Disney+ in South Africa has six movies added to it today all from the world of Spider-Man.
The Sam Raimi trilogy of movies, Spider-Verse, Homecoming and Venom are now available.
What’s interesting about this move, aside from more content for subscribers, is the weird legal grey area around streaming rights for Spider-Man and his extended cast.
As many already know Sony Pictures still owns these rights but occasionally works with Marvel / Disney on projects.
Because of this Spider-Man and Venom movies are also available on other platforms with, for example, Netflix offering up some of the roster.
Here’s the list of the six movies announced for Disney+ South Africa below. Each listing with an asterisks (*) is also available on Netflix South Africa:
- Spider-Man (2002)
- Spider-Man 2 (2004)
- Spider-Man 3 (2007)
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)*
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)*
- Venom (2018)*
Added to this confusion is also the issue of regional content where a movie or show, such as any of the Spider-Man properties, appearing on Netflix in one territory and not another.
We covered some of this when we provided insight into watching the original Top Gun on Netflix.
And, to top all of this off, Disney+ in South Africa will be getting more Sony content in the future.
“Additional titles from Sony Pictures’ film and television library are expected to premiere on Disney+ in South Africa later this year,” a press release sent to us reads.
Again going back to Netflix South Africa and it has The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) while Disney+ has none of them right now.
For those who just want one place to stream everything it seems like that dream won’t come to fruition but it is nice to see Disney+ become more true to its namesake and offer everything that is attached to its name.
