Disney is looking to enter the highly competitive streaming market with a bang and that includes two TV series based on Loki and the Scarlet Witch.
According to sources with inside knowledge, the entertainment titan is planning to spend $100’s of millions to produce a slew of exclusive content focused on heavy-hitters from Marvel to Star Wars – and everything in between.
A studio source says, not only will we see a Jon Favreau-directed Star Wars series, but we’ll also get “a number of limited series centered on popular characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” namely shows that revolve around Loki and Scarlet Witch. Going further, this new lineup of shows will feature familiar faces. For example, sources say we can expect to see Avengers’ Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen reprise their respective roles in the upcoming series.
Disney is betting that its aggressive content creation strategy will make its upcoming SVOD platform an instant competitor to Netflix. To accomplish this, the company has fully committed itself to create as much big-budget exclusive content as it can, regardless of cost. According to reports, Jon Favreau’s Star Wars series is expected to have a $100 million budget. The Scarlet Witch and Loki spin-off series are also expected to have exorbitant budgets that rival “those of a major studio production,” according to reports.
As early as 2016, Disney began slowly rolling back it licensing deals with competing services in an effort to further differentiate its upcoming platform. Said move has cost the company ‘billions of dollars’ in profit, Variety notes. Nevertheless, the company believes its direct-to-consumer service will more than recoup the losses once it’s launched late next year.
While further details regarding Disney’s upcoming SVOD service and shows remain sparse, this latest news show the lengths the company plans to go in order to position itself as a streaming giant. But despite its nearly limitless resources, the company will undoubtedly face a huge uphill battle when it comes to taking market share away from Netflix, which already has some 125 million users.