Latest news with #HouseofMouse
North Wales Live
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
Disney+ gives streamers a subscription for £1.99 a month - but it's ending soon
Streaming fans in the UK looking to grab a deal on Disney+ are in luck because the company is handing out the service for only £1.99 per month. The House of Mouse currently has a deal where shoppers can get four months of Disney+ for £1.99 - less than a Costa coffee. But there's something Brits need to know. The deal is ending pretty soon on June 30 so for those who may have fell off the service or want to explore what new shows and series are playing, now is the time to act. You can grab the deal here. Disney enthusiasts can now enjoy a plethora of Marvel Cinematic Universe shows, including WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marve l - all for less than the price of a Starbucks or for less than a meal deal. The service also boasts an array of Star Wars series, such as Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Clone Wars, ensuring there's ample content to keep viewers entertained for months. Classic Walt Disney animated film s like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Lion King are also available for your viewing pleasure. Moreover, there are a host of new shows slated for release in June, including Snow White (June 11), Ironheart (June 25), season 4 of FX's The Bear (June 26) and the gripping new sci-fi drama, Alien: Earth (August 13). These join recent hits and critically acclaimed series like The Stolen Girl. This enticing offer lasts for four months, allowing streaming fans to indulge in the service until November for less than what most would spend on a Starbucks. However, it's worth noting that the £1.99 deal is for the Standard with Ads version, meaning viewers will have to tolerate ads while watching their favourite shows, which could be a tad irksome. There's tons of great reviews on Trustpilot about Disney+. One streamer said: "Very good selection, friendly support and easy to cancel if you need to. Very easy to navigate their site and the openness and transparency they show should be a model for others.". However, one shopper did complain about the amount of ads. They added: "Way too many adverts. Luckily I got it free for 3 months, but would not pay to extend it." However, if shoppers would rather avoid Disney Plus, there are alternatives to consider snapping up. Sky has a number of streaming deals, including the Sky Stream service for £15 a month. Sports fans can also watch DAZN for free for a limited time thanks to a trial deal.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bob Iger Says Disney Unlikely to Follow Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery In Exiting the TV Channel Business
Will Disney follow Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast in splitting off most of its TV assets from its streaming business? Don't bet on it. CEO Bob Iger appeared on CNBC Tuesday morning, where he was interviewed by David Faber about his company's acquisition of Comcast's share in Hulu, which was finalized Monday. More from The Hollywood Reporter Disney's House of Mouse Global Tour Debuts New Mickey & Friends Collabs and Disneyland Anniversary Merch in L.A. (Exclusive) Disney+ Inks New Deal to Bundle With Crave, TSN in Canada Inside Hollywood's Succession Wars But Faber also used the opportunity to ask whether Iger, who effectively kickstarted the idea of splitting linear TV from streaming in a CNBC interview two years ago, whether Disney is reevaluating its decision to keep its company together. Warner Bros. Discovery said Monday that it would split itself in two: One company with the studios and HBO Max streaming business, and another with its global TV networks. That move followed a similar decision from Comcast, which is spinning out most of its cable channels into Versant later this year, but keeping NBC, Bravo, Peacock and theme parks for itself. 'Soon after I returned to Disney, I put everything on the table and asked the team to evaluate whether we should buy Hulu or whether we should sell Hulu, whether we should sell our linear television networks or whether we should hold on to them, and after a pretty lengthy process internally, and really taking a long look at what these properties could mean to us, long term, we decided that the best course for us to take was to not only buy [Hulu] in its entirety, but also to hold on to the linear television networks and to integrate them seamlessly with our streaming business,' Iger said. 'What that has enabled us to do is aggregate revenue, both on the sub fee side and on the advertising side. There is still enough linear television subscribers to generate a significant amount of revenue in advertising and in subscription fees. We program them seamlessly, we manage them in one organization. And so there's been great economies of scale in doing that.' 'It's one of the things that's enabled us to turn the streaming business around from a huge loss to profitability, and over the next several years, it will enable us to grow margins significantly on the streaming side, because of the ability to amortize program costs and the ability to essentially aggregate audiences in revenue,' he added. 