With a pandemic keeping many movie theaters closed, Disney+ saw a significant bump in app downloads over the Christmas holiday.
According to Bloomberg‘s Christopher Palmeri, the streaming service had 2.3 million downloads worldwide, an increase of 28% from the previous weekend, as reported by market research firm Sensor Tower. Earlier this month, Disney announced that Disney+ had surpassed 86.8 million subscribers at its Investor Day presentation. It’s been rumored that Hulu could be folded into the service, potentially creating a single entity with more than 100 million subscribers.
Christmas Day saw the release of Soul, the latest animated feature from Pixar. The movie moved from a theatrical release to Disney+ back in October. Palmeri also notes that Soul did have a theatrical launch in several international markets, including China, which generated $7.6 million at the box office. This comes as Disney begins to emphasize its films for the streaming service with movie theaters facing an uncertain future during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, with everything coming to Disney+ in the coming months, a price increase to $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year will go into effect beginning March 2021.
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