Business Corpus: The Disney Streaming Service: What We Know So FarDisney's streaming service is slated to debut in late 2019, but precious few details have been available until lately. Here's what we know so far about Netflix and Amazon's upcoming rival. The post The Disney Streaming Service: What We Know So Far appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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There are precious few details known about the new Disney streaming service. It is slated to launch in the back half of 2019. Subscriptions will be priced "substantially below" Netflix (NFLX). A Jon Favreau-helmed live-action "Star Wars" show is in the works, as well as a revival of the animated "Clone Wars."

But a new report from the New York Times offers a bit more information about the direct-to-consumer entertainment service's programming.

Walt Disney (DIS) is developing or producing "at least nine" movies for the service, said the outlet, citing sources. Those films reportedly have budgets from $20 million to $60 million. Disney had previously disclosed that its studio will produce four or five movies a year exclusively for the family-friendly streaming platform.

Several decades-old films are getting remade, including animated features "Lady and the Tramp" and "The Sword in the Stone," as well as the 1987 Tom Selleck flick "Three Men and a Baby." The former two will be rebooted as live-action movies.

"Togo," "Noelle," "Magic Camp," and "Timmy Failure" are a few of the original films headed for the Disney streaming service, Deadline has previously reported.

The Disney streaming service also is adapting three books: "The Paper Magician," "Stargirl" and "Don Quixote." (News first broke in 2016 that Disney had begun working on adaptations of "The Paper Magician" and "Don Quixote.")

Disney had already announced a few of its anticipated TV series, including "High School Musical" and "Monsters, Inc" spinoffs and Marvel shows. According to the Times, that list likely also includes a "Muppets" series. The budgets for most of those shows reportedly range from $25 million to $35 million.

Disney executive Ricky Strauss has been tasked with overseeing programming selection for the new service.

"Quality is going to be critical," he told the New York Times.

Disney To Join Crowded Streaming Field

By 2019, the competition will be heated as ever. Disney's over-the-top service — still unnamed but given the unofficial moniker "Disneyflix" — will compete with Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN) Prime Video and a host of other subscription streaming platforms.

Disney CEO Bob Iger says the subscription price will be lower than Netflix's. But it's unclear just how many cord-cutter households will want to add another platform to their monthly subscriptions.

Disney does hold an mighty library of content, including popular Marvel and Lucasfilm movies that will soon disappear from Netflix and reappear on its stand-alone service.

And that will not be its only streaming platform. Disney launched ESPN+ earlier this year. Now that shareholders have approved its acquisition of 21st Century Fox (FOXA) entertainment assets, Disney owns a majority stake in Hulu.

As Iger said in an earnings call last November, he plans to launch the Disney streaming service "pretty aggressively."

Walt Disney stock rose 1.9% on the stock market today, hitting its best levels since April 2017. Netflix stock advanced 1% as it tries to rebound from July's sharp sell-off on subscriber growth that missed estimates. Amazon stock edged up 0.5%, near record highs.

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