Television

Disney+ Moves Its Original Series Releases To Wednesdays After 'Loki' Was Biggest Debut Yet

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By Hoai-Tran Bui

Disney+ original shows will now debut on Wednesdays instead of Fridays. The release date shift of upcoming Disney+ series like Monsters at Work and Turner & Hooch comes in the wake of the monumental success of Marvel Studios' Loki, which became the most-watched Marvel premiere for the streamer after moving its release to Wednesdays.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ is shifting its original series release dates from Fridays to Wednesdays, affecting all global original series including the Pixar spin-off series Monsters at Work, the live-action reboot Turner & Hooch, and new seasons of returning shows like Short Circuit season 2.

The Wednesday shift is strictly for Disney+ original series and will extend to Star Wars properties like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, as well as upcoming Marvel TV shows. However, original movies will continue to bow on Fridays.

See the list of updated premieres below.

  • Monsters at Work from July 2 to July 7
  • Turner & Hooch from July 16 to July 21
  • Behind the Attraction from July 16 to July 21
  • Chip 'n' Dale: Park Life from July 23 to July 28
  • Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts from July 30 to July 28
  • The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse batch 2 from July 30 to July 28
  • Growing Up Animal from Aug. 20 to Aug. 18
  • Short Circuit season two from July 30 to Aug. 4

    • What This Will Mean for Streaming Competition

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    Sources tell THR that the release date shift is "designed to accommodate the increased volume of original content on Disney+," but it's just as likely that it's been made to get out of the increasingly packed streaming debut day that is Friday. Netflix traditionally launches entire seasons of its new original shows on Friday, as do many of the other streaming platforms like Hulu and Amazon Prime. This has led to Friday becoming a battle royale for audiences' attention. June 11, for example, saw the return of Netflix's global hit Lupin while Hulu launched the second season of Love, Victor and Apple debuted the second season of Home Before Dark. Loki's debut two days earlier on Wednesday left it with no major competition and a whole lotta buzz.

    HBO Max and Peacock, however, have gotten out early, preferring to launch new shows on Thursdays — like HBO Max's The Flight Attendant, Made for Love, Hacks, and Gossip Girl, and Peacock with Rutherford Falls,and Girls5eva. Paramount+ also has taken a liking to premiering its originals on Thursdays.

    The weekly Friday releases of Disney+ shows like WandaVision, The Mandalorian, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier have generally given the streamer longer legs than Netflix's binge model, but freeing up Fridays will give less buzzy Disney+ originals a chance at success. Funnily enough, we might even see the return of daily scheduling like in the primetime TV days, Rolling Stones' Alan Sepinwall observed, with Disney+ and its weekly releases leading the way.

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