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Wars and Marvel TV shows lead vast Disney streaming lineup
ANAHEIM, United States, Aug 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Disney lifted the lid on
three live-action Star Wars series for its much-hyped new television
streaming service Friday, including Ewan McGregor’s return as Obi-Wan Kenobi,
as the company revealed a vast lineup for its Netflix rival.
Previously unannounced series set in Marvel’s wildly popular superhero
universe and a live-action “Lady and the Tramp” film were among the shows
teased at the biennial D23 fan convention in California, to whooping cheers
from Disney devotees dressed as their favorite characters.
But the loudest ovation was saved for the Star Wars presentation, with the
first official trailer for Disney+ launch series “The Mandalorian” showing a
dark, lawless universe populated by murderous bounty hunters.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said the TV shows would be “identical”
in quality to the record-grossing Star Wars films, describing it as
“exhilarating and liberating” to tell stories that expand beyond two hours.
The online streaming service Disney+ featuring film and television shows
will launch November 12 in the US as well as Canada and the Netherlands,
before rolling out worldwide.
Chief Executive Bob Iger told investors on a recent earnings call that
“nothing is more important to us” than the platform, which will compete in a
crowded marketplace with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, HBO Max and more.
As well as offering Disney’s enormous back catalog, including all animated
films and Pixar movies within its first year, it will feature a plethora of
newly commissioned shows. It will cost $6.99 a month in the US.
Friday’s sweeping presentation in a packed 6,800-seater hall in Anaheim
lasted nearly two hours, and set out titles from across Disney-owned brands
including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, the Disney Channel and National
Geographic.
– ‘Dangerous world’ –
McGregor joined Kennedy on stage to confirm rumors that he would return as
the Jedi master who was first portrayed by Alec Guinness in the 1977 original
“Star Wars.”
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Few details were given for the series, except that it has been written and
will begin shooting next year.
Introducing the first trailer for the separate “Mandalorian” series, which
will be available at launch, showrunner Jon Favreau said the show would take
place after “Return of the Jedi” in a world where celebrations about the end
of the evil Empire had given way to chaos.
It will be set in a “world where like the old samurai movies and the old
Westerns, where the gunfighters are rolling and people are fighting for their
own safety,” he said. “It’s a dangerous world.”
New footage showed battered Stormtrooper helmets mounted on spikes and
crumbling in the desert dust, with cowering mothers and children fleeing from
armed villains.
Also announced was a “spy series” inspired by critically acclaimed Star
Wars film “Rogue One,” with Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk to reprise their roles
in a prequel storyline.
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige revealed three previously unannounced shows
which will overlap with the most successful film franchise of all time — “Ms
Marvel,” “Moon Knight” and “She-Hulk.”
More details emerged for further Marvel superhero shows “What If…?” — an
animated series imagining different outcomes for each of the 23 Marvel films
to date — and “WandaVision,” which was intriguingly described as a “half
classic sitcom, half full [Marvel Cinematic Universe] spectacular” inspired
by Dick Van Dyke.
Also appearing on a bumper lineup were an “unscripted” Muppets show, a
grown-up “Lizzie McGuire” reboot starring Hilary Duff, a series of shorts
featuring “Forky” from “Toy Story 4,” and a mockumentary based on “High
School Musical.”
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