Big movies like Moana 2 have been a big hit for Disney+: in its latest earnings call, The Walt Disney Company said that there were now 126 million Disney Plus subscribers in the second quarter of its 2025 financial year, an increase of 1.4 million compared to the first quarter.
Those new sign-ups mean that the total number of Disney+ and Hulu subscribers is now more than 180 million, and revenues are up 8%.
Moana 2 was a big driver of that: when it came to the streamer in March, it broke Disney+’s streaming records. In its first five days streaming it had 27.3 million views and became Disney+’s third-biggest animated theatrical premiere of all time. And according to Neilsen, the first Moana has been the most-watched Disney+ movie since the service launched in 2019.
Of course there’s another key driver of subscriber numbers and revenue growth: the Disney+ account sharing crackdown, which is now firmly in place in lots of key regions, and includes Hulu.
While Disney expects subscriber growth to slow, predicting a “modest” increase in Disney+ subscribers as better weather gets us spending more time outdoors, CEO Bob Iger is excited about the movies coming to theaters and streaming in the year-and-a-bit to come.
Thunderbolts* is the shape of Disney films to come
Bob Iger was in a bullish mood during the earnings call, saying that he had “a lot of confidence in our upcoming slate”. That slate includes 2025’s Lilo & Stitch on Memorial Day weekend – “I’ve seen the movie a few times. I can endorse it wholeheartedly” – Pixar’s Elio, Fantastic Four, and the next Tron, Zootopia and Avatar movies.
“And then next year [we have] Avengers, Mandalorian, Toy Story and Moana live action,” Iger added. “So we have a slate in the next year and a half that I not only have a lot of confidence in, but it’s as strong as any slate I’ve seen in a long time.”
There was some indication that Disney is going to be more careful about the movies and shows it makes, with Iger admitting that “we all know that in our zeal to flood our streaming platform with more content…. quantity does not necessarily beget quality”.
He added: “And frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much”. Iger mentioned Marvel specifically, and says that they are now consolidating and “focus[ing] more on their films [which] we believe will result in better quality.”
Thunderbolts* is the first film coming from that new focus, and Iger says he feels “very good about that”.
That’s not all. Disney predicts double-digit growth in the income from its entertainment and sports divisions, where ESPN has been doing impressive numbers: despite high costs from buying college football and NFL games, Iger said that plans to move forward the launch of a new ESPN streaming service that combines linear TV programming with content from ESPN+ “soon”.
Leave a comment