Disney’s new streaming service Disney+ is taking shape ahead of its U.S. launch on November 12.

At Disney Investor Day on Thursday, the company confirmed that the service will offer content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and newly acquired National Geographic—including both original and library fare—and be focused on family-friendly films, series and shorts. It will be subscription-only and will not include advertising, said Kevin Mayer, Disney’s chairman of direct to consumer and international.

As many analysts have predicted, Mayer said he expects Disney’s three streaming services — Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu — to be bundled together for consumers at a lower price than if they subscribe to each separately. Currently, Hulu costs between $5.99 and $11.99 per month, depending on whether subscribers are willing to watch ads or not, while ESPN+ costs $4.99 per month. Disney+ will be priced at $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year, said Mayer.

One differentiating feature of the service will be subscribers’ ability to download and use content with no restrictions for as long as they are subscribers, said Mayer.

Marvel Studios Chief Kevin Feige confirmed that several new Marvel series are coming to Disney+, including ones featuring Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff and Vision — titled WandaVison — Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki. On Wednesday, Disney announced that it is in development on 10 unscripted series as well as a limited series from Marvel Studios featuring Jeremy Renner as ace archer Hawkeye.

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In addition, Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, said the first two Star Wars trilogies will be available on Disney+ on the day of launch, as will new series The Mandalorian, which Jon Favreau is directing. The newer Star Wars movies will be available within the first year, she added. Kennedy also announced that Alan Tudyk, voicing droid K-250, will join Diego Luna, in a new series about Rogue One‘s pilot Cassian Andor.

In a surprise announcement, all episodes of Fox’s long-running The Simpsons also will make Disney+ its exclusive subscription streaming home, Disney revealed toward the end of the presentation.

In addition, Disney+ is developing Becky Albertalli’s novel, Leah on the Offbeat, into a series. The novel is the sequel to her book, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which Greg Berlanti turned into the movie Love, Simon. That movie was the first major studio projected that centered around a gay teen romance.

Screenwriters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker, who currently serve as co-showrunners with Dan Fogelman on NBC’s This Is Us, will be showrunners. Berlanti will not be involved as a result of his overall deal with Disney competitor Warner Media.

Finally, another feature film that’s being turned into a TV show for Disney+ is 1993’s The Sandlot, written by David Mickey Evans. Evans and all of the original cast are returning for the revival.

Tags: disney disney+ marvel national geographic pixar star wars


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