The great Disney+ purge is here. After mere months on the service, Disney has not only canceled its reboot of Willow, but is also casting the series away from its streaming service altogether. Meanwhile, we’re also waving goodbye to some other shows which are reportedly underperforming, such as Y: The Last Man, Big Shot and Dollface.
Per Deadline, both Disney+ and Hulu will remove dozens of shows, direct to streaming movies and specials from their catalogs on May 26. The purge is taking place globally, so utilizing VPN’s to watch shows available in other territories isn’t an option either. Take a look at some of the more surprising and notable departures:
- Big Shot
- Willow
- Turner & Hooch
- The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers
- Just Beyond
- Diary of a Future President
- The Mysterious Benedict Society
- The World According to Jeff Goldblum
- Y: The Last Man
- Dollface
- The Hot Zone
- Maggie
- Pistol
- Little Demon
- Artemis Fowl
- Stargirl
Seeing sci-fi and fantasy shows like Y: The Last Man and Artemis Fowl on there is interesting. Both shows had super high hopes and a lot of money behind them, and both were very disappointing adaptations of their respective books. As for Willow, the sequel to the 1988 movie was probably a little too late to garner enough hype, despite going over relatively well with critics and fans.
Not even superheroes are safe. Most notably, Stargirl is leaving Disney+, as well as Marvel’s Project Hero, MPower andVoices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever.
So why is Disney removing content?
The idea of removing original content from streaming seems rather counter-intuitive. I mean, the more content offered, the more likely they are to gain subscribers, right? On the surface, yes, but there’s also a lot of business-y stuff going on in the background. “We are in the process of reviewing the content on our DTC services to align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation,” CFO Christine McCarthy explained.
Of course, this isn’t the only time we’ve seen companies strip their services of shows. Last year, Warner Bros Discovery axed numerous shows from HBO Max, from Raised by Wolves to The Time Traveller’s Wife. Perhaps this move by Disney is a similar sort of cost-cutting measure?
We’ve got until May 26 to watch these shows before they enter the ether. Will they be picked up somewhere else? Who knows? Best to watch them now if you want to, since we have no idea if or when we’ll ever be able to see them again.
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