Star is about to improve Disney Plus forever – if you live outside the US, anyway. The brand-new 'general entertainment' channel adds a load more TV shows and movies as part of your existing Disney Plus subscription, and these include more adult-friendly entertainment than you're used to on the service. The app will incorporate new parental controls to permit this.
You don't have to do anything extra to get Star – if you're subscribed to Disney Plus already, you'll get it when it launches. It's simply a new addition to the app.
Disney Plus will receive brand-new originals that fit this new channel – originals that look very different to the Marvel, Star Wars and family-oriented stuff that's currently synonymous with the streaming service. Four original shows have been confirmed for launch: Solar Opposites, Love, Victor, Big Sky and Helstrom.
This is great news for adult users of the service – but there is a drawback. Disney Plus will get a modest price increase in the UK, Australia and other territories starting on the Star release date of February 23, as this new content rolls out. There's a way you can delay paying the increased price, though, which we'll discuss below.
Here, we'll explain everything we know about Star so far, including the now-complete list of TV shows and movies confirmed for launch, which countries are due to get this new addition to Disney Plus and how the app's parental controls will change to factor in this extra content.
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What is Disney Plus Star?
The House of Mouse describes Star on Disney Plus as a "new general entertainment content brand", but we think it's best thought of as a new channel within Disney Plus. At launch on February 23, the Disney Plus app homepage will add Star alongside existing channels Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic – assuming Star is coming to your territory.
This will be your gateway into the wider content owned by The Walt Disney Company, including titles from Disney Television Studios, FX, 20th Century Studios and 20th Television. In the UK, the launch of Star will double the amount of content available to stream on the service, Disney has confirmed – so it's a significant offering.
You don't have to do anything extra to get Star. It's included with your Disney Plus subscription.
Why does Star exist? Well, while Disney owns Hulu in the US – a great Netflix-style mainstream streaming service with a long history, and the home of lots of Disney-owned adult-targeted content – it doesn't have a footprint outside America. Hulu is sold in a bundle with Disney Plus in the US.
Since Disney owns so much adult-friendly content via the Fox acquisition, it makes sense that the company wants to find a way to stream that stuff to non-US customers directly.
Disney Plus, meanwhile, already has a strong presence in major markets around the world, so rolling all the content into a single app experience saves the headache and significant challenge of launching a new service.
Adding Star is the solution to that.
Disney Plus Star release date
Star comes to Disney Plus on February 23, 2021, and future Disney Plus international launches will include Star as standard.
Which countries will get Disney Plus Star?
Star is launching in 'select international markets', which include Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Local programming is planned for the different regions getting the service – so expect this to yield more Disney Plus originals in future.
Disney Plus Star will bring a price increase
When Star launches on February 23, the Disney Plus price in the UK will increase from £5.99 to £7.99 per month, and from £59.99 to £79.90 per year. If you're an active subscriber, you get to pay the old price until August 23, 2021. That's the only rub for getting a lot more content to enjoy.
For Disney Plus Australia subscribers, the price will increase from AU$8.99 per month or $89.99 per year to AU$11.99 per month or $119.99 for a full year.
A note for UK customers: if your account lapses between February 23 and August 23, you'll be charged the new, higher price when you rejoin, according to Disney.
The best way to avoid the price increase, then, could be to grab the yearly tier before February 23. That way you won't pay anything extra until early 2022. This is easier to do if you're a monthly subscriber.
Still, Disney confirms here that if you're an existing annual UK subscriber and your subscription renews before August 23, you won't pay the new price until the following annual payment.
Star on Disney Plus TV shows: every series at launch
The TV show line-up for Star on Disney Plus at launch has been revealed for the UK, and you can see it below.
The first four originals coming to Disney Plus at launch on February have also been revealed – Love, Victor is a Hulu series about a young man trying to make a fresh start at a new high school while making sense of his sexual orientation, and Big Sky, a Montana-set thriller from ABC about private detectives trying to save kidnapping victims.
The long-awaited animated series Solar Opposites from Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland is also coming to Star, along with the Marvel TV show Helstrom.
2021 originals for Star on Disney Plus are confirmed to include Dopesick with Michael Keaton and Rosario Dawson, The Dropout starring Kate McKinnon, a host of FX originals like The Old Man with Jeff Bridges and "new content" from the Kardashian Jenner dynasty.
