The film's thrice-delayed showing, which costs $30 to purchase for unlimited viewings, follows Universal's "Trolls World Tour" and Warner Bros.' "Scoob!" in bypassing theaters and going straight to consumers.
While Disney's streaming service, Disney Plus, is still making money for the company after its late 2019 launch, the entertainment giant in May reported $1.4 billion in total losses across its theme parks and other units as the coronavirus shuttered businesses. The following quarter Disney reported a net loss of $4.7 billion.
Big-budget films are typically released in theaters, then home video and TV, but that order has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic. Efforts to curtail the virus's spread, including the closure of traditional movie theaters, have left limited options for studios to release films. Universal Pictures in March made its movies available in homes the same day as their global release in theaters.