Disney+ Opens The Vaults

On Tuesday the Walt Disney Company launched their long-anticipated streaming service, Disney+, and it quite literally broke the internet. People spanning every generation flocked to the site to get unlimited access to the movies of their childhood. Early reports show that the service earned over 10 million subscribers in the first 24 hours. That number has continued to rise over the course of the week and is sure to keep growing.

So what makes this streaming service so special? Well, for starters, Disney+ is home to almost 500 movies and 7,500 TV episodes including titles from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and more. The breadth of content housed on the platform spans almost a century, from Steamboat Willie (1928)--Walt Disney's first film starring Mickey Mouse--to The Mandalorian (2019), the first ever live-action Star Wars TV series that debuted with the launch of the platform on November 12. But what makes the launch of Disney+ so historic goes far beyond the numbers and figures. For the first time ever, the original versions of Walt Disney's animated shorts and full-length feature films that had previously been kept from the public in what is known as the "Disney Vault" are now available to stream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl4JkwgmYIs

Disney created the vault program to preserve the value of their films and keep demand high. Each movie was originally released for a limited amount of time and then put back into the "vault." The film would virtually disappear from the market for about a decade, at which point Walt Disney would re-release the film again for a limited time. One of the main reasons that Disney+ has made so much noise is because the launch of this platform has opened up the entire catalog of Disney films that have been unavailable for streaming or digital purchase for decades.

"That’s a major policy change for the company, which, until now, has deliberately created artificial shortages of its films via extremely limited re-releases. For example, a movie like 101 Dalmatians would have been available to purchase during its initial home release run before being placed in “the vault” for a lengthy period. Disney initiated the practice as a way to control its own market and drive up demand whenever it did release a new edition of an old classic." -Julia Alexander, The Verge

Now that the Walt Disney Company has officially opened up the vault for the modest price of $6.99 per month, there are seemingly endless Disney classics to choose from for your next snow day movie or late night binge-watch. Not to mention the Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOM's) and original TV series' that seemed to have completely dropped off the planet following their run on television.

So cancel your plans this weekend and stock up on movie snacks... Happy watching!

Find the complete list of Disney+ offerings here.