With its Fox acquisition completed and the new streaming service set to be unveiled later this week, Disney on Tuesday (April 9) revealed some new details of upcoming original series High Fidelity and Monsters At Work.
High Fidelity, a female take on the Nick Hornby novel previously adapted in Stephen Frears’ 2000 feature, will now screen on the Hulu streaming platform rather than as originally planned on the Disney+ service.
Through its buy of most of Fox’s entertainment assets, Disney has become 60% owner of Hulu and is expected to feed more adult originals to the established streamer while Disney+ focuses on family content.
In a statement, Disney+ senior vice-president of content Agnes Chu said that “as the series’ creative evolved, our Disney+ team, collectively with [Disney production unit] ABC Signature, recognised that the show would be better suited for another platform. Given Disney’s equity stake in Hulu, we’re happy High Fidelity will continue as part of our extended family.”
Hulu vice-president of content Beatrice Springborn said her platform “is home to stories that tap into pop culture and redefine genres, so we jumped at the opportunity to bring a seminal work like High Fidelity into the fold as a Hulu Original.”
Zoe Kravitz is starring in the series as a record store owner obsessed with pop culture. Developed for television by writers Veronica West and Sarah Kucserka, the series has Kravitz, Hornby and Josh Appelbaum of production company Midnight Radio among its executive producers.
Meanwhile Monsters At Work, an animated spin-off from Disney-owned Pixar’s 2001 Monsters, Inc feature and its Monsters University sequel, has secured Billy Crystal and John Goodman to reprise their voice performances as the films’ central characters Mike and Sulley.
Set to premiere on Disney+ next year, the series is produced by Disney Television Animation and picks up six months after the feature story, following a character voiced by Ben Feldman trying to work his way up the Monsters, Inc ranks.
Disney animation veteran Bobs Gannaway developed the series and also serves as an executive producer.
Disney+ is set to be unveiled on Thursday (April 11) at a Disney investors day. The service, launching in late 2019, will offer ad-free content including films and series from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic. It will be the exclusive streaming home for films released by Walt
Disney Studios in 2019 and beyond, including Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, and Star Wars Episode IX.
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