Disney Fans Hope That 'Wish' Will Be on Disney Plus Sooner Than Expected

The Gist:

• Disney's film Wish, created to celebrate the studio's centennial, has faced criticism for lacking originality and being overly nostalgic.
• Due to the film's box office flop and negative reviews, there's anticipation for its release on Disney Plus.
• While Disney Plus hasn't officially announced the release date, it is speculated that Wish will likely be available on the streaming platform around Feb. 7, 2024.

Usually, Disney films are a box office smash, winning over families and Disney adults alike. However, its 2023 film, Wish, didn’t quite live up to the expectations. Wish was created to celebrate the centennial of Disney Studio, which was founded on Oct. 16, 1923. 100 years later, studio execs believed the perfect film would be a nod to Disney nostalgia, animation, songwriting, and storytelling.

However, the biggest critique of the film is that because it was so wrapped up in its nostalgia, it failed to deliver anything original. Both the animation and music have been likened to AI by fans because of Disney’s instruction to “copy” its past films. Naturally, with plenty of criticism, moviegoers are hesitant to purchase theater tickets to see Wish. So when will it be on Disney Plus?

While Disney Plus hasn’t revealed when we should expect to see Wish on the docket yet, we can make an educated guess. In the past, Disney films have stayed in theaters for 45 days, after which people can rent or buy the films on various streaming platforms or Blu-Ray. After a month of this money-making period, films then arrive on Disney Plus to be enjoyed by all of its subscribers.

If that’s the case for Wish, 45 days after its Nov. 22, 2023, theatrical release would be Jan. 6, 2024, the last day we can expect to see Wish in cinemas. So add a month to that and Feb. 7 is the likely date that Wish will be on Disney Plus.

However, this could change if Wish doesn’t stay in theaters for its expected 45-day run. It’s less popular than past Disney animated films, with just a $19 million domestic opening weekend, in comparison to 2021’s Encanto, which had a $27 million domestic opening weekend. Because of this, people might not be too eager to see it and theaters might decide to pull it from their rosters ahead of schedule.

While some people will see every Disney film in theaters no matter what, others are fairweather Disney fans. So it might not be worth the money to see Wish right when it comes out or in theaters if the reviews aren’t up to par. On Rotten Tomatoes, Wish has only a 49 percent Tomatometer, meaning that less than half of Wish’s critical reviews are positive.

On the flip side, Wish has an audience score of 81 percent, which means it can’t be that bad! One of the problems is that when looking at Wish with a critical eye, it’s hard to find anything original, according to critics. Critics seem to agree that instead of telling a new story, it seems like it’s just “recycled scraps” and it “plays more like a collection of deleted tracks than greatest hits.”

Obviously, that’s not too promising to the potential moviegoer, so we don’t blame you if you just want to wait for Wish to get to Disney Plus before committing time and money to it. Luckily, we don’t have to wait too long.