The news
The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has agreed to license a slate of films and TV series to Netflix (NFLX), a Disney Netflix licensing deal first reported by Variety on October 2, 2026. The titles stay on Disney+ and Hulu, so Netflix is getting shared, not exclusive, rights, according to TheWrap and What's on Netflix.
The best-known pieces are promotional. The first two seasons of Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians and all five Ice Age films were set to arrive on Netflix on October 4 for three-month windows, TheWrap reported. Season 3 of Percy Jackson premieres on Disney+ on November 20, and the sixth film, Ice Age: Boiling Point, opens in theaters on February 5, 2027.
The deal also covers current network shows. Every season of ABC's Will Trent is due on Netflix on November 3, and ABC's Shifting Gears follows on December 1 in the U.S., according to the reports. Tracker's three seasons are headed to Netflix outside the U.S. in February 2027.
Starting in early 2027, Netflix is also due to carry Pixar's Soul and Elio and Walt Disney Animation Studios' Raya and the Last Dragon, on a rotating basis that varies by region, What's on Netflix reported. Library series include Felicity (in the U.S. from October 7), Revenge, Army Wives, Fresh Off the Boat and, outside the U.S., This Is Us.
Neither company disclosed what Netflix is paying, and none of the reports we reviewed carried an on-record statement from Disney or Netflix. What's on Netflix reported that the Percy Jackson and Ice Age titles arrived globally; TheWrap did not specify regions.
Why it's trending: U.S. Google searches for "netflix movies" climbed to about 10,000 on October 3, according to Google Trends data, the day after the deal was reported and a day before the first Disney titles were due on the service.
The numbers
- Ice Age films heading to Netflix
- 5
- Promotional window for Percy Jackson and Ice Age
- 3 months
- Percy Jackson Season 3 on Disney+
- November 20, 2026
- Ice Age: Boiling Point in theaters
- February 5, 2027
- Deal value
- Not disclosed
Why CEOs should care
Why it matters: Disney is treating Netflix less as a rival to starve and more as a marketing channel it gets paid to use. The Percy Jackson and Ice Age windows are timed to a new season and a new theatrical release, a bet that Netflix's reach brings viewers back to Disney+ and to cinemas. For media and consumer-brand executives, that is a reminder that owning a platform and renting out content are no longer either-or choices.
For CFOs and strategy teams at content owners, the model is worth studying: short, non-exclusive windows tied to a launch, rather than long exclusive deals that pull titles off your own service. Questions to ask: which back-catalog assets could earn licensing fees without hurting subscriber retention, and how would you measure whether a partner window lifted your own launch?
For advertisers and media buyers, more Disney franchises on Netflix means family and young-adult audiences may be spread across more services around the Percy Jackson and Ice Age launches. Plan campaigns around where those audiences will actually be watching, not just where the franchise lives.
The bigger picture
The deal marks a shift from Disney's stance in December 2023, when it licensed series such as Grey's Anatomy, Prison Break and How I Met Your Mother to Netflix but kept Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars for Disney+ and Hulu. Then-CEO Bob Iger said at the time he did not see why Disney should license those brands "just to basically chase bucks," as reported by The Desk.
Putting Pixar's Soul and Elio on Netflix, even non-exclusively, loosens that line. The titles chosen are non-franchise animated films rather than Marvel or Star Wars, which suggests Disney is still protecting its biggest brands while testing how far licensing can go.
What’s next
Watch the dates: Felicity in the U.S. on October 7 (per What's on Netflix), Will Trent on November 3, Percy Jackson Season 3 on Disney+ on November 20, Shifting Gears in the U.S. on December 1, and the Pixar and Disney Animation films from early 2027. Disney's and Netflix's next earnings calls are the likeliest place for either company to put numbers or strategy behind the deal.
What “Fact-checked” means
Fact-checking means testing a story’s facts against the evidence before it is published. This story went through at least two separate checks before this version was published.
- What we checked
- Its names, figures, dates, job titles, quotes and who said what were checked against the story’s sources, including its main source where it could be opened. The headline was checked for accuracy and overstatement.
- How
- A first check reviewed the whole story. If it passed, a second, skeptical check went back to the sources to look for mistakes in the most important facts. If a check flagged the story, it was edited to fix the problems found, and a separate re-check then reviewed the whole story again.
- Who
- The checks are made by our newsroom, as steps kept separate from the writing, under rules set by our editor, Hussein Mukhtar. A story the checks still flag is held for the editor, who decides whether it is fixed, published or dropped.
- If something is wrong
- “Fact-checked” does not mean error-free. If a material error is found after publication, we correct the story and add a note saying what changed. Report an error