'It's also interesting to us that as many others exit that business, I think it gives us a stronger hand to stay in that business. We're very focused. We will have, interestingly enough, a linear television business that's paired with a streaming business. So when you think about it, these spin off companies won't have the assets from a streaming perspective that we will have.' And having a broadcast network like ABC is a big part of that. 'I think there's a lot more value in a broadcast network, again, if it's paired very, very seamlessly with a streaming business,' Iger said. 'I mean, you think about our core networks, obviously, ESPN is a big one. That will be connected, obviously, fully with ESPN's digital offering. Disney Channel is connected seamlessly with Disney Plus. FX and ABC have fed Hulu programming very effectively. And now when you think about all four, and we also have Nat Geo, which does the same with Disney Plus, when you think about those five networks and how they're programmed across linear and streaming, you've got a business that actually provides us an opportunity to not only grow, but to grow margins in the process as well. So, again, we like the direction we're going. We like the fact that we're one of the few that is doing this, because I think it sets us up to be even more competitive in a marketplace that's becoming even more fragmented.' Iger also said that Disney+ will most likely follow the path laid by Netflix, which stopped reporting its subscriber numbers on a quarterly basis. 'Probably,' Iger said, when asked by Faber if the company will pursue that strategy. 'We're focused on EBITDA and cash flow and growing margins, and that's, in fact, what we're doing. I think at some point, what we're mostly going to disclose is the bottom line.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Disney, Universal Launch AI Legal Battle, Sue Midjourney Over Copyright Claims
In the next chapter of Big Entertainment vs. Big Tech, Disney and Universal have filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Midjourney over tools that allow users to create images and videos that can manipulate famous characters at the click of a prompt. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday by Disney Enterprises, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century, Universal City Studios Productions and DreamWorks Animation, describes the David Holz-run generative AI firm Midjourney as a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism.' More from The Hollywood Reporter Bob Iger Says Disney Unlikely to Follow Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery In Exiting the TV Channel Business 'Oldboy' Screenwriter Sets Streaming Debut With Disney+ Korean Crime Series 'Gold Land' Disney's House of Mouse Global Tour Debuts New Mickey & Friends Collabs and Disneyland Anniversary Merch in L.A. (Exclusive) The legal salvo marks the first major foray from Hollywood against tech giants that are hoping to reorient consumer habits with personalized entertainment and information by vacuuming up data on the internet and spitting it out in the form of chatbot copy or images. So far, Wall Street has bet big that AI will be a major economic driver in the future and AI companies have raised tens of billions of dollars to realize that vision. Notably, major film and TV studios have not yet inked significant deals with AI companies to license their IP to these tech giants' tools that are now used by millions of users. That marks a different tack from major media companies, which have largely decided to take checks to license content to companies like OpenAI versus spend millions fighting in court. (The New York Times is an exception, and it has spent $10 million-plus fighting OpenAI so far.) The complaint from Disney and Universal details how Midjourney's tools easily allow users to create image-based works based on the intellectual property of Disney and Universal — think: Darth Vader or Shrek at the beach, etc. This is commonly called 'AI Slop,' and many likely already see it in their social media feeds. 'If a Midjourney subscriber submits a simple text prompt requesting an image of the character Darth Vader in a particular setting or doing a particular action, Midjourney obliges by generating and displaying a high quality, downloadable image featuring Disney's copyrighted Darth Vader character,' the complaint reads. The complaint offers AI-generated images of Vader, Wall-E, Stormtroopers, How to Train Your Dragon characters, Minions and Shrek and many more as evidence of copyright infringement perpetuated by Midjourney. And it singles out Star Wars character Yoda with a side-by-side comparison: The Hollywood studios go on to allege that Midjourney is able to provide such outputs because its tools have already ingested copyrighted intellectual property across the web as training data. 