Disney is the envy is every entertainment company and studio in the world right now, having the two of the biggest brands in the business under their belt. Marvel has grown into a financial powerhouse thanks to consistent film quality and respect of its source material. Hopefully, Star Wars will improve and expand upon Marvel’s approach, which means even more dollars all around. But where do we go from there?
The Daily Finance is speculating that Disney wants to create a Marvel or Star Wars channel after a quote from Disney CEO Bob Iger during a conference call regarding the possibility of starting a streaming service.
So… what’s the quote?
The direct quote from Iger is as follows,
“We have said that with these channels and these brands — ESPN, ABC, Disney, maybe even down the road something related to Star Wars and Marvel — we do have an ability as a company to take product specifically filmed entertainment, television, movies, directly to consumers.”
So, what are the chances of a Star Wars or Marvel channel happening?
Soon? Extremely small. How much Star Wars material is there to show on screen? Six movies, a five season TV show, and another show going into its second season. There’s simply no way to sustain an entire channel based solely on that amount of content.
Sure, Marvel has a bit more but they’ve already partnered up with Netflix. And if you’re thinking they can use all of the Marvel cartoons from the 90’s, it’s unlikely they actually have full access to the rights on many of those. After all, many will remember the tragic canceling of Spectacular Spider-Man when Marvel was bought by Disney in order to make way for Ultimate Spider-Man. The reason for the switch was that Disney didn’t own Spectacular Spider-Man and thus couldn’t make money off it the same way they could a new show of their creation.
Now, in several years time far more content will be created. And, perhaps, that will be enough to keep a channel running along with a new flagship original program. Until then, however, it just doesn’t make any sense to go that route.
If it’s unlikely… why is Bob Iger saying that?
He’s speculating about the future of a streaming service for various Disney owned content, which unlike a channel makes perfect sense.
So, a channel is impossible?
No, but it won’t be dedicated to just one brand. If anything, it would make sense for them to start a genre channel that would show both Marvel and Star Wars programming in addition to other material in their impressive backlog. They already have Disney XD for children, however, so this new hypothetical channel would probably be aimed at teen or adult audiences. But at the same time… they have ABC for that.
“But ABC is a network station! They can’t show really, really dark stuff like Daredevil,” you may say, and you’d be right, which is why Disney has deals with Netflix for many shows aimed at adult audiences… deals which stretch many years in the future.
One day we may see dedicated Star Wars or Marvel channels, but it will probably not be any time soon.
