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Wednesdays are the new Fridays. At least, that's the case on Disney Plus – The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the streamer's original series will now all air on Wednesday, including new episodes of The Mandalorian, which has previously been released on Fridays, and the upcoming Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett.
The shift comes following the success of Loki as well as Disney Plus increasing its original content output. While TV shows will come on Wednesdays, new original movies will still be released on Fridays. As a result, movies and shows will no longer compete with each other for subscribers' attention, plus films that release in cinemas on Friday won't be affected by people heading home to stream shows.
The Disney Plus change will come into effect in July, which means the upcoming Monsters, Inc. spin-off Monsters at Work (July 2 to July 7) and live-action comedy Turner & Hooch (July 16 to July 21) have changed release dates.
Disney Plus also continues to differentiate itself from Netflix, which normally releases entire seasons of its biggest shows on Fridays. Disney still does not adhere to the binge model and releases episodes weekly.
It's worth noting that, before Netflix started favoring the Friday slot, Fridays were classically seen as a death sentence for major dramas on network television. Some of the biggest shows, such as Lost, were released on Wednesdays, while many others like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead have been released on Sundays.
Netflix's way of thinking is based on the idea of letting subscribers watch shows on their own time and at their own pace, which is why seasons are released in one go. Disney Plus applies to different rules, as do other streamers: Apple TV Plus releases episodes on a weekly basis on Fridays, while HBO Max and Peacock put out new releases on Thursdays. Hulu, meanwhile, does weekly releases on both Wednesdays and Fridays. It appears, then, that the cards are gradually falling into place amid the ongoing Streaming Wars.
Loki continues on Disney Plus – check out the Loki release schedule. Meanwhile, The Mandalorian season 3 should be with us some time next year.
