Today we learned of how Netflix will be getting its hands on Star Wars : The Force Awakens… for Canada. That’s not necessarily bad news for most users because of wide-spread knowledge on how to jump regions but it does beg the question, why will The Force Awakens only be available on Netflix in Canada?
Well the reason we expected Star Wars VII in the first place was because of the upcoming Disney deal which starts on January 1st that will make Netflix, in the US at least, the exclusive provider of all new theatrical releases. How much of Disney’s catalogue is to be included is still unknown.
A deal already exists between Disney and Starz granting them the rights to all theatrical releases up until January 1st. That means that the release date of Star Wars just comes shy of the new deal meaning that Starz will still have exclusive access to it in the United States. Dammit.
Variety, who’s leading the story have said that Netflix are currently in negotiations with Disney about bringing the previous 6 movies to the platform to go along with The Clone Wars. In Variety’s article they say “On Netflix’s third-quarter 2015 earnings call last week, chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the company was in talks with Disney about the possibility of licensing past “Star Wars” movies.”
