Beginning this month, all 11 live-action Star Wars movies are heading to Disney’s linear networks including ABC, FX nets, and Freeform. The arrangement stems from Disney renegotiating the existing domestic licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner Networks, which will continue to carry the full suite of movies, Deadline reports.
According to Deadline, the development comes as the seven-year term of TNets’ deal for the first six Star Wars movies, consisting of the two George Lucas trilogies, expired at the end of September, with the windows on the newer films staggered and set to expire at different times over the next couple of years. The new co-exclusive multi-year deal aligns the terms of the 11 films for both the Disney and the Turner networks, which will end at the same time. The fate of the slate’s domestic linear TV rights beyond that has not been determined.
The 10 Star Wars titles included in the 2016 Disney-Turner deal include The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Fantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), Revenge of the Sith (2005), The Force Awakens (2015), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), The Last Jedi (2017), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
The Disney Star Wars linear rights era will begin this Saturday, Oct. 7, on FX with a marathon featuring the original Star Wars trilogy, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was not part of the Turner package.
Source: Deadline