Disney+ UK Launch Date Confirmed

Bohemian Rhapsbody is on the Sky Store and has been on Sky Cinema (may still be on Demand), though I think its dropped off the linear streaming now. JoJo Rabbit is airing on Sky Cinema, though it premiered in November so it may have a while to go before it leaves Sky (if it leaves Sky, since they occasionally decide to "keep" certain titles long after they premiered and otherwise would have dropped off, though the usual trend is to air them, drop them and market them as "returning" further down the line).

Exclusive content to platforms tends to be the only content that doesn't get shared, so the Netflix originals, the Amazon originals, etc (though I did notice at least one Amazon original programme ended up outside of the platform in syndication so stuff may not even be exclusive anymore). Stuff made by third parties that any Tom, Dick and Harry can buy will almost always make up the bulk of on-demand streaming services.

Bohemian Rhapsody is a Regency Enterprises film.

Their movies are usually released by 20th Century Fox (or as it is now, 20th Century Studios) however after the first Pay TV window (in which Disney can offer them to their services or pay tv/streaming partners), Regency retain and handle their own sales for TV and SVOD.

https://www.newregency.com/mobile/international-sales

Looking at the catalogue, there’s a fair number of recognisable titles such as Fight Club, The Revenant and Man On Fire which were released by ‘Fox’ but Disney would actually have to license if they wanted them on their platforms.

Quite a few titles on that page are on Prime and/or Netflix.

In fact one of the benefits of streaming services I've found is that they end up with all these relatively obscure films, a lot of which are actually quite watchable and become new favourites.. Some were done for film festivals, some were done for some reason lost to the mists of time and others were done on a budget of 26p. Disney+ is the same, although I find a lot of Disney live action films are pretty much all the same.

One of the benefits of using the rather generic Star brand on Disney+ that I didn't see before, is that it gives Disney the ability to continue supplying films from 20th Century Studios to other providers when commercially this still makes sense. Consumers will expect all Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars films to be available on Disney+ but they probably won't have the same expectation for 20th Century Studios films.

I note that the raft of ESPN Sports documentaries are now available too, I've given up counting where they're available now, some if not all are also on BBC iPlayer and BT at least.

There’s only a very limited selection on Disney+ and even fewer on iPlayer. Some of my favourites aren’t there, although ‘The Day The Series Stopped’ is on Disney+ and that has some glimpses of off air / behind the scenes coverage of the event.

BT Sport run most of them on a fairly regular basis, they premiered the most recent ‘30 for 30’ last week.

There’s well over 100 in the ‘30 for 30’ and ‘ESPN Films Presents’ series. Not sure if they’re all on their own ‘ESPN Player’ service.

...or I guess there may be pre-existing rights deals? I spotted 'Die Hard' in the original teaser image, but it turns out it's only the sequels and not the original.

Sky/NOW TV have the rights to Die Hard.

Judging from the fact that both the first Deadpool film and Logan are missing as well as The Greatest Showman, it’s safe to assume that the 2016 and 2017 Fox films are with Sky and/or other streamers.

Some of the 2016 Fox films are available on Disney+ (including X-Men: Apocalypse and Independence Day: Resurgence) and expect more to come as existing rights expire.

TV broadcast rights for many of the Fox films during that period and later were/are held by Channel 4.

The Die Hard (1) one is particularly odd given the age of the film and the fact that all the sequels are there.

I wouldn’t say it’s odd at all - it’s not unusual for different movies in a series to have their own rights deals (unless they eventually get packaged much like the Potter or Star Wars movies)... I would also think (and this is just an opinion) that Die Hard being generally considered a cut above its sequels and it’s newfound status in recent years as a Christmas movie probably makes it a more valuable and in demand catalogue title than its sequels.