How long after theaters do movies arrive on Disney Plus?



The streaming landscape is evolving fast as the world sits at home due to the current coronavirus pandemic. With theaters shut and people practicing social distancing, it’s no surprise that platforms like Disney Plus are moving up movie releases for streaming.
But things weren’t always the same, and they could go back to their usual routine once cinemas start reopening and people start going to the movies. In this article, we’ll try and break down the timeline in which Disney movies come to Disney Plus after their theatrical release. We’ve taken into account examples of movie releases both pre- and post-pandemic, so you can get an idea of what’s the norm and how things are changing.
Disney Plus release schedule pre-pandemic

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Disney movies generally arrived on Blu-ray and DVD months before going on to streaming platforms. Previously, you could find a handful of Disney movies on Netflix after their disk releases, but that changed with the launch of Disney Plus last year.
Now, you can find not only Disney’s own set of movies on Disney Plus, you also get a whole catalog of titles from Pixar, Lucas Films, Marvel, 2oth Century Fox, and more.
When Disney Plus launched, a company executive told The Hollywood Reporter   that Disney doesn’t plan on changing any release windows to bring movies sooner to Disney Plus.
Disney usually lets a movie run in theaters for about 90 days. It then comes to digital for paid purchases. This is followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release after two or three weeks. The movie finally goes up for streaming about four months after that. However, this timeline is not at all set in stone.

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Even before the pandemic, Disney was releasing movies on Disney Plus earlier than expected. For example, Frozen 2 hit cinema screens on November 22, 2019 and was expected to release on Disney Plus sometime in June 2020. However, the movie came to the streaming platform on March 14.
Similarly, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker released in cinemas in December 2019 and came to Disney Plus in early May 2020.
But there were still some films like Maleficent: Mistress of Evil that took a whole seven months after its theatrical release in October 2019 to reach Disney Plus in May 2020.
So as you can see, it’s really up to Disney when a movie should go from the silver screen to the streaming screen. In fact, Disney releases are going to be even more fluid given the pandemic situation.
Disney Plus release schedule post-pandemic

Since people are not going to theaters these days,...

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