Remember when Netflix started rolling out around the world? If you lived outside the United States, you probably watched the shows and movies on the US version of the service with envy. Today it's much more balanced, with tons of original content that exists in all regions and plenty of locally licensed offerings. In fact, Netflix US is struggling to keep its favorites licensed, like Friends and The Office, which means you can find better shows and movies elsewhere.
Now that Disney Plus has launched in parts of Western Europe, as well as North America and Australia, you may be wondering if there is a similar content discrepancy between the different versions of this new streaming service.
The truth is that, although there are curious differences, it is not as big as it was on Netflix hfive or six years ago.
In this article,
we will focus mainly on the differences between the British and American versions of Disney Plus, with some discussion of regional variations in the Netherlands, Canada and Australia. The best Disney Plus deals today
Disney Plus US Vs Disney Plus UK
(Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm) The most obvious difference between Disney Plus US and its recently launched UK counterpart is the way the latest Disney movies roll out on the service.
In the US and Canada, Onward and Frozen 2 are now available to stream, while in the UK, Onward doesn't have a release date and Frozen 2 won't be released until July.
This suggests that the different territories are not fully in sync., and it's a bit frustrating for British viewers. However, there are signs that all Disney Plus regions are starting to partner up in how they distribute content,
with the next release of Artemis Fowl scheduled for June 12 worldwide and the recent simultaneous worldwide release of The Simpsons short. However,
where Disney Plus UK is making headway is in its archive of movies which the US simply doesn't have yet, due to "pre-existing agreements". The Incredibles 2, Tarzan, Tomorrowland, Christopher Robin, The Jungle Book (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Maleficent, John Carter and Ralph Breaks Internet are available to stream in the UK. American viewers should look forward to them. The differences run deeper than that too.
Disney Plus in the US doesn't have any of Fox's X-Men movies, while the British variant has the original trilogy, Days of Future Past, and two Wolverine spin-offs. America won't start getting the classic Mighty Ducks movies until July either, when the entire trilogy is now available in the UK, even though ice hockey-oriented movies have a much more cultural resonance in the US. Almost every area on Disney Plus has a full lineup of Star Wars movies, with the exception of America, which lacks Solo (only until July 9). On the Marvel front, the US is also lacking in Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp, though both are coming this summer.
Infinity War is streaming in the UK, but American users have to wait. (Image credit: Marvel) In addition to superhero and children's movies,
the UK has all three Home Alone movies, while the US only has the third (You're not likely to see them outside of the holidays.) Disney Plus launched in the US with slightly more interesting adult movies, like (500) Days of Summer and Never Been Kissed, but they're no longer on the service (however, they're likely to come back and likely to be the result of existing agreements). The UK has never been kissed, but not (500) days of summer, while the UK has Edward Scissorhands, and the US hasn't. The United States welcomes The Princess Bride on May 1, it was announced on Twitter, while the United Kingdom has not had a similar announcement. The UK has three Ice Age movies, while the US has only one.
Live TV shows also offer interesting differences. Marvel's SHIELD Agents can't air in the US, but 5 seasons can be watched in the UK. In the US, users can stream 3 seasons of Marvel's Runaways, while only the first 2 are available in the UK. A kid-oriented series that most fans will feel comfortable skipping, Star Wars: Resistance has two seasons airing in the US and none in the UK. A member of our team, who has a young child, pointed out that Book of Pooh is not currently in service in the UK, but is available to stream in the US. All the differences mentioned above are just the ones we noticed, and there's no doubt we haven't noticed them yet.
But who is the winner, Disney Plus US or UK?
Let's say it's a draw. Disney Plus UK would certainly have the upper hand if it suddenly had Frozen 2 and Onward, simply because the US still has a ton of movies tied to other streaming services. Again, Disney Plus launched much earlier in the United States, meaning subscribers were able to watch The Mandalorian without spoiling it with Baby Yoda Twitter memes. The Mandalorian is at episode 6 in the UK at the time of writing, and this gradual rollout wasn't ideal, given the length of the initial wait.
What about other versions of Disney Plus?
(Image credit: Disney)
We know less about the other versions of Disney Plus, but even they have notable differences.. Holland has all five Ice Age movies, for example, as well as Agents of SHIELD and Never Been Kissed. According to What's On Disney Plus, as of early March 2020 (before the launch of Disney Plus in most Western European countries),
Australia had the most films with 729, 39 more than the United States.
Disney Plus Australia performs the 1995 Sandra Bullock film While You Sleep, which is available in the UK but not in the US. Also after a while, it airs from April 24 and already has Frozen 2. Australia also has two more X-Men movies than the UK, First Class and Apocalypse. However, there is only one season of Agents of SHIELD, which gives the UK an edge over a Marvel TV show that most people have probably forgotten about. We haven't used Disney Plus Canada, but it doesn't seem to differ much from the US, and it started on the same day as the US. However, Canada does have some movies that you won't find on Disney Plus US, including the X-Men movies. More surprisingly, it has a whole collection of Fantastic Four movies live in January 2020, including the terrifying resumption of filming efforts in 2015. None of these can be found on Disney Plus in the US or UK.
Who wins
(Image credit: Disney)
There really is no loser when it comes to Disney Plus. The United States misses most of the existing licensing restrictions, but even so, this issue does not affect most of its classic movies, which are already streaming. However, the fact that the United States got Frozen 2 and Onward gives the impression that it is the "main" version of the service. The UK doesn't have any of these new movies yet, but it was released last month and there are plenty of movies to enjoy that aren't available in the US. Disney Plus has roughly the same core catalog of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars classics across all regions, and we're assuming they're ultimately aiming for global parity when rights allow. It would be nice if Disney offered more arrival date delays for certain movies, we bet American viewers are looking forward to seeing the roughly 50% of X-Men movies that aren't total garbage, and at some point, we hope that Disney consider adding more adult content to give each library more space. In late March, an r/DisneyPlus user mentioned that a Disney Plus survey asked certain users if they wanted to watch shows like Firefly, Black-ish, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Malcolm in the Middle on the service (we've contacted Disney Plus several times at once to try to verify the authenticity of the research, but no response). It seems like the missing piece in the Disney Plus library, with these big-budget Marvel shows like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Otherwise, wherever you are,
Disney Plus is a great family streaming service. There aren't enough regional differences between Disney Plus to make it comparable to the early days of Netflix's international launch, and that's a good thing.