'Midjourney downloaded from the internet, and other sources, content using tools variously described as bots, scrapers, streamrippers, video downloaders, and web crawlers,' the complaint says, alleging that the AI company's CEO David Holz 'admitted that to collect the training data, Midjourney 'pulls off all the data it can, all the text it can, all the images it can.'' The studios also claim that Midjourney then 'cleaned' and converted digital files of copyrighted intellectual property to use in its training data so that its tools could then provide outputs allowing users to create things like personalized Yoda, Vader or Shrek images. 'When a subscriber enters a prompt for an image of Spider-Man, Minions, Iron Man, or any of Plaintiffs' countless copyrighted characters, Midjourney creates yet another copy of that character which it publicly displays and/or distributes via download,' the complaint reads. The lawsuit highlights that not only does Midjourney allow the creation of these works based on Disney and Universal's copyrighted characters, the AI company goes further by having them displayed in its 'Explore' section of its website — a sign that, the studios say, Midjourney is fully aware of what its product does and is capitalizing on the plagiarism. 'Midjourney's publication and curation of infringing images on the Explore page show that Midjourney knows that its platform regularly reproduces Plaintiffs' Copyrighted Works, and that the Explore page is intended to advertise Midjourney's ability to infringe the Copyrighted Works,' the complaint reads. And the complaint goes on to alleged that Midjourney has the tools in place to prevent outputs that run afoul of copyrighted intellectual property, but it choose to not enact them. 'Midjourney controls, and has the ability to control, generative outputs through readily available technical protection measures,' the studios argue. 'Despite having the ability to do so, Midjourney has affirmatively chosen not to use copyright protection measures to limit the infringement.' The top legal officer of Disney put it more simply in a strongly-worded statement accompanying the lawsuit: 'Piracy is piracy.' Using that phrasing frames the fight against Midjourney in familiar language to the studios' lobbying group, the Motion Picture Association, which also talks up its fight against piracy. But the MPA, so far, has mostly gone after websites that show unauthorized movies and TV shows, not AI companies, despite the prevalence of users flocking to AI-powered tools. 'Our world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment, creativity and innovation—investments only made possible by the incentives embodied in copyright law that give creators the exclusive right to profit from their works,' stated Disney general counsel Horacio Gutierrez. 'We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity. But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing.' The full complaint is below:Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Daily Record
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Disney+ deal - How to get a subscription for £1.99 as part of huge new offer
Disney+ is offering a rare subscription deal as part of a limited-time promotion Disney+ has launched a fantastic streaming deal, offering subscriptions for just £1.99, saving customers 60 percent on the usual price. The House of Mouse's streamer has initiated this 'limited-time promotion' which is available to both new and returning customers. For four months, subscribers can enjoy Disney+ Standard with Ads for only £1.99 per month. Ordinarily, this would set you back £19.96, but it's currently available for a mere £7.96 – that's a whopping £12 discount. But don't dawdle, as this offer won't be around forever. It's set to expire on June 30. After the four-month promotional period, Disney+ Standard with Ads will automatically renew at the then-current monthly retail price unless cancelled. This deal makes Disney+ the most affordable major streamer when compared to the cheapest subscription tiers of Netflix (£5.99), Amazon's Prime Video (£5.99) and Apple TV+ (£8.99). And it couldn't come at a better time, with a jam-packed summer slate of new and returning films and series on the horizon, reports the Mirror. Leading the charge is the Disney blockbuster Snow White, which is already available for streaming. Also coming up this summer are Marvel's Ironheart (June 25), season four of The Bear (June 26) and the new prequel series Alien: Earth (August 13). These exciting additions will join an ever-expanding library featuring recent hits and critically acclaimed series such as Andor, Welcome to Wrexham, Rivals, Only Murders in the Building and Shōgun. The enticing £1.99 deal grants access to gripping titles such as Stolen Girl, Good American Family and the second season of the hit reality show, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Disney+ ensures minimal disruption with less than four minutes of adverts per hour, a stark contrast to traditional terrestrial TV. Tech deal of the week In need of a new vacuum, but don't want to pay Dyson or Shark prices? Then we have an Amazon deal worth checking out, as the online retailer is offering this SMOTURE Cordless Vacuum Cleaner for £129.97, down from £199.99 - saving 35 percent and over £70 off the RRP. With a 550W brushless motor and powerful motor, it will pick up dirt and debris from any floor. With its Greeneye-Technologie, it