Little Mermaid Disaster Changes How Disney+ Streaming Works
Disney is one of the most successful companies in the world, but these days, it’s looking more and more like they are actually victims of their own success. For example, the corporate giant advertised Disney+ as the home for fans’ beloved Disney content, but that plan succeeded in the worst possible way: even as subscribers fled while Disney+ lost content, those that stayed constantly ditched Disney movies at the box office in favor of waiting for them to come to streaming. Because of this, The Direct reports that the live-action The Little Mermaid film “still has no Disney+ release date in sight.”
The Little Mermaid is still not streaming on Disney+, in spite of more time passing since the film’s theatrical release than in other recent cases of Disney films arriving on the streamer.
To understand the significance of Disney not announcing a Disney+ date for The Little Mermaid, you need to understand the historically brief windows audiences have experienced between box office and streaming release.
Some of the company’s biggest recent hits, including Encanto, actually came to Disney+ only 30 days after they premiered in theaters. While the window is bigger for some other films, even highly-anticipated content such as Thor: Love and Thunder landed on Disney+ only 62 days after its theatrical release.
For many moviegoers, the decision of whether to go to the theater to see new releases like The Little Mermaid comes down to whether audiences are patient and whether they want to save money.
If someone is willing to wait a month or two in many cases, they can just watch new Disney films from the comfort of their own homes. Considering that Disney+ Premium costs $10.99 a month and the average movie costs $10.22 per ticket, people can stream everything they want to watch on Disney+ for an entire month for less than a dollar more than they’d pay for only two hours of theatrical entertainment.
While Disney hasn’t made any official statements about the matter, many think the reason they are trying to stall the release of The Little Mermaid on Disney+ is that they want to create a wider window between theatrical and streaming releases.
This would give audiences more incentive to either head to theaters for new films or later buy the movies via video on demand (incidentally, you can buy The Little Mermaid this way, but you can’t stream it on Disney+). However, it’s worth noting that if this is Disney’s strategy, it may have already started earlier this year with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
For many moviegoers, the decision of whether to go to the theater to see new releases like The Little Mermaid comes down to whether audiences are patient and whether they want to save money.
Quantumania came to Disney+ after 89 days, which is a full week longer than the 82 days it took Wakanda Forever to come to the streaming service. Before that, Thor: Love and Thunder came to Disney+ after 62 days, and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness came to it after only 47 days.
This month will confirm whether Disney is widening that window: if The Little Mermaid comes to Disney+ after August 23, then it will have a release window of 90 days or longer, setting a new streaming window record for the service.
While Disney hasn’t made any official statements about the matter, many think the reason they are trying to stall the release of The Little Mermaid on Disney+ is that they want to create a wider window between theatrical and streaming releases.
Again, it’s worth noting that Disney put itself in this situation: the main value proposition of Disney+ is that fans wouldn’t have to wait too long to watch things like new Marvel films, so it’s not that surprising that many fans would skip out on theaters to later watch stuff at home.
The Little Mermaid may end up being Disney’s strongest effort yet to wean fans of the “wait to stream mentality.” But when it comes to leaving the house and heading back to theaters, only time will tell if Disney fans want to be part of that world once again.
