Disney+ to launch with the first 30 seasons of 'The Simpsons', US pricing confirmed

The first 30 seasons of The Simpsons will be available to stream on Disney’s new streaming service Disney+ when it launches in America, it’s been confirmed, following the acquisition of Fox by Disney.

In typical style, the showmakers mocked the merger, with a clip featuring Disney boss Bob Iger and Darth Vader on pedestals, a signed picture of Rupert Murdoch in their trash, and the corporate buzzphrase ‘Welcome Synergy’ on the roof of 742 Evergreen Terrace.

After forcing the family to put on mouse ears, Homer is then crushed by Dumbo.

The Simpsons will be a valuable addition to the growing suite of content on Disney+, with the vast library from Springfield being available from day one of launch, and for the first time on any streaming service.

The launch of the service has now been confirmed for November 12 in the US, with the price set at $6.99 per month or $69.99 for a year, though there’s no UK price confirmed as yet.

Disney UK has confirmed to Yahoo that it plans to launch Disney+ in Western Europe between October 2019 and March 2020. The slate of content coming to Disney+ in the U.K. and Europe is likely to be similar to the one announced by Disney overnight, but the spokesperson said the launch date, content slate, and pricing was still to be confirmed.

It’s worth noting Disney launched Disney Life, its own streaming service, in the U.K. and the Philippines in 2015. It’s just £5 a month, and offers a huge wealth of Disney content including most of its classic animated films, Pixar’s back catalogue (bar recent releases such as Coco and Incredibles 2) all the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and some Star Wars and Marvel content, but not the films.

How Disney Life and its subscribers will be impacted by the launch of Disney+ is yet to be confirmed, but our guess is that current subscribers will be seamlessly ported over to the new service. Whether Disney+ will include the full Star Wars and Marvel back catalogue here in the U.K. is unclear, as the studio has rights deals with Sky Movies which gives the satellite broadcaster exclusive TV rights to broadcast its most recent releases exclusively for a period of time.

Read more: Monsters Inc spin-off for Disney+

When it launches in America, Disney+ will come with a swathe of Disney’s library of movies, with classics like Snow White, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin set to join the whole of the Pixar slate before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel will be the flagship streamable movie at launch, doubtless followed by other 21 movies in the canon so far.

This will be added to the planned spin-off series for Tim Hiddleston’s Loki, WandaVision, with Paul Bettany’s Vision and Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlett Witch, a series based on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, and another on Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye.

Then there’s the Star Wars franchise, set to be augmented by a number of new series.

At an investor presentation yesterday, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy confirmed a new spin-off series starring Diego Luna’s rebel leader Cassian Andor from Rogue One, which will team him with Alan Tudyk’s deadpan droid K2-SO.

It will join the already-in-production The Mandalorian, helmed by Jon Favreau, and following a Mandalorian bounty hunter in the period after Return of the Jedi, but before The Force Awakens.

Read more: Every Disney live-action remake on the way

The series already boasts a stunning – and unusual – cast, including Pedro Pascal, Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito, MMA star Gina Carano, Werner Herzog and Taika Waititi.

It will also premiere on the Disney+ launch day.

Elsewhere, there will be new series based on the likes of Monsters Inc and High School Musical, as well as documentary series The World According to Jeff Goldblum, from the National Geographic brand.