The Walt Disney Company is pivoting to a "direct-to-consumer first" business model, which means putting new and existing content on streaming platforms such as Disney+, and increasingly bypassing cinemas and traditional television channels.

The media behemoth announced that Disney+ will launch in Singapore on Feb 23 next year, with more than 500 films and 15,000 episodes of content accessible for a subscription fee of $11.98 a month or $119.98 a year.

It revealed that Disney+, which launched a year ago, now has 86.6 million subscribers globally. In comparison, Netflix - currently the No. 1 on-demand streaming service worldwide - has 195 million subscribers.

In a presentation for investors and fans beamed from its Los Angeles production lot on Thursday (Los Angeles time) - and as the company's stock price hit an all-time high - the company unveiled dozens of upcoming films and series from Disney and other brands within its stable, including Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and National Geographic.

Many are spin-offs and reboots of titles in Disney's vast library, but with an emphasis on "quality, not volume", said chairman Bob Iger.

Over the next few years, the company will release - as "Disney+ Originals" - roughly 10 Marvel series, 10 Star Wars series, and 30 live-action and animated series and features. All will be new and released directly on Disney+.

Some of these, such as animated Pixar movie Soul, were initially slated for a theatrical release, but will now debut exclusively on Disney+ in the United States this Christmas. The film opens in Singapore cinemas on Dec 25.

But Disney chief executive Bob Chapek stopped short of replicating rival WarnerMedia's radical announcement that it will release all 2021 Warner Bros films in cinemas and on its HBO Max streaming service simultaneously - a move some observers believe sounds a death knell for the theatrical moviegoing experience.

Instead, Mr Chapek said the company will be flexible about when and on which platform it would deliver and debut content, given changing consumer preferences and the "prolonged uncertainty due to the pandemic".

Regardless of where it originates, however, all content will eventually end up on Disney+ and other direct-to-consumer platforms the company owns, including services such as Hulu and ESPN+ in the US.

The company is prioritising and ramping up the production of original content for these platforms and will add something new to Disney+ every week, be it a Disney+ Original, a previous theatrical release or something from its library.

In the light of continued Covid-19-related challenges in the marketplace, tent-pole films such as the animated Raya And The Last Dragon - inspired by South-east Asian culture and voiced by actresses Kelly Marie Tran and Awkwafina - will be released on Disney+, for a premium, at the same time it debuts in theatres next March.

Disney+ offerings will also vary somewhat in different countries.

In Singapore, there will be content under six banners: Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Star, the Asian content brand and Disney's general entertainment content brand outside the US.

No details have been released on how the launch of Disney+ will affect Disney titles that are currently accessible on traditional TV and cable platforms in Singapore, such as the Fox, FX and National Geographic channels on StarHub and SingTel TV.

Viewers in Singapore can subscribe to the new service on the Disney+ website or the Disney+ app, and register at DisneyPlus.com to receive updates.

New titles from Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar