Disney+ has signed a landmark deal in France committing it to investment obligations in French and European cinematographic and audiovisual works in return for a reduced media window of nine months.
Under the three-year accord, signed with cinema guilds BLIC, BLOC and ARP, the platform has agreed to invest 25% of its annual net turnover generated in France in French and European productions.
In return, Disney+ subscribers will now be able to watch feature films on its platform nine months after their theatrical release in French cinema, against the current gap of 17 months.
In addition, Disney+ has also committed to acquire and pre-acquire a minimum of 70 feature films over the three-year period over a widerange of genres and budgets.
“This agreement marks an important step for French spectators. Making films accessible to as many people as possible, first in theaters, then much more quickly on the Disney+ platform, is an essential first step in meeting the uses of the French,” said Hélène Etzi, President of The Walt Disney Company France.
“This agreement demonstrates Disney’s unwavering commitment to the public, and its desire to continue working with French talent and producers in the cinema and audiovisual sectors,” she added.
The cinema guilds welcomed the agreement in a joint statement.
“We are very pleased that Disney+ joins the signatory operators of the media chronology having concluded a financing and distribution agreement with the cinema sector, thus allowing it to strengthen its support for French and European creation, and to offer its subscribers recent films.”
