“Avengers: Endgame” directors Joe and Anthony Russo think the streaming wars could come down to two players: Disney and Netflix.
“The closest race to watch is Disney versus Netflix,” Joe Russo said on Monday during the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills. “Netflix is at volume, and they have to get their volume to quality. Disney is at quality, and they’ve got to get volume. We’ll see who gets there first, because that will set market dominance.”
The two added that Apple — which is launching its own streaming platform, Apple TV+, later this year — could make this a three-way race. But they said that’s only if “Apple throws their hat at the content game much more significantly than what they’ve already done.”
The streaming wars have become the new gold rush for media companies. Disney is putting a lot of resources behind Disney+, its upcoming streaming competitor to Netflix, which launches Nov. 12. Disney is investing $1 billion into content for Disney+ next year — and will double that investment by 2024 — which will see original productions from “Star Wars” and Marvel Studios.
Along with Disney and Apple, both WarnerMedia and Comcast joining the streaming ring within the next year.
The Russo brothers themselves have an upcoming project with Amazon, described as a “global event multi-series.” No stranger to connecting a sprawling, multi-film universe, the upcoming project will have a global spy series that will be spun off into a various, foreign-language series. For more on how that will work, go here.
The duo also spoke about the record box office haul for “Endgame,” which shattered expectations with $350 million opening weekend and a $1.2 billion global haul. “I do think it’s a testament to serialized storytelling,” said Anthony Russo, who added it’s “something that really can only be made possible through social media and collective global conversation about content.”