Disney announced at its annual shareholders’ meeting earlier this week that it would be shuttering its iconic Disney Vault, making its entire repertoire of time-honored classics available on its upcoming streaming service Disney Plus. It’s a catalog that dates back to the 1920s.
The Disney Vault was conceived in the 1990s when the home video market was dominated by VHS systems, and continued into the DVD/Blu-ray era. Disney would reissue its most popular animated films every decade, making them available to buy for a limited-time; then it was back into the vault for a moratorium period. The idea was to keep films feeling fresh and exclusive for a new generation of kids.
Along with its entire motion picture collection, Disney will be creating original content for the new platform. Disney Plus will also house films from Disney’s other properties, including Pixar, the Star Wars and Marvel franchises, as well as National Geographic, which the company will acquire when its purchase of 21st Century Fox’s assets is completed. The service will reportedly launch with an estimated 7,000 episodes of TV, and up to 500 films.
Disney announced plans for its streaming service in September 2017, and has since positioned itself as a competitor to streaming giants like Netflix and Hulu, the latter of which it will have a 60% stake in following the Fox acquisition. The service is supposed to be focused on family-friendly content, and Disney CEO Bob Iger has said it will undercut Netflix’s monthly of $8 to $14.
Disney Plus will roll out later this year. You can see a list of Disney’s films here.