Disney+ (Image courtesy of Disney)
Can Disney+ salvage 2020 from the Coronavirus pandemic? Annlyel investigates
We all know how the first half of this year has been. In late January there was an earth-shattering announcement that the legendary basketball player Kobe Bryant was unexpectedly killed in a helicopter crash. His daughter, Gigi, would be taken with him in the deadly accident, producing a whole lot of tears for what felt like a month straight. Just when the world was getting ready for Spring and moviegoers (including myself) were preparing to see the highly-anticipated remake of the Disney classic, Mulan, the equally deadly COVID-19 arrived like a thunderbolt upon the globe and it utterly shattered March, April, May, and now even June!
Movies were and are still being delayed left and right, movie productions were shut down, filming stopped, and the movie theater industry is buckling before our very eyes. For years there has been the discussion that the movie theater business was struggling due to people not attending theaters as much as they used to. Every now and then you’ll get that mega goliath blockbuster (probably a Disney movie) that drives people to the theater to drop a billion dollars in the movie industry’s pocket but against the streaming services which are racking up billions of dollars and millions of streamers around the world it was starting to become very clear that entertainment may shift from the theater to the small screen indoors. With COVID-19, that haunting reality seems more valid than ever.
TENET, the next film in Christopher Nolan’s impressive ensemble, was delayed two weeks while Wonder Woman 1984 was moved yet again from August to October. At this rate, with cases for COVID-19 rising in the United States once more since everything started opening, it seems like movie theaters may not open in the United States at all this year.
Has 2020 been canceled for the movie industry? It’s a very real possibility. That leads me to Disney+, a streaming service that arrived last November to bring joy to the masses with its vast library of family-friendly content and that particular original series everyone wanted to see, The Mandalorian.
At the time, Disney CEO Bob Iger did not know he was creating something that would ultimately save ourselves from a truly miserable existence this year. Through this pandemic, families have been able to stay at home with legitimately fun entertainment to watch. We stayed at home and watched The Clone Wars together, week after week, reveling in its bold storytelling and epic conclusion. And through the second half of this year, we’re getting three new live-action series via Disney+; The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a show that is still slated for an August release despite having halted production due to COVID-19, The Mandalorian Season Two, which is set to blow people’s mind, and finally WandaVision, a series that seems entirely weird yet will most likely be quite entertaining.
For those who, like me, love having that new Marvel Studios and Star Wars content to enjoy every year, Disney+ is truly a lifesaver. Without Disney+, this year would be a lot bleaker.
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Annlyel James is a prolific Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. She is passionate about Star Wars and Marvel but loves a wide variety of movie genres. Aside from her role with Future of the Force she also writes for her own blog: annlyelonline. Follow her on Twitter @annlyeljames where she channels the Force frequently!
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Hello everyone. My name is Annlyel James. I’m a young woman who loves movies of all genres (specifically ‘Star Wars’ and Marvel movies.) I am also a Senior Correspondent for The Future of the Force.
As long as Bond and Tenet come out.
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