When you wish upon a stream
Netflix's deal with The Walt Disney Company is one of its biggest wins in the battle for streaming supremacy in Australia, giving the service a large selection of popular content from Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm.
Confirmed Pixar content includes such as films as Cars, Monsters Inc. and UP, while Marvel Studios will be providing the service with Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Walt Disney Animation Studio will be providing the highest-grossing animated film of all time Frozen, as well as Tangled and Big Hero 6, and other Disney favourites like Saving Mr. Banks, Maleficent, Muppets Most Wanted and Planes will also be appearing on the service.
In terms of television shows, the Disney deal brings with it Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Jake and the Never Land Pirates from Disney Junior, the Disney Channel's Good Luck Charlie and ABC Studios' hit series Lost.
While some of those films and shows might make their way over to other streaming services, the Disney deal lists Guardians of the Galaxy, Maleficent and Big Hero 6 as Netflix exclusives in the months after launch.
Let's get this show on the road!
Bringing another licensing partner into its fold, Netflix Australia has announced a deal with Roadshow Entertainment that will bring a wealth of content to the service, including exclusive content and locally-sourced material.
Roadshow Entertainment, which also provides content to rival streaming service Stan, will be providing film content such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Matrix trilogy, and the Ocean's Eleven trilogy, as well as the Aussie classics Happy Feet and Bran Nue Dae and comedies Zoolander and Wedding Crashers.
The deal also grants Netflix the exclusive Australian streaming rights to British TV dramas Broadchurch and The Tunnel.
Will the real media streaming service please "stand up"?
In the first of its (hopefully many) local content announcements, Netflix has confirmed it's going to be bringing the laughs with a heap of stand-up comedy performances from Aussie funny people.
Among some of the specials to be launching are: Carl Barron: A One Ended Stick; Arj Barker: Harvest; Kitty Flanagan: Hello Kitty; Jimeoin: Something Smells Funny, and Umbilical Brothers: The Rehearsal.
The deal that makes these comedy specials possible is with Beyond Distribution, which is also responsible for cult classic MythBusters, plus kids shows Mako Mermaids, H2O: Just add water, Lightning Point, Maya the Bee, Lalaloopsy, and The Hive.
Naturally, these shows will also be appearing on Netflix Australia when it launches next month, although don't expect every episode from every show at once.
Other good stuff
Just in time for Halloween comes the first season of the hit TV version of Scream, based on Wes Craven's beloved slasher quadrilogy.
Available from October 1, Scream unfolds its killer mystery over ten episodes and features a cast of hot young people being picked off by a mask-wearing maniac – will you be able to guess who the killer is before they do?
If you're a fan of Batman (and let's face it, who isn't?) you'll be happy to know that the first season of the hit series Gotham will be available to stream in its entirety on Netflix from October 12.
Set during Bruce Wayne's childhood, the show follows rookie cop Jim Gordon (The OC's Ben McKenzie) as he navigates the Gotham City underworld, taking on young versions of Penguin, Riddler and more.
RIght. So is that it?
Not even close – fans of the hit series Supernatural are in for a treat, as the tenth season of the show has now been added to stream instantly on Netflix – just in time for Halloween!
But that's just one show – as with any subscription video-on-demand service, new content is being added to Netflix daily, so stay tuned for more information on upcoming show and movie additions.
We will be regularly updating this content lineup listing as more information becomes available to us.
- Netflix has officially launched in Australia. Time to read our Netflix review!