Here's the full launch line-up, courtesy of Disney UK:
- According to Jim
- Alias
- American Dad
- Animal Fight Night
- Apocalypse World War War I
- Apocalypse: The Second World War
- Atlanta
- Big Sky
- Black-Ish
- Bloody Tales of Europe
- Bloody Tales of the Tower
- Bones
- Brothers & Sisters
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Buried Secrets of WWII
- Burn Notice
- Castle
- Code Black
- Cougar Town
- Desperate Housewives
- Devious Maids
- Drugs, Inc
- Family Guy
- Feud: Bette and Joan
- Firefly
- Flashforward
- The Fosters
- The Gifted
- Glee
- Grey's Anatomy
- Helstrom
- The Hot Zone
- How I Met Your Mother
- Inside North Korea's Dynasty
- The Killing
- LA 92
- Lance
- Lie to Me
- Lost
- Love, Victor
- Mafia Confidential
- Maradona Confidential
- Mars
- Modern Family
- OJ: Made in America
- Perception
- Prison Break
- Raising Hope
- Resurrection
- Revenge
- Rosewood
- Scandal
- Scream Queens
- Scrubs
- Sleepy Hollow
- Snowfall
- Solar Opposites
- Sons of Anarchy
- The Strain
- Terra Nova
- Terriers
- Trust
- Ugly Betty
- Ultimate Survival WWII
- Valley of the Boom
- Witness to Disaster
- WWII Bomb Hunters
- The X-Files
- The 2000s: The Decade We Saw It All
- 24
- 24: Legacy
- The 80s: The Decade That Made Us
- 9/11 Firehouse
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- 9-1-1
Introducing Star, a new world of entertainment coming to Disney+ 🤩+ More Series + More Movies + More Laughs + More Thrills + More Originals 🤯Save the date for the 23rd February! *tries to contain excitement* pic.twitter.com/1vJxnRKLv0January 4, 2021
Star on Disney Plus movies
Here's a list of every Star movie coming to Disney Plus on February 23, which include a number of Oscar winners:
- The 13th Warrior
- 42 to 1
- 9 to 5
- Adam (2009)
- The Air Up There
- The Alamo
- Anna and the King
- Annapolis
- Another Earth
- Another Stakeout
- Anywhere But Here
- Arachnophobia
- Australia
- Bachelor Party
- Bad Ass
- Bad Company (2002)
- Bad Company (AKA: Tool Shed)
- Bad Girls (1994)
- Bad Times at the El Royale
- Baggage Claim
- The Banger Sisters
- Be Water
- Beaches
- Before and After (1996)
- Belle
- Beloved (1998)
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- Best Laid Plans
- Big Trouble
- Billy Bathgate
- Black Nativity
- Borat
- Boys Don't Cry
- Braveheart
- Breaking and Entering
- Bringing Out the Dead
- Broadcast News
- Brokedown Palace
- Broken Lizard's Club Dread
- Brothers in Exile
- Brown Sugar
- Bubble Boy
- Bulworth
- Bushwhacked
- Can't Buy Me Love
- Casanova (2005)
- Catch That Kid
- Cedar Rapids
- Chain Reaction
- Chasing Tyson
- Choke
- The Clearing
- Cleopatra (1963)
- Cocktail
- Cocoon: The Return
- Cold Creek Manor
- The Color of Money
- Come See The Paradise
- The Comebacks
- Commando (1985)
- Con Air
- Conan the Barbarian
- Confetti
- Consenting Adults
- A Cool Dry Place
- Cousin Bette
- Crazy/Beautiful
- Crimson Tide
- The Crucible
- Cyrus
- Damien - Omen II
- The Darjeeling Unlimited
- Dark Water
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
- The Day the Series Stopped
- Day Watch
- Deadpool 2
- Dead Presidents
- Deep Rising
- Deion's Double Play
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Devil's Due
- Die Hard 2
- Die Hard with a Vengeance
- Double Take
- Down and Out in Beverly Hills
- Down Periscope
- Dragonball: Evolution
- Dreaming of Joseph Lees
- Drive Me Crazy
- The Drop
- Duets
- The East
- Ed Wood
- The Edge
- Encino Man
- Enemy of the State
- Enough Said
- Evita
- Exodus: Gods and Kings
- The Fab Five (2011)
- Far From the Madding Crowd (2015)
- The Fault in Our Stars
- The Favourite
- The Final Conflict
- Firestorm (1998)
- The Fly (1986)
- For the Boys
- Four Falls of Buffalo
- French Connection II
- The French Connection
- From Hell
- Gentlemen Broncos
- A Good Day to Die Hard
- Good Morning, Vietnam
- The Good Son (1993)
- A Good Year
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Great White Hype
- Grosse Pointe Blank
- Guilty As Sin
- Gun Shy
- The Happening
- Here on Earth
- High Fidelity
- High Hells and Low Lifes
- Hitchcock
- Hoffa
- Holy Man
- Hope Springs (2003)
- I Heart Huckabees
- I Love You, Beth Cooper
- I Origins
- I Think I Love My Wife
- Idiocracy
- In America
- In Her Shoes
- Independence Day
- Independence Day: Resurgence
- Inventing the Abbotts
