Last December's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will become the only live-action Star Wars film on Netflix when it becomes available for streaming this July. Director Gareth Edwards' inaugural entry and the first Star Wars spin-off was just as much of a smash hit as the major films in the franchise, earning over a billion dollars worldwide and over 500 million in the United States. It was a gamble that paid off big time for Disney and Lucasfilm, giving them the confidence to go ahead with several spinoffs and sequels for the foreseeable future.
Star Wars fans with Netflix subscriptions will soon be able to experience the thrills and chills of Rogue One all over again when the film gets added to its streaming catalog on July 18th. The availability of Rogue One as the lone Star Wars film for streaming is a result of the deal made between parent company Disney and Netflix last year, which made Netflix the sole streaming provider of all Marvel, Disney, Pixar and Star Wars films.
Related: Rogue One Success Gave Lucasfilm ‘More Confidence’ in Spinoff Films
While Netflix subscribers would be thrilled for this to be the start of the entire Star Wars franchise making its way onto Netflix, fans shouldn't hold their breath for that anytime soon. The deal only requires Disney to make available films that were released from 2016 and on, therefore the rest of the films in these franchises will most likely take a much longer time to get onto Netflix, especially when it comes to Star Wars since 20th Century Fox still owns distribution rights until 2020. Currently available under the deal from Disney's exceptional 2016 lineup are Zootopia, The Jungle Book, Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, The BFG, Pete's Dragon, Queen of Katwe, Doctor Strange, and Moana.
In addition to hitting those box office milestones, Rogue One is also remarkably the second highest grossing Star Wars film and the seventh-highest grossing film of all time in the United States (both without adjusting for inflation). The film, following a covert team of Rebel soldiers as they attempt to steal the Empire's plans to built the Death Star, struck the same chord with audiences that the other well-regarded films in the franchise have hit. With several behind-the-scenes issues and extensive third-act retooling, it's a miracle that the film came out as well as it did, and audiences responded to the changes that were made mid-production. If Rogue One has no other legacy, it at least adds a new iconic moment to the legend of Darth Vader, which will now be available to watch on replay thanks to Netflix.