automatically detects to optimise suction power, ensuring a deep clean every time. It also boasts a whole host of other functions and features such as LED lights, a detachable battery, a self-standing charge and a wall-mounted charging station. It also offers up to 60 minutes, in ECO mode, on one single charge, so you'll be able to clean almost the entire home in one go. With a 4.8-star rating, the Smoture VAC02 has become a popular buy among homeowners, with praise for its "lightweight" design and "excellent" suction power. One five-star review read: "Without a doubt the best hoover I have owned. Really picks up on both carpet and hard floors. Battery lasts for me to get round the whole house. I actually enjoy using this hoover and highly recommend taking into account everything alongside price." Someone else said: "An absolute bargain. Wasn't expecting it to be as good as it is. Suction is great and the battery life lasts long enough to do the full house of full power. Stands up by itself too." Purchase the SMOTURE Cordless Vacuum Cleaner for 35 percent less on Amazon here. Moreover, ads are confined to pre-film slots, ensuring uninterrupted movie magic. Beyond this offer, Disney+ entices annual subscribers with two months gratis on its Standard or Premium plans. Choosing the yearly option equates to 12 months for the price of 10, saving up to £25.98, while also enhancing the viewing experience with 4K UHD and HDR video quality and permitting streaming across four devices at once. Trustpilot reviews from Disney+ users are glowing, with one stating: "Offering a fantastic and constantly updated collection." Another user expresses their adoration for Disney+, particularly for Star Wars and Marvel fans, and notes the added value for adults with the introduction of Starz content. However, they caveat their praise by pointing out: "Only reason it didn't get five stars is Disney are not using their other brands in the subscription. "If they did this could easily be the best subscription service ever but there is much more content locked behind their own service." Nevertheless, a glowing five-star appraisal states: "Good servers, good services, this nostalgia when watching old cartoons from TV. The subscription is really cheap compared to other streaming services."
Daily Mirror
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'Epic Universe says it's 'world's most advanced park' - I tested out the claim
Being catapulted 133ft into the air straight after a massive pizza lunch was, in hindsight, a bold choice. Especially in Florida's 35C heat. I'd been launched sky-high at Universal's brand-new Epic Universe, getting an early look at Orlando's most-hyped theme park before it opened to the public. And where better to start than strapping into one of its headline attractions, cosmic-themed dual-racing coaster Stardust Racers? I'm a theme park super-fan. I'll queue for hours for terrifying rides, scream myself hoarse and sprint straight back to the start. But nothing prepared me for this. During the roughly 90-second ride, I was screaming, crying and briefly convinced I'd broken through the stratosphere. This Epic coaster doesn't warm you up gently. It hurtles you into the cosmos at 62mph with a savage force that threatens to rearrange your insides. At one point, as we spiralled through an inverted crisscross at full speed, I was fairly sure I could even see my soul leaving my body. It was a thrilling start to my time at Epic Universe, Universal's long-awaited new Orlando theme park, with an estimated construction price tag of £5.7billion. Announced in 2019, this 110-acre park is the biggest Universal has ever built and is, as its chief Mark Woodbury puts it, 'the most technologically advanced park in the world'. It's also the first major theme park to land in Orlando in 25 years – and with icons to rival Disney including Harry Potter and How to Train Your Dragon, it's coming for the House of Mouse. Ambitious, immersive and bursting with brand-new rides and cutting-edge tech, Epic is Universal's boldest bid yet for the Florida theme-park crown. Through a set of dazzling and unique portals, visitors can 'travel' to five distinctly themed worlds: Celestial Park, Dark Universe, How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk, Super Nintendo World, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, all stitched together with big-budget flair. Here's what to expect… Guests enter Epic Universe through Celestial Park via the grand entrance gates or directly from the Helios Grand Hotel. Unlike the lands beyond, this original world isn't tied to any movie, show or game. It's the centre of Epic with dancing fountains, art-nouveau architecture and tree-lined walkways that evoke the park's interstellar theme. As night falls, colourful lights flicker in sync with an extravagant fountain show, casting a soft glow over the park's cosmic heart. Beaming 'Celestians' (team members) greeted me in splendid cosmic regalia, chirping: 'Welcome, travellers!' I almost asked whether I needed a passport. The highlight is undoubtedly the Stardust Racers, featuring two independent launches, allowing riders to choose between the thrilling yellow 'Photon' and green 