Disney Considering Amazon Prime-Like Service With Disney+, Theme Parks, and Merch
With Disney+ having such a successful run since its release, the Walt Disney Company is exploring the idea of creating a membership for fans similar to Amazon Prime. Disney's membership program would give fans discounts or special perks in an effort to encourage consumers to spend more money on their streaming services, theme parks, resorts and merchandise. The program mimics Amazon Prime's, which gives members free shipping, discounts at Whole Foods, and access to their streaming service for a month or an annual fee. While The Wall Street Journal notes that talks are in the very early stages, internally, top executives are calling the service Disney Prime. Disney Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Kristina Schake released a statement on the news.
"Technology is giving us new ways to customize and personalize the consumer experience so that we are delivering entertainment, experiences and products that are most relevant to each of our guests," Schake revealed in the statement. "A membership program is just one of the exciting ideas that is being explored."
The most recent Disney+ series is She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The series recently went through some controversy over how the titular character's visual effects looked. The series was still being worked on when the first teaser was released so the CGI was unfinished, and fans tore the look apart. With the series so close to premiering, the people behind-the-scenes are spoke on fan outrage. During the TCA's, Gao, Coiro, and Maslany revealed how they felt about the CGI fiasco.
"In terms of the CGI being critiqued, I think that has to do with our culture's belief in its ownership of women's bodies," Coiro said. "I think a lot of the critique comes from feeling like they're able to tear apart the CGI woman. There's a lot of talk about about her body type and we based it on Olympian athletes and not bodybuilders. But I think if we had gone the other way, we would be facing the same critique. I think it's very hard to win when you make women's bodies."
"Usually how they do it is they kind of let us propose what we want to do rather than give us guidelines," Gao revealed. "When they first told us that [Daredevil] was a possibility we just couldn't believe it. And as we were coming up with story and what we wanted him to do, the fact that they kept not saying no was shocking to us. The one thing that I didn't have control of was the suit. They knew exactly what they wanted the suit to look like."
"This is a massive undertaking to have a show where the main character is CG," the head writer says. "It's terrible that a lot of artists feel rushed and and feel that the workload is too massive. I think everybody on this panel is stands in solidarity with all workers. We stand in solidarity with what they say the truth is," Coiro who directed episodes of the series continued. "We work with them, but we're not behind the scenes on these long nights and days. If they're feeling pressure we stand with them and we listen to them."
"I feel incredibly deferential to how talented these artists are and how quickly they have to work. Obviously, much quicker than probably should be given to them in terms of like churning these things out. We have to like be super conscious of the work conditions which aren't always optimal." Maslany added.
"Directed by Kat Coiro (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9) and Anu Valia (Episodes 5, 6, 7) with Jessica Gao as head writer, "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" follows Jennifer Walters as she navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk. The nine-episode series welcomes a host of MCU vets, including Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination, and Benedict Wong as Wong. The cast also includes Ginger Gonzaga, Josh Segarra, Jameela Jamil, Jon Bass and Renée Elise Goldsberry. Executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Kat Coiro and Jessica Gao. Co-executive producers are Wendy Jacobson and Jennifer Booth."
The first two episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law are streaming exclusively on Disney+!
What do you think about the news? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!