The second annual Hallowstream Celebration for Disney+ will kick off on October 1, where the streaming service will drop several brand-new Halloween-themed specials throughout the month. Competing with other streaming services notable for their original and classic Halloween content like Huluween, Netflix and Chills, Peacock-tober, and HBO Max’s catalog of infamous screamfests and terrifying new movies, Disney+ has its work cut out to bring in audiences for the spooky season. With all of the popular franchises and IP Disney holds, it won’t be hard to find new content, reboots, and adaptations to celebrate Halloween every year.
In Disney+’s 2020 inaugural Hallowstream celebration, the streaming service didn’t actually debut any new original Halloween content, but it made it easier to find all of Disney’s existing Halloween movies and TV show episodes all in one place. As Disney+ was still getting on its feet in October 2020, the new content premiering during the Halloween festivities wasn’t all that spooky, with the prominent new movies and TV shows being The Mandalorian season 2, Clouds, Once Upon a Snowman, and The Right Stuff.
The line-up for Halloween 2021 is far more thrilling than 2020 when Disney+ was just getting a feel for how to celebrate the spooky season, calling back to the 1990s and 2000s when Disney Channel almost always featured a brand new original Halloween movie every year. After debuting several new original holiday-themed specials around Christmas in 2020, Disney+ knows just how to deal with Halloween to kick off fall. In addition to the year-round Halloween-themed movies and shows available on Disney+, the streaming service is premiering several original Halloween specials in the first few weeks of October.
LEGO Star Wars Halloween Special
Every loyal Star Wars fan knows about the original 1978 hated Star Wars Holiday Special (whether they’ve tried to forget it or not), and Disney+ is now trying their hand at a spooky Halloween special for the beloved characters. For Christmas 2020, Disney+ released a relatively short LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special, where its animated and more kid-centric premise separated it from trying to remake the original. Repeating the same formula, Disney+ will be releasing the Star Wars Halloween special, titled LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales, which will blend several beloved Star Wars characters into a family-friendly spookfest.
Featuring the voices of Christian Slater, Tony Hale, and Jake Green among others, LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales will follow Poe Dameron and BB-8 making a pit-stop on Mustafar only to find some of Star Wars’ most notable villains renovating an exclusive Sith hotel. Darth Vader’s servant, Vaneé, tells spooky tales of iconic Star Wars evildoers and artifacts along the way, while Poe and BB-8 become wrapped up in stopping the rise of an ancient evil force. The Star Wars Halloween special will be released to Disney+ on October 1, 2021; a perfect way to officially kick off the spooky season.
The Muppets Haunted Mansion Special
Following the news that Disney will be remaking The Haunted Mansion’s live-action movie with an all-new cast, Disney+ is building up the excitement with a Muppets Haunted Mansion Halloween special. Based on the Disneyland theme park attraction of the same name, Disney adapted the ride into a live-action scary movie in 2003 starring Eddie Murphy as a man who, along with his wife and two children, becomes trapped by unresting ghouls in an eerily haunted mansion. After 18 years, Disney is taking another whack at the property, this time starring big names like Rosario Dawson, Lakeith Stanfield, and Owen Wilson while being helmed by Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro. The upcoming live-action Haunted Mansion adaptation doesn’t have a release date yet, so in the meantime, audiences can be reacquainted with the story with The Muppets’ Halloween special.
According to the Disney+ synopsis, Muppets Haunted Mansion will take place on Halloween night, featuring the classic Muppets cast as they spend a night in the spookiest of all Disney properties, The Haunted Mansion. The eerie tale begins when Gonzo is dared to spend the night in the mansion, leading to plenty of Halloween spooks for the Muppets along with celebrity cameos and all-new music. The first-ever Muppets Halloween special will premiere on Friday, October 8, 2021, just a week after LEGO Star Wars kicks off the Disney+ Halloween fun.
Just Beyond Series
After noticing how much success R.L. Stine’s adaptations had on Netflix with the Fear Street film trilogy, Disney+ will be adapting some of his other creepy stories in an original eight-part anthology TV series. According to the Disney+ description, Just Beyond will take viewers beyond the reality we know, introducing high-concept stories that are “thought-provoking” and, as expected, contain the typical Halloween themes and creatures. Based on stories written by R.L. Stine, the Just Beyond series will follow a new cast and characters each episode as they go on different journeys of self-discovery, all the while encountering ghosts, witches, aliens, and parallel universes. All eight episodes of the live-action series will be available on Disney+ on Wednesday, October 13, with a cast that includes up-and-coming actors like Mckenna Grace (The Handmaid’s Tale), Lexi Underwood (Little Fires Everywhere), and Cedric Joe (Space Jam: A New Legacy).
Disney+’s 2021 Halloween Collection
Just like Halloween 2020, Disney+ will feature plenty of Disney-owned spooky classics that hold year-round slots on their catalog. Audiences will be able to watch beloved Halloween movies like Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Halloweentown film series, the 2003 Haunted Mansion, Twitches, and Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, among plenty others. As far as the Disney+ TV shows go, there will be a featured selection of Halloween-themed episodes easily available from beloved Disney series like WandaVision, Marvel’s What If…?, Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, and The Proud Family. Also, with Disney having the rights to The Simpsons, the classic Treehouse of Horror episode collection and other Halloween specials will be accessible. Disney+ will also have a collection of Halloween-themed shorts and episodes from Disney Junior shows like Doc McStuffins for the younger audiences. Adding to the fun of new Halloween shows and movies, Disney+ will be premiering a 2021 remake of the Disney Channel original movie Under Wraps on October 8.
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