Disney+ won’t be streaming in China any time soon

China is crazy about Marvel movies, but fans have to settle for streaming on platforms from local companies like Baidu and Alibaba

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Avengers: Endgame was a smash hit in China that literally left people howling in the cinema. (Picture: Dickson Lee/SCMP)

Published: 11:30pm, 13 Nov 2019Updated: 12:55am, 14 Nov 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Disney's new streaming platform, Disney+, is finally live. But as much as the world’s largest country loves Disney, it might be waiting a long time for the streaming service.

Disney+ has only launched in the US for now, but it has global ambitions. It’s spreading to other countries over the next couple years, but China’s tight content regulations make it almost impossible to operate as a foreign media company in the country.

The problem is certainly not that people in China don’t want Disney+. The country is known to have a strong love for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Avengers: Endgame broke records when millions of fans in China showed up for a Wednesday premiere, which pulled in US$107 million. Disney’s Zootopia was also the country’s biggest animated hit until homemade Nezha stole the crown this year.

Not all of Disney’s properties are a hit in the country. Star Wars has notoriously fallen flat there, where most filmgoers have no nostalgia for the original films. Disney hopes it can eventually solve this, starting with some help from Tencent.

One of the most talked about new shows premiering on Disney+ is also a Star Wars show. But even if China loved Star Wars, the company wouldn’t be able to stream the show directly to its fans.

Setting up shop in China has proven surprisingly difficult for a company that has won the hearts and minds of viewers around the world. Disney previous launched a content service in China called DisneyLife in 2016, which was run by Alibaba. But that service only lasted five months before it was shut down at the “request of Chinese regulators,” according to The Wall Street Journal.