The content available to Netflix, Inc. subscribers is soon to receive a boost with the company announcing Monday that come September it will be the exclusive U.S. pay-TV home of the latest films from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar.

Netflix originally signed the deal with Disney back in 2012 for a reported $300 million, but it depended on existing distribution deals expiring before it could be taken up.

Under the terms of the agreement, Netflix will have access to all new movies from the four studios after they are released on Blu-ray and for digital purchase, but at the same time they would usually have been available on premium cable channels such as HBO; pay-TV channel Starz has the rights to Disney movies before September.

The announcement was made at the same time Netflix published a list of upcoming releases for summer, including Netflix’s second Adam Sandler film, The Do Over, along with The Fundamentals of Caring and Tallulah, original films the company acquired the rights to at the Sundance Film Festival, and Brahman Naman, which is described as American Pie set in India in the 1980s.

Huge

It may have been four years in the making, but the confirmation that Netflix will have exclusive rights to new movies from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar come September is a huge announcement for the company in an increasingly competitive streaming marketplace where it is being challenged by Amazon Prime and Hulu.

The announcement also comes at a fortuitous time as Netflix is predicting that its subscriber growth would slow; whether the wealth of content that will flow from this deal will counter subscriber growth will only be known with time, but having exclusive streaming rights to blockbusters from some of the biggest names in the movie industry certainly can’t hurt.

Despite the announcement, simply confirming old (be it mostly forgotten) news, the market reacted positively and pushed Netflix shares up 2.59 percent in regular trading to $94.89.

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