Disney is the new TVA! Walking the talk from its last week’s investors call the house of mouse is purging some major titles from its streaming platforms, Deadline has reported. Starting May 26 Disney+ titles such as Willow, Big Shot, Turner & Hooch, Just Beyond, Mysterious Benedict Society and The World According To Jeff Goldblum will be removed from the streaming service globally. Furthermore, joining the purged content line up are Hulu titles Y: The Last Man, Dollface, The Hot Zone, Maggie, Pistol and Little Demon.
Disney is the latest to purge content from its platforms as the move comes with a content impairment charge of $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion, was announced during the recent earnings call. Given most of these titles have no physical release once taken down the content will be lost forever. The efforts to cut costs have been the main point of contention since Bob Iger returned to CEO’s chair. It has also led the giant to combine Disney+ with Hulu so that the company can focus its marketing efforts on a single streaming platform.
Hollywood is Rethinking its Content Strategies
The intersection of pandemic with rise in streaming services led many industry players to greenlight variety of content to suit the need of the hour. Now that business is back to usual, the losses are more than the gains which has led companies like Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and many more to rethink their strategies. Speaking during the investor’s call Iger said:
“We realized that we made a lot of content that is not necessarily driving sub-growth, and we’re getting much more surgical about what it is we make. So as we look to reduce content spend, we’re looking to reduce it in a way that should not have any impact at all on subs.”
Disney’s steps are much in line with Warner Bros Discovery that purged Batgirl and other then-HBO Max properties when David Zaslav took over. Much like Batgirl once the purged content from Disney+ and Hulu hits the Disney vault it will never be available to the public again permanently drowning the efforts of the cast and crew down the drain. Loss of such properties not only affect the audience but is also an intellectual loss to everyone involved in the production of fan favorite series and shows. Such decisions also affect the relations between the talent and studios which already aren’t looking great given the WGA strike. It remains to be seen how the industry shapes up in months to come.You can check out some of the list of purging content below:
- Big Shot [Disney+]
- The Mysterious Benedict Society [Disney+]
- Turner & Hooch [Disney+]
- Willow [Disney+]
- The Making Of Willow [Disney+]
- Just Beyond [Disney+]
- The World According To Jeff Goldblum [Disney+]
- Pistol [Hulu]
- Dollface [Hulu]
- The Quest [Disney+]
- The Hot Zone [Hulu]
- Y: The Last Man [Hulu]
- Maggie [Hulu]
- Little Demon [Hulