Disney’s upcoming streaming service will be called Disney Plus, CEO Bob Iger announced on a call for investors Thursday.
The service is expected to hit the US market late next year, and will include content from the Disney flagship brand as well as Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic. Iger also said the service will include all of the company’s new theatrical releases starting with next year’s movie slate.
The name of the service echoes ESPN+, the sports service that the company debuted in April. Disney Plus will be the second completely new service from the company, which also owns part of Hulu. Once Disney (DIS) closes its deal for most of 21st Century Fox next year, it will take majority control of Hulu.
It’s not yet clear whether the name of the Disney service will be stylized the same way as ESPN+ was.
“As with ESPN+, the launch of Disney Plus will be just the starting point,” Iger said. “We plan to continually elevate experience, enhance the value to consumers with a custom pipeline of exclusive new content as we move forward.”
Iger ticked off several series that will be on the new platform, including the “Star Wars” animated series “Clone Wars” and another series based on Pixar’s “Monster’s Inc.” franchise. He said the company is also developing a live-action Marvel series starring Tom Hiddleston as his character Loki from that franchise. And there will be a live-action “Star Wars” series that serves as a prequel to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”
Iger added that the company will have more information about the new service in April at an investor conference.
Disney first announced that it would release a Disney-branded streaming service last year. It’s widely considered to be a competitor to Netflix (NFLX), the biggest service on the market. Disney has said it would pull its content from Netflix ahead of the launch of the new service.
Disney stock was trading up about 1% after hours. The company beat Wall Street estimates during its most recent earnings quarter.
