Disney Plus announces $1 price hike, Hayden Christensen's return as Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi...

[midian182]

In brief: Disney has confirmed it is increasing the price of Disney Plus by $1 per month in the US starting March 2021. To help soften news of the new $7.99 subscription, the company announced a slew of Star Wars-related series coming to its streaming service.

Disney announced the price hike during its investor call. From March 26, 2021, subscribers in the US will pay $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year. The entertainment giant is also increasing its Disney Bundle price, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Plus, by $1 to $13.99 per month.

While nobody likes a price increase, other than the company introducing it, there’s plenty of new content coming to Disney Plus that could convince customers to stick around. In March, the highly-anticipated Loki series arrives, the same month as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (March 19), and Star Wars fans will be salivating at the upcoming lineup.

March sees filming on Obi-Wan Kenobi begin. Ewan McGregor will be reprising his role from the prequels, and we’ve just heard that Hayden Christensen will again portray Darth Vader. The series takes place around ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith.

Hayden Christensen returns as Darth Vader, joining Ewan McGregor in OBI-WAN KENOBI. The Original Series begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Revenge of the Sith, and is coming to #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/9WR2npRUkk

— Star Wars (@starwars) December 10, 2020

Another series set in the Star Wars universe is Ahsoka. It features Jedi Ahsoka Tano, who was first seen in animated shows Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Rosario Dawson plays her in The Mandalorian and the upcoming new show.

Another series set in The Mandalorian timeline, Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic, was also announced, along with a series featuring Lando Calrissian.

Ahsoka, a new Original Series, starring @RosarioDawson and set within the timeline of @TheMandalorian, is coming to @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/ZojpCkhPS7

— Disney (@Disney) December 10, 2020

Away from its streaming product, Disney revealed that a Rogue Squadron movie directed by Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins is coming to cinemas in 2023.

pic.twitter.com/e3N00xCr5i

— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) December 10, 2020

Disney Plus’ price change comes soon after Netflix added $1 per month to its standard tier, while its premium option went up by $2.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87927-disney-plus-announces-1-price-hike-hayden-christensen.html

 

[SirDigby]

Disney announced 22 shows/ movies last night, some aren't new but holy damn that's one way to grab the media attention!!! And I'd say entirely justifies the price hike, it's currently the cheapest premium streaming service around! I'm really enjoying having Disney+, the Mandalorian has been fantastic so far, I rewatched all the MCU films (even though I have them on bluray, it was just more convenient to stream them) and me and the wife regularly watch the Pixar and animated Disney movies!

Not bothered about the Simpsons though, Amazon has Futurama <3

 

[Hexic]

And the price hikes begin already. Didn’t take Di$ney long to increase sub rates.

 

[SirDigby]

And the price hikes begin already. Didn’t take Di$ney long to increase sub rates.

It was penetration pricing, was always gonna happen - they've still got plenty of room to increase the price too before they're level with Netflix.

 

[donnieD]

Milk it to the full....

 

[Irata]

Still on the cheap introductory offer, but with the new Star Wars series they announced I may stay on if it‘s Mandalorian and Clone Wars quality.

 

[Lionvibez]

It was penetration pricing, was always gonna happen - they've still got plenty of room to increase the price too before they're level with Netflix.

And increase it they will.

 

[SirDigby]

And increase it they will.

I'm sure, its competitive pricing and its hard to tell if it's turning a profit or not, obvs Netflix pricing is the licensing for other movies and shows + dev costs for their own movies and shows.
Disney was already producing movies and some shows and licensing deals to other networks before the streaming service so I guess it doesn't have to make much money on its own? - Having said that, I bet the Mulan release bombed, even if it was a good movie (so I hear)

 

[m4a4]

Looking at all the announcements, "moderation" came to mind lol

 

[Lionvibez]

Looking at all the announcements, "moderation" came to mind lol

Agreed.

movies 7-9 were a hard flop.

And based on 1 successful season of the mandalorian I think they are going way to fast now. Continue to work on mando, Do the obiwan show do the ashoka show then slow down on the rest.

They are trying to do to much with that schedule.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Yep. Start a new streaming service, get some shows that draw people in, hit your originally projected number of subscribers almost 3 years ahead of schedule, immediately announce a price hike.

Sounds about right.

 

[Shadowboxer]

On my PC I only get Disney+ at standard definition with no HDR and I have absolutely no idea why. Amazon prime and Netflix both support 4K HDR so it’s definitely possible. I’ve tried different browsers and even different monitors but it just won’t do it.

So I guess il be finishing up the mandalorian this month and cancelling the sub.

Unless anyone here knows a magical fix?

 

[hahahanoobs]

I'll stick with Prime Video.
Disney+ is a joke.

 

[BobHome]

And the price hikes begin already. Didn’t take Di$ney long to increase sub rates.

That's one way to get a $86,600,000 raise -- Per Month!
Less than a year to raise it, how soon for the next one?
For me, I'm burned out on Star Wars (and wars/fighting/Killing/blowing things up in general).

 

[p51d007]

I'm actually sick of Star Wars, The Marvel series, Star Trek, Fast N Furious et al...
Too many, too similar etc. The movie industry, for obvious reasons, will run a series
into the ground.

 

[wiyosaya]

On my PC I only get Disney+ at standard definition with no HDR and I have absolutely no idea why. Amazon prime and Netflix both support 4K HDR so it’s definitely possible. I’ve tried different browsers and even different monitors but it just won’t do it.

So I guess il be finishing up the mandalorian this month and cancelling the sub.

Unless anyone here knows a magical fix?

Maybe there is a video card requirement?

 

[wiyosaya]

I'm actually sick of Star Wars, The Marvel series, Star Trek, Fast N Furious et al...
Too many, too similar etc. The movie industry, for obvious reasons, will run a series
into the ground.

One series, IMO, that exceeds all previous ones is Star Trek: Discovery. I think it is worth a look. It is far better than any other Trek series/Movie that I have seen. I have not seen Picard, though. I borrowed the first two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery from my local library. The price was right!

 

[Shadowboxer]

Maybe there is a video card requirement?

I have an RTX 2080..

 

[wiyosaya]

I have an RTX 2080..

Maybe a feature request is in order. For years after Netflix started with DD+ audio, Hulu did not follow suit. Recently, Hulu added DD+ though.

 

[Jpe1701]

One series, IMO, that exceeds all previous ones is Star Trek: Discovery. I think it is worth a look. It is far better than any other Trek series/Movie that I have seen. I have not seen Picard, though. I borrowed the first two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery from my local library. The price was right!

Picard is very good too.

 

[Bamda]

This is just the beginning of a slow climb upward! I mean HBO Max is charging $15. Disney is no fool, they want the max they can get for their content.