Page 116 - CelebrationsSpring2020

horizon. And as Captain Jack said in The Curse of the Black Pearl, “Bring me that horizon.”
When Disney announced their new acquisition, they also made it known that there would be a new movie-streaming service which would include the Disney and Pixar lexicons, shows from the Disney Channel and Disney Junior, as well as new programming. Of course this would include Marvel, Lucasfilm, and the other Disney-owned networks, which in March 2019 would grow to include 21st Century Fox, now called 20th Century Studios.
This also meant that Disney would be ending its relationship with Netflix, which had previously been streaming a number of Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars films. Not every movie shifted to Disney+ upon its launch date, however, due to previously established streaming rights. Coco, Thor: Ragnarok and The Last Jedi did not rejoin their Disney brethren until later in 2019. Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time will make the switch in March; Tarzan and Avengers: Infinity War in June; Solo: A Star Wars Story, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Incredibles 2 in July; Christopher Robin in September; Ralph Breaks the Internet in December; and fans of Mary Poppins Returns have to wait until January 2021 (though of course it is available on DVD and Blu-Ray, as well as via Netflix, until then).
While rights ownership is the primary reason why some titles are not (yet) available on Disney+, there are other movies and scenes that will not ever be available, or at least not for the foreseeable future. One of the most notable permanent exclusions is Song of the South (1946). The film has not been available for home video in the United States since 1986, though it was released on VHS in the United Kingdom in 2000, and has never been released on DVD or Blu-Ray, due to its content that at the time was generally accepted, but was later understood to have dialogue and terminology that is widely recognized to be racist. Similarly, the “Jim Crow” scene from Dumbo (1941) has been cut from the film for Disney+, and was not included at all in the 2019 live-action/computer-generated imagery (CGI) remake.
So what exactly is available on Disney+? First of all, lots and lots of Disney movies. Classic films, movies from the Disney Renaissance and Revival periods, animated movies, live-action favorites...it’s like a virtual Blockbuster (Remember those? Check out Captain Marvel if that doesn’t ring a bell!) jam-packed full of Disney movies. One can run through the sewers of Paris, sail around the South Pacific, ride across the Scottish Highlands, or even crawl inside
the brain of an adolescent girl. There are documentaries, including Disneynature films like Bears, African Cats and Chimpanzees; The Imagineering Story, created by Leslie Iwerks, granddaughter of Walt’s partner Ub and daughter of Disney Legend Don, detailing the innovations of Disney’s theme parks worldwide; Waking Sleeping Beauty, producer Don Hahn’s acclaimed film about the re-emergence of Disney after its downturn of the 1980s; and Free Solo, a National Geographic film which follows rock climber Alex Honnold and his attempted free solo climb of El Capitan, a 3000-foot rock formation in Yosemite National Park.
For those who like to trip the light fantastic, there are musicals beyond the animated films, including 1964’s Academy Award-winning Mary Poppins and the original 1992 live-action Newsies, with a very young Christian Bale as Jack and a surly Robert Duvall as Joseph Pulitzer, as well as the 2012 Tony Award-winning stage production it inspired, filmed at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre in 2016 with almost the entire original Broadway cast, including Jeremy Jordan as Jack, Kara Lindsay as Katherine, Ben Fankhauser as Davey and Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Crutchie. One can also find “non-Disney” musicals such as Sister Act and The Sound of Music, starring Disney Legends Whoopi Goldberg and Dame Julie Andrews, respectively. And don’t forget Annie, released for television’s The Wonderful World of Disney in 1999, and starring Alicia Morton in the title role and Tony nominees Victor Garber as Oliver Warbucks and Kathy Bates as Miss Hannigan, surrounded by a trio of Tony winners: Alan Cumming as Rooster, Kristin Chenoweth as Lily St. Regis and Audra McDonald (who would go on to grace the Beast’s castle as Madame Garderobe in the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast) as Grace. (Incidentally, Ms. McDonald owns the record for Tony Awards by a performer with six, including awards in every acting category!) Keep a close eye – well, ear, rather – out for Ernie Sabella as Mr. Bundles: he was the voice of Pumbaa in the original Lion King! And during “N.Y.C.,” take a good look at the featured performer of the musical- within-the-musical: that’s none other than Andrea McArdle, Broadway’s original Annie, all grown up!)
But some of Disney+’s most popular content to date has been its original films and series. Disney played it very smart by leading off with a new twist on an old favorite: a live- action remake of the beloved 1955 classic Lady and the Tramp. Let’s be honest: dogs are always a good choice. And when adorable pups are paired with the vocal talents of Tessa Thompson (Thor: Ragnarok) and Justin Theroux (Saturday
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