The newest hot trend in streaming is for studios to spend lots of money making movies and TV shows, and then to dump them before anyone can see them. We saw that happen with the Batgirl movie over at Warner Bros. Discovery. We saw it with the Willow show on Disney+, which was available to watch for a few months before being taken down, possibly forever. And recently, it happened with The Spiderwick Chronicles, an adaptation of Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black’s popular YA fantasy novels. Disney+ made a full season of six episodes, but then decided not to air the show, purportedly because it figured it could make more money by writing off the expenses on its taxes.
It’s weird times for streamers. But the Spiderwick Chronicles story has a happy ending. According to Deadline, the series has been picked up by Roku and will air sometime in 2024.
“It is an honor to bring The Spiderwick Chronicles, a spectacular adventure-filled story led by the incredible Christian Slater and Joy Bryant, exclusively to The Roku Channel,” said Roku executive Brian Tannenbaum. “We cannot wait to introduce this exquisitely crafted series, imagined by a world-class creative team, to millions of streamers.” Before this, Roku’s library consisted mainly of shows it picked up from the defunct streaming service Quibi, which failed pretty spectacularly a few years back. The Spiderwick Chronicles could class up the place; Disney’s leftovers are way tastier than Quibi’s.
What is The Spiderwick Chronicles about?
The Spiderwick Chronicles is about the Grace family — twins Simon and Jared, their older sister Mallory, and their mother Helen — who move into their family’s ancestral home: the Spiderwick Estate. It’s a creaky old mansion with lots of hidden corridors, dusty corners, and fairy creatures living on the premises.
Basically, the series is a coming-of-age story with supernatural elements, which was very in vogue for a while after Harry Potter blew up. The show stars Jack Dylan Grazer, Lyon Daniels, Noah Cottrell, Joy Bryant, Mychala Lee, and Christian Slater as the shape-shifting ogre Mulgarath.
“We are elated that The Spiderwick Chronicles has found a new home and want to thank The Roku Channel for their passionate partnership,” said Paramount TV Studios president Nicole Clemens. “Our showrunner Aron Eli Coleite has crafted a beautiful series full of all the enchantment that made the books so beloved, and we can’t wait for audiences to meet these wonderful characters.”
Disney dumped The Spiderwick Chronicles because it was too dark?
I’m glad The Spiderwick Chronicles show is getting a second chance. That said, the phenomenon of streaming services spending money on shows and movies only to dump them is weird. Hopefully it’s starting to abate. For a while, studios were just throwing money at projects assuming they would pay off. Now that they’re reckoning more carefully with the realities of the streaming economy, they’ll probably start being a little choosier with what they make in the first place.
In the case of The Spiderwick Chronicles specifically, Deadline writer Nellie Andreeva notes that, according to what she’s heard, the show was “deemed to be darker than the typical Disney+ fare,” so maybe that was a factor too. The Spiderwick Chronicles book series can get creepy, but it’s still aimed at young adults, so there’s nothing too objectionable. Maybe showrunner Aron Eli Coleite kicked things up a notch.
We’ll find out when The Spiderwick Chronicles airs on Roku in early 2024.
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