Loki’s Release Day Makes Wednesday the New Normal for Disney Plus
Loki has wrought even more mischief for fans of Friday releases on Disney+,
All Disney+ original TV shows, including upcoming Marvel and Star Wars streaming series, will now be released on Wednesdays instead of Fridays. Disney has announced a number of new premiere dates following the change, with most now releasing a few days later than previously planned. Monsters, Inc. spinoff Monsters at Work for example, will now release on Wednesday, July 7th rather than July 2nd, while Turner & Hooch has shifted from July 16th to Wednesday, July 21st.
A couple of series will now release earlier, like The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse batch two, which will now be available on July 28th rather than July 30th. Original movies will still drop on Fridays.
Here’s the complete list of changes:
- Monsters at Work‘s premiere has moved from July 2nd to July 7th
- Turner & Hooch‘s premiere has moved from July 16th to July 21st
- Behind the Attraction‘s premiere has moved from July 16th to July 21st
- Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life‘s premiere has moved from July 23rd to July 28th
- Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts‘ premiere has moved from July 30th to July 28th
- The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse batch 2’s premiere has moved from July 30th to July 28th
- Short Circuit season 2’s premiere has moved from July 30th to August 4th
- Growing Up Animal‘s premiere has moved from August 20th to August 18th
It looks like Loki did so well with its Wednesday release date that Disney is going to revise their schedule to make it their new normal. Disney CEO Bob Chapek told IGN that Loki scored the most watched premiere on Disney+ within its opening week. This includes the debuts of non-Marvel shows like The Mandalorian, which held the title of the biggest Disney+ original for some time.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Loki’s warm reception has shown that people don’t seem to care which day their streaming content arrives, or perhaps there isn’t much difference between Friday and Wednesday when it comes to streaming new content.
Disney is also probably thinking of Netflix, which has staked out Friday for its own releases, so their content might get lost in a cluttered streaming landscape. And with theatrical movies becoming a thing again, Wednesday releases won’t leave viewers debating whether to go out to see one of its flicks in the theater or to stay home and watch one of its original shows.