'Raya and the Last Dragon': How to Watch the Disney Movie Online and When It Will Be Free
Raya and the Last Dragon is following Soul and Mulan in being the latest Disney movie to come straight to Disney+ rather than theaters.
The story of a girl who finds the world's last dragon to fight a new breed of monsters will come to cinemas when they start to reopen. Before then, the movie will also be available to stream globally for the next few months. Right now, Disney+ subscribers have to pay extra to watch the movie, though in a few months it will be free to view for all subscribers.
How to watch Raya and the Last Dragon online
Currently, the movie is available to watch online in the U.S. and around the world on Disney+. However, the film is not available to every subscriber of the service.
Disney+ subscribers have to pay for what the service calls "premier access" to watch Raya and the Last Dragon. For $29.99, viewers have two months to exclusively watch the movie before it comes to the main Disney+. In this time, they can watch the stream as many times as they want.
Previously, Disney+ also made subscribers pay for "premier access" to watch Mulan. Per research commissioned by Yahoo from analytics research firm 7Park Data, around a third of Disney+ subscribers in the U.S. paid premier access to watch the live action reboot, netting a respectable profit of $261 million.
After Mulan, however, Disney+ made major movies like Soul and their theatrical recording of Hamilton free to all subscribers. With Raya and the Last Dragon also coming to cinemas in some areas, however, it seems they have revived premier access to prevent people in those areas simply deciding to watch it for free on the service.
There is, however, a way to watch the movie slightly cheaper. The New York International Children's Film Festival will be hosting two online screenings on March 12 for $18 each.
When will Raya and the Last Dragon be free for Disney+ subscribers?
The movie, however, will be available for free on Disney+ in a few months.
Traditionally, there is a seven month window between a film going to theatres and streaming services, with the film getting a 90-day cinematic release before coming out on DVD, Blu-Ray and on digital entertainment stores like Amazon and Apple TV. Four months later, films usually start to stream.
However, the pandemic has led to dramatic shortenings of this window as companies try to cater to an audience either at home.
So it is with Raya and the Last Dragon. The movie is set to be available to watch by all Disney+ subscribers on June 4 – after, that is, a traditional 90-day cinematic release window.
What is Raya and the Last Dragon about?
The official synopsis for the movie reads, "long ago, in the fantasy world of Kumandra, humans and dragons lived together in harmony. However, when sinister monsters known as the Druun threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity.
"Now, 500 years later, those same monsters have returned, and it's up to a lone warrior to track down the last dragon and stop the Druun for good."
