The giant streaming service Disney+ is planning to expand to 42 countries and 11 new territories, including 16 markets across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The launch dates and local price details are still unknown. However, Disney said that it will launch in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
Disney+ was first launched in November 2019 in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands, with select European countries getting the service in 2020.
Its first significant hit was the Star Wars offshoot, The Mandalorian, which became a phenomenon worldwide, primarily through its breakout character Baby Yoda.
Amazing shows and movies will be available at launch exclusively, such as the Marvel series as Hawkeye and Moon Knight, starring Oscar Isaac and directed by Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Diab, as well as the Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett, which will end the partnership with OSN.
Disney said in a statement, “With exclusive original content and thousands of episodes and movies from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and general entertainment from Star, Disney+ is the streaming home for some of the world’s most beloved stories.”
Last summer, Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek said that Disney Plus’s rollouts in specific markets such as Eastern Europe were being pushed from late 2021 to summer 2022. The reasoning for this, he said, is to coincide with the market roll-out in “parts of the Middle East and Africa,” Variety reported.
In the US, the Disney Plus streaming package is $7.99 a month, a dollar increase from its launch price, which was $6.99 a month. In other markets, it is currently one of the most popular streaming services on earth, with 118 million subscribers worldwide as of October, adding two million from the late summer.