- Jennifer's Body
- The Jewel of the Nile
- John Tucker Must Die
- Johnson Family Vacation
- Jordan Rides the Bus
- Joshua
- Just Married
- Just Wright
- Kingdom Come
- Kissing Jessica Stein
- Kung Pow: Enter the Fist
- Ladyhawke
- The Ladykillers (2004)
- Last Dance (1996)
- Le Divorce
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
- Live Free or Die Hard
- Looking for Richard
- Mad Love (1995)
- The Man From Snowy River
- Margaret
- Martha Marchy May Marlene
- MASH
- Max Payne
- The Maze Runner
- Medicine Man
- Melinda and Melinda
- Metro
- Miami Rhapsody
- Miller's Crossing
- Moulin Rouge (2001)
- My Father the Hero
- Mystery, Alaska
- The Namesake
- Nature Boy
- Never Die Alone
- The Newton Boys
- Night Watch (2006)
- No Mas
- Nothing to Lose
- Notorious
- Office Space
- One Hour Photo
- Oscar and Lucinda
- The Other Woman (2014)
- Our Family Wedding
- Out to Sea
- Pathfinder (2007)
- Phat Girlz
- Phone Booth
- Planet of the Apes (1968)
- Planet of the Apes (2001)
- Pony Excess
- The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
- Post Grad
- Powder
- The Preacher's Wife
- Pretty Woman
- Primeval
- The Puppet Masters
- The Pyramid
- Quills
- Quiz Show
- Ravenous
- Rebound
- Renaissance Man
- Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise
- The Ringer
- The Rocker
- Romancing the Stone
- Ruby Sparks
- Runaway Bride
- Rushmore
- Ruthless People
- The Savages
- Say it Isn't So
- The Scarlet Letter
- Sea of Shadows
- The Secret Life of Bees
- Separate Lies
- The Sessions
- Shadow Conspiracy
- Shallow Hal
- Shining Through
- The Siege
- Signs
- Simon Birch
- A Simple Twist of Fate
- The Sitter (2011)
- Six Days, Seven Nights
- Sleeping with the Enemy
- Solaris
- Someone Like You
- Soul Food
- Spy Hard
- Stakeout
- Starship Troopers
- Stoker
- Super Troopers (2002)
- Surrogates
- Swing Kids
- Taxi (2004)
- Terminal Velocity
- Thank You for Smoking
- There's Something About Mary
- The Thin Red Line (1999)
- Three Fugitives
- The Three Stooges (2012)
- Titan AE
- Tombstone
- Toys
- Trapped in Paradise
- Tristan & Isolde
- Up Close & Personal
- VI Warshawski
- Veronica Guerin
- The Village (2004)
- Von Ryan's Express
- Waiting to Exhale
- Waitress
- Waking Life
- The War of the Roses
- The Watch (2012)
- The Waterboy
- The Way Way Back
- What's Love Got to Do With It
- When a Man Loves a Woman
- White Men Can't Jump
- William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet
- Win Win
- Woman on Top
- Working Girl (1988)
- The X-Files
- The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Disney Plus parental controls: how they'll work when Star launches
Disney Plus is implementing new parental controls to mark the launch of Star. Customers will be asked if they want to opt in to the expanded, 18+ rated library of content when they log in to the app after Star launches. The password will need to be re-entered to ensure the account owner is the one verifying any changes.
Parents will then be able to set limits for profiles in the app based on content ratings, protecting children from mature content like the foul mouth of Die Hard's John McClane. A PIN can be used to stop younger people from accessing adult accounts.
For accounts with 18+ content permitted, however, expect Star shows and movies to be mixed among the existing Disney Plus offerings – during Disney's investor day presentation in December 2020, for example, it was shown how enabling Star content would add the more mature X-Men movie Logan to the Marvel section in the Disney Plus app too. (Note that Logan has not been confirmed for the Star channel in the UK yet, though.)
These controls will be added to Disney Plus globally on February 23.
Star should increase the value of Disney Plus to adults
Our one persistent complaint about Disney Plus from launch has been its lack of adult-friendly content – the relatively shallow library of the service offered plenty of all-time classics for families to enjoy, but less in the way of binge-friendly dramas and comedies.
Star is Disney's attempt to answer those critics, as well as making it a more competitive streamer next to the likes of Netflix, Now TV and Amazon Prime Video. This is just the start, too – we can't wait to see what originals it has planned down the line.
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