EXCLUSIVE: Disney is to pull back on commissioning pan-Nordic originals for Disney+ and will instead focus on individual territories in Scandinavia.
Deadline understands the Burbank-based studio’s EMEA arm has been informing producers across the Nordic region of the change, which will see the company spending on “local” original content in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
We understand Disney will stop fully financing pan-Nordic originals for Disney+, but will assess pre-buy, licensing and co-production opportunities and invest in local commissions that roll out globally, such as Ice Road Rescue in Norway. Unscripted commissioning in Finland, where Disney has linear channels and has originals such as Silent Library and Melkein MENSA, will continue. More detail on plans in scripted will come later this year, we hear.
Disney’s Nordic originals to date have included an adaptation of Swedish author Mikael Niemi’s To Cook a Bear set in the mid-19th century and starring the likes of Gustav Skarsgård and Emil Kárlsen, and Swedish series Whiskey on the Rocks, a co-production with pubcaster SVT. Both are for Disney+ and will launch this year.
A small number of staff will be impacted. Senior Manager of Original Programming Disney+ Nordics Nanna Mailand-Mercado, who reports into Programming and Production Director Vibeke Lia and is Disney+’s exec producer on Whiskey on the Rocks, is understood be among them.
Insiders at Disney stressed the House of Mouse is not pulling out of commissioning in the Nordics, contrary to some industry chatter and a local report, but have acknowledged that strategy and investment levels are shifting. We hear there has been an ongoing review of the Disney+ strategy in the region, which has led to the move. In Sweden and Denmark, Disney+ has live UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League coverage, which will be coupled with local studio sports programs.
“We are still looking at local productions, including drama, and are looking forward to launching Whiskey on the Rocks and To Cook a Bear on Disney+,” said a Disney spokesperson in the Nordics. “What we have seen is that there are differences in consumption and conditions between the respective Nordic countries, and we are therefore focusing on hyperlocal content rather than cross-Nordic.”
Disney has rolled out more than 70 originals in EMEA since launch such as the upcoming A Thousand Blows and is planning to invest $1B a year in the region over the next five years. This will cover studios, Disney+, Nat Geo and TV channels.