'Pulsar' tracks. This is a non-negotiable attraction that'll shake up even hardcore thrill-seekers. Want a slower pace? Hop aboard the wonderfully over-the-top Constellation Carousel, where you can spin gently through the stars on a celestial lion, dragon or peacock. For lunch, try the Space Cowboy pizza, a bold combo of BBQ sauce, rotisserie chicken, olives and crisps, served in the Victorian theatre turned pizzeria, Pizza Moon. Top tip: Stick around until dusk when Apollo hands over the sun to Luna in a dazzling light ceremony. This popular film franchise tells the story of hapless Viking boy Hiccup who defies centuries of tradition by befriending adorable 'night fury' dragon Toothless. Hiccup's craggy, chaotic home Isle of Berk is reimagined in gawp-inducing detail as raucous Vikings and feisty dragons co-exist. Thanks to jaw-dropping animatronics, the dragons are so realistic you half expect them to flap off into the skies. The tech flex is most obvious in the 'Meet Hiccup and Toothless' experience where you can pat a startlingly lifelike Night Fury and snap pics. Hiccup's Wing Gliders is the coaster to queue for to get a dragon's eye view of Berk at speeds up to 45mph and heights of 50ft. Then bag a seat at The Untrainable Dragon for a Broadway-level production featuring all your film faves. Top tip: Grab the carbtastic Dragon Fire Chicken Spire Mac & Cheese Cone from Hooligan's Grog & Gruel. Stuffed with creamy mac, spicy pulled chicken, hot honey, peppers, chimichurri and crispy onions, it's the perfect portable lunch. Universal has finally found a good use for its abandoned Dark Universe. Remember the Tom Cruise Mummy reboot in 2017? That was supposed to kick off a cinematic monsterverse with classic characters including Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man. The Mummy tanked and the project was scrapped. However, you can now see what this franchise could have been in the gothic village of Darkmoor, where monsters and ghouls roam among rides and spooky restaurants. At the heart of Darkmoor, Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment encapsulates Universal's classic characters in a menacing, sophisticated thrill ride. Ushered into eerie Frankenstein Manor, you meet Dr Victoria Frankenstein and an unnervingly lifelike 9ft-tall Frankenstein's monster. On this immersive ride, our heroine Vic tries to control the wayward monsters. Cue a chaotic escape through werewolves, mummies and clawing shadows. My rational brain knew it was fake; my racing heart rate and clammy shirt disagreed. Coaster-wise, Curse of the Werewolf is a family-friendly offering at 37mph, but the spinning cars mean every escape through the haunted forest is a truly chaotic surprise. Top tip: Refresh with a lurid green Monocane Mocktail at the Burning Blade Tavern (look for a windmill on fire, yes really). Absorb '90s nostalgia as you enter the colourful, kinetic Mushroom World through a giant green Warp Pipe/escalator. It's loud, bright and utterly bonkers. Take a spin on Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge, based on the hugely popular Mario Kart franchise – a must for console connoisseurs. Don VR goggles and help the gang to defeat Team Bowser, dodging obstacles and hurling shells as you collect digital coins alongside Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach. Mine-Cart Madness is Donkey Kong Country reimagined via a clattering high-speed coaster that's one missing bolt away from disaster. Ride through lush jungle aboard mine carts as you help Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong protect the Golden Banana from the thieving Tiki Tak Tribe. Be warned, thanks to a track-jumping illusion, it feels like you're constantly about to derail. Top tip: Buy a Universal app linked to a Nintendo-themed Power-Up Band to collect digital coins and keys and interact with the environment. As a huge Boy Wizard fan, this was the moment I'd been waiting for. You're transported into 1920s' wizarding Paris from the Fantastic Beasts films and the British Ministry of Magic from the Harry Potter films. The scale and detail are astonishing as you wander Parisian streets with spellbinding shops, restaurants and a game-changing ride. And if you have an interactive wand, there are 12 spell-casting locations where you can conjure water and fire or interact with enchanted objects. It's home to Universal's most technologically advanced attraction yet, the showpiece Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. Take the Metro-Floo and join Harry, Ron and Hermione in a bid to bring odious bureacrat Dolores Umbridge to justice. No expense has been spared on this extraordinary ride where you fly, drop and spin through various scenes, pursuing Umbridge as she attempts to evade capture. You're swiftly conscripted into helping the Hogwarts gang stop her while being flung through eye-popping digital magic, smoke, animatronic wand-waving and death eaters. If you only do one thing here, this is the ride to queue for. Top tip: Mega fans should purchase a Second Generation Interactive Wand. Epic is Universal's boldest, most imaginative, and most high-tech experience yet and heralds a new era of theme parks in Orlando.
