Disney has no plans to launch a branded streaming platform in Russia yet. Elena Brodskaya, vice president of marketing for Disney in Russia, spoke about this during the VKB_SMART online event.

Elena believes that this is good news for traditional film distribution, since the events of the last year are increasingly forcing film studios to release premieres on online services, bypassing cinemas. This was the case, for example, with the film Mulan – in the USA it was released on Disney +, and in Russia in cinemas.

The launch of the service, according to Elena, is also influenced by local legislation (a bill limiting the ownership of audiovisual services to 20% for foreigners) and the popularity of pirated content. 

Updated (17:14): Disney reports that this information is incorrect and the Russian representative office does not give any comments on the release of the service in Russia. The original source deleted the news.

According to analysts, the number of Disney + subscribers will surpass Netflix by 2026 and may reach 294 million. As of January 2021, the number of subscribers to the service reached 94,9 million.

Recall that Warner Bros. made the decision to release all of its high-profile premieres simultaneously in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming platform during 2021.