The Disney Vault is opening up for good.
Built upon a marketing strategy that deliberately limited the availability of DVD and Blu-ray releases for many classic films, the notorious “Disney Vault” made a chore out of collecting, and even simply watching, certain Disney titles.
Maybe you want a quick refresher on Dumbo before the release of its live-action counterpart next month; or perhaps you’d like to sit down with your kids and show them your own childhood favorites, be it Cinderella or 101 Dalmatians. Too bad. Because of the “Vault,” most Disney titles aren’t readily available in stores or even to rent online.
Yet the days of the “Vault” seem to be numbered. Just as consumers have seemingly shifted away from purchasing physical media, Disney is shifting their focus to their forthcoming streaming service, Disney Plus, and killing the “Vault” in the process.
At a shareholders meeting earlier this week, CEO Bob Iger announced that Disney Plus will house the “entire Disney motion picture library,” a catalog that stretches (and squashes) all the way back to the 1920s.
The catch? These films won’t be available right away. According to The Verge, Iger stated most of the titles will be released “at some point fairly soon after launch,” though an exact date is unknown for now.
On top of their entire catalog of older films, Iger also confirmed that Disney Plus will allow you to stream brand new theatrical features, like The Lion King or Avengers: Endgame within a year of release, as well as a slew of Disney-branded television series, like Jon Favreau’s Star Wars show The Mandalorian.
Disney Plus will launch later this year, though an exact date and price have not been announced. As always, though, watch this space for more.