Hulu and Disney+ have been partnered since Disney+ came out. At the inception of Disney+, it was imagined that Hulu would be used for more mature content and Disney+ would be used for more family friendly content streaming. But with news that new parental controls are going to be added to Disney+ and with the addition of the Marvel shows from Netflix, questions have been raised about the future of Hulu and how it will be used.
In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, the president of 20th century studios, Steve Asbell has announced that Hulu will be the domestic hub for all 20th century of releases for streaming.
He said, “In relation to the other brands — Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Disney Animation — we are closer to what you call “general entertainment” on the TV side. Some films will be more Disney-adjacent — Avatar, Free Guy, Planet of the Apes — and some films will be edgier.
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We remain making commercial films for a global audience; we remain what we’ve always tried to be, which is a supportive working environment for talent; but thanks to this increase in streaming output, with the exception of a few titles, all of our movies will launch on Hulu domestically, Star+ internationally, which allows us to make the genres that we love, genres that Disney doesn’t make in the other divisions, and that we haven’t been able to play with as much in recent years. Comedy, thriller, young adult, horror. We get more of these at-bats, and we can make more bets on new talent.”
20th Century Studios to Have Aggressive Streaming Releases
20th Century Studios
In the same interview where he talked about Hulu being the sole streaming service for 20th Century Studios, Asbell stated that that 20th Century Studios intended to have as many as 10 movies release directly to Hulu per year starting in 2023. In addition, 20th Century Studios would expect to have 3 to 4 theatrical releases per year. The theatrical releases would be tentpole movies such as Avatar, Free Guy, or Predator while the streaming releases would be smaller movies. Having a dedicated streaming service available to them gives 20th Century Studios the flexibility to have this kind of release schedule.
It will be interesting to see what kind of movies 20th Century Studios decides to release directly to Hulu and which movies they decide are big enough to want a theatrical release obviously James Cameron’s Avatar sequels will be theatrical releases as they have huge budgets and would need to recoup those budgets with theatrical money instead of streaming money. Having 20th Century Studios movies released directly to Hulu will allow that streaming service to remain a viable brand separate from Disney+. Which means that those people who have purchased the bundle option of Disney+ plus Hulu plus ESPN+ will still get their money’s worth out of that bundle.
Adding the 20th Century Studios brand allows Disney to release movies that they normally would not be able to release much like they were able to when they owned Touchstone Pictures. And this partnership with Hulu will allow those more mature movies to find a streaming home they might not have with Disney+ even with their new parental controls.
