If you're a Disney+ subscriber, you can stream just about every film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but there are several very notable exceptions, such as Tom Holland's Spider-Man films. That's all set to change as Disney has inked a major multi-year deal with Sony Pictures that will allow Sony's Spider-Man films such as Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home to stream on Disney+ for the first time, in addition to other major Sony franchises such as Jumanji and Hotel Transylvania.
This deal will give Disney U.S. streaming and TV rights to Sony Pictures' new theatrical releases across Disney's various platforms, including Disney+ and Hulu, as well as ABC, Disney Channels, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic. It will cover all of Sony's movies released from 2022-2026 and begin following each film's Pay 1 window. "This landmark multi-year, platform agnostic agreement guarantees the team at Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution a tremendous amount of flexibility and breadth of programming possibilities to leverage Sony’s rich slate of award-winning action and family films across our direct-to-consumer services and linear channels," said Chuck Saftler, head of Business Operations for ABC, Freeform, FX Networks, and Acquisitions in DMED’s Networks division. "This is a win for fans, who will benefit from the ability to access the very best content from two of Hollywood’s most prolific studios across a multitude of viewing platforms and experiences." Hopefully this deal bodes well for Disney and Sony continuing to play nice when it comes to the web-slinger.
The official announcement said that the deal will give "Disney enormous programming potential across its platforms and makes them key destinations for a robust collection of Spider-Man films," and also mentioned that Hulu will receive a "significant number" of library titles beginning as early as June. In addition to adding Sony's Spider-Man films to the service, the deal also includes the films in Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters, which includes Venom and the upcoming Morbius. Sony also made a similar multi-year deal with Netflix earlier this month which will see Sony's films land on the streaming service for their Pay 1 window, which typically lasts about 18 months, so once that time is up, this new Disney deal will see those films jump to Disney+ for their Pay 2 windows; So, from theaters to Netflix and then to Disney+, the circle of life.