Disney+, which may be having behind-the-scenes issues, scrapped a Tron series

Disney+ came barreling out of the gate back in November, quickly gathering up millions of subscribers based on the strength of shows like The Mandalorian, as well as a back catalog of movies nearly 100 years strong. How do you go wrong, right?

Well, unless you’re a kid who likes to watch Frozen and Moana on repeat — and if you are, more power to you — you may not have been using the service much of late, especially when its original programming offerings outside of The Mandalorian have been so sparse of late. According to a new article in The Hollywood Reporter, there may be some confusion behind the scenes contributing to the lag.

“Original programming is the fuel in the growth engine,” said Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives. If so, that could be a teensy problem for Disney+, because it’s been having issues lately with shows getting cancelled or moved off the platform because they don’t quite match up with its mission statement. Muppets Live Another Day and the Disney villains drama Book of Enchantment were scrapped. We knew about both of those, but THR also uncovered that 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley was working on a show about Tron, Disney’s special effects-heavy ‘Help I’m trapped inside a computer’ franchise, but that it was junked without ever being officially greenlit.

Then there are the shows developed for Disney+ that have since moved over to Hulu for “mature content,” like Love, Simon and High Fidelity, both of which have been moved to Hulu. And there’s been a lot of ink spilled over the Lizzie McGuire revival, which Disney shot episodes for but decided was too adult for the streaming service — it involves sex and cheating as a central plot point. Star Hilary Duff is advocating that it also be moved over to Hulu, but there’s been no formal announcement as of yet.

Basically, it sounds like there’s some communication problems within Disney itself. Why is Disney greenlighting these series if they’re not a good fit for what it sees as its brand? And what did it think it was getting? For example, with that Book of Enchantment series, Disney was reportedly concerned over its “dark tone and budget.” But I dunno, you get Ursula, Jafar and Scar in a room together and they’re probably going to get up to something heinous.

Apparently, in the beginning, the Disney+ team planned to keep its content on “on the edgy side of PG-13,” but the programming since then has leaned more towards PG. Except when it doesn’t, like with The Simpsons, which is right there bringing in subscribers even though it has plenty of raunch and innuendo and such. “They should have had more clarity around what the guardrails are,” said a source. Sounds about right to me.

None of this is to say that the service hasn’t been successful. It already has nearly 30 million subscribers, and there are high-profile shows like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision are on the way, with new stuff being announced all the time.

But Falcon isn’t coming out until August, leaving a hole that could have been filled by these cancelled or moved projects had the guidelines been more clear upfront. All told, the service has around 50 scripted and 50 unscripted series in development, but by the time they come out — if they come out — will it be too late? Remember, services like HBO Max and Peacock are also coming out this year, and could plug a gap for consumers that Disney is leaving open, if those consumers don’t just decide to stick with Netflix and write the competitors off.

But probably not. Disney+ has a low price point compared to its competitors, and the House of Mouse is nothing if not determined. It’s going through some growing pains right now, as should be expected, but there’s still time to right the ship. “The concrete is still wet in terms of who’s going to be successful in streaming,” said Ives, choosing a different metaphor, but 18 months from now, the concrete starts to dry up.”

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