As is now customary, Disney+ announced its lineup for the coming month yesterday. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that one of my more frivolous interests is not only Disney at large, but specifically in tracking and keeping an eye on what they put on Disney+ in their catalog.
Today, for example, marks the 65th anniversary of Disneyland, and Disney+ is no doubt intentionally celebrating with two random episodes of the Walt Disney anthology TV series, “The Pre-Opening Report from Disneyland” (which aired literal days before the park opened in the summer of 1955) and “The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World”. I wish there were a lot more theme-park specials available, especially considering the anniversary being commemorated today.
I felt that wish as I looked at the extremely spare amount of titles that Disney+ announced for August. There are a few new originals arriving, from The One and Only Ivan to Muppets Now and even Magic Camp (a movie shot three years ago, co-starring Jeffrey Tambor before the sexual-assault scandal that has sunk his career). But there are just 24 catalog titles arriving, and a mere third of those are from Walt Disney proper, compared with plenty of National Geographic titles and Fox-owned Marvel movies.
Disney+ should have an even more robust catalog than it does. There’s plenty of old-school offerings to be found, from the first season of Spin and Marty to the recently unveiled Tomorrowland-themed Disneyland episodes “Man in Space” and “Mars and Beyond”. But there’s plenty more to be found — the Disneyland TV series, over the last five-plus decade, has aired more than one thousand episodes. (While many of those are feature films being aired on TV, there’s a good five hundred or so episodes of original content.)
I bring this up for a reason that I presume has been worrying folks like Bob Iger and Bob Chapek: Disney+ needs more content, because its original titles are few and far between, and getting further between. I know what you’re thinking. “But, Josh, the Marvel shows! The Mandalorian! They’ve got the goods!”
…Do they?
This story — published just a few minutes before I published this — is just one more trouble sign. After the original films arriving in August (also including a Phineas and Ferb movie), Disney+ has a handful of low-budget films in some form of production. But they don’t have a lot more than a sports drama or a teen romance. And their TV shows, where they largely rely on more buzz and interest, are getting delayed. WandaVision isn’t arriving until December…hopefully. The Mandalorian is set to arrive in October…hopefully. The pandemic hasn’t abated. And it’s potentially going to get worse in the fall. So yes, these may be the dog days of summer, with few new arrivals, but there’s few signs of things letting up.
Put it this way: two weeks ago at this time, Disney+ captured the national stage by releasing Hamilton. It was no doubt a huge hit. A big win for Disney. But…uh…now what? Two weeks is a lifetime now, and several more will pass by the fall. If Disney is hoping for its Marvel and Lucasfilm shows to save Disney+, or at least keep people invested, they may need to start hoping for something else.