Disney is wholeheartedly embracing streaming video.
The media conglomerate, which owns TV networks like ABC, ESPN, and The Disney Channel, and movie studios that include Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel, has been doling out rights for its content to streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu. Now, it’s making some hard-to-find movie classics—Mulan, Pocahontas, and The Nightmare Before Christmas among them—available there as well.
On Dec. 27, Disney announced a deal with Hulu, which is owned by a consortium of TV networks, including Disney’s TV group, to stream more than 50 old-school movies through the platform’s subscription service. Some of those films were only previously available for purchase online, including animated classics Mulan, Pocahontas, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and live-action movies Sister Act and Air Bud. Hulu is now their exclusive streaming home.
Hulu will also offer titles including Lilo & Stitch, Tarzan, The Mighty Ducks, Gone in 60 Seconds, and Pearl Harbor, which are also available through subscriptions services like Netflix or for rent on platforms like Amazon Video.
The deal is an important one for Hulu, which has become known for TV but has been lacking in the film department. The new Disney titles give the platform’s film section a needed boost and adds to its Disney library. Hulu already streams kids shows from the company and original movies from the Disney Channel.
Netflix, meanwhile, has the streaming rights to new theatrical releases like Captain America: Civil War, which recently landed on the platform. It’s also co-producing series around Marvel characters like Jessica Jones and Luke Cage with ABC Studios, as well as the second season of the supernatural drama The Glitch.
Landmark Disney classics, like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, are for the time being still only available to buy online—through platforms like iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Video, or Disney’s own service, Disney Movies Anywhere. Titles like The Lion King and Peter Pan remain locked in the “Disney Vault,” which refers to the company’s habit of releasing its animated movies for limited periods of time and then taking them off the market to boost demand.