less sharing, more revenue
Hulu plans to curb subscription mooching as part of a broader push to boost its subscriber base and grow its revenue. The platform’s average monthly on-demand-only subscriber revenue fell to $12.11 last fall, down 2% compared with the previous quarter, a financial filing from Hulu’s parent company Disney shows. During that time, the streaming service lost roughly 100,000 subscribers of its on-demand service, shaving its number of users down to 43.9 million, the document shows.
Password sharing is very common among consumers: According to a survey from data retrieval firm Secure Data Recovery, 69% of Americans admit to using another person’s streaming service account at some point.
Among Hulu subscribers in the U.S., 51% said they share their login credentials with others, according to a 2023 poll from product review website Reviews.org. That makes Hulu the second most-shared streaming service after Netflix which has a total of 85% U.S. account holders who admit to password sharing.
Disney stock was trading at $96.89 on Thursday afternoon, up less than 1%.
Elizabeth Napolitano is a freelance reporter at CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and technology news. She also writes for CoinDesk. Before joining CBS, she interned at NBC News’ BizTech Unit and worked on The Associated Press’ web scraping team.
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