By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
Another day, another game changing licensing deal involving The Walt Disney Company.
Disney and Sony Pictures have just announced a multi-year content licensing agreement that will bring Sony’s box office films to streaming platforms owned by Disney.
The agreement starts with all films produced by Sony since 2022, as well as rights to some older films; particularly Sony’s films related to the Spider-Man franchise.
Those films are the major gap for Disney in its commitment to being the home for all things Marvel, as Sony bought the rights to Spider-Man before Marvel was acquired by the House of Mouse.
That means we could soon see the webcrawler airing on Disney+ and Hulu alongside the many Marvel films and series that Disney has produced since the first Ironman films hit theaters.
As well, other major titles like the Jumanji and Hotel Transylvania films are included in the deal, so many of Sony’s most popular hit will also make the leap into Disney world.
The deal comes under a subsidiary known as Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, which governs over a network of platforms, with the most important being its streaming services, but also including linear networks ABC, Disney Channels, Freeform, FX and National Geographic.
“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, who played a key role in the negotiations. “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.”
Under the agreement, Disney would be able to acquire the distribution rights for each film Pay 1 TV window. The agreement builds upon the companies’ prior arrangement which saw SPE movies licensed to FX in the post-Pay 1 TV window.
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The agreement provides Hulu access to a significant number of library titles beginning as early as this June.
Unlike many major studios that have created their own streaming platforms, including Warner, Disney and Paramount, among others, Sony’s distribution strategy is to play nice with others, according to Keith Le Goy, president, Worldwide Distribution and Networks, Sony Pictures Entertainment.
“This groundbreaking agreement reconfirms the unique and enduring value of our movies to film lovers and the platforms and networks that serve them,” LeGoy said. “We are thrilled to team up with Disney on delivering our titles to their viewers and subscribers. This agreement cements a key piece of our film distribution strategy, which is to maximize the value of each of our films, by making them available to consumers across all windows with a wide range of key partners.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
In other, closely related news, Disney and Sony have reached a separate content sharing agreement that will see Disney pushing its DVD and Blu-ray business to Sony.
Under that agreement Disney will be licensing its films to Sony for the manufacture, distribution and marketing of DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays.
Disney will continue to handle marketing and distribution of its digital home entertainment releases. The deal includes both new releases and catalog titles, which Sony will sell and distribute through retailers and distributors throughout the North American market.
This is part of a trend among the big studios in Hollywood. Both Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment do their distribution of physical media products through a company called SDS, which was formed as a joint venture between the two companies.
Disney has confirmed the deal to media, saying it “will allow us to continue to offer our films and TV shows via physical retailers/distributors and serve our consumers in a more efficient manner. This shift is consistent with strategies we’ve implemented company-wide as we’ve also been undergoing these transitions in other markets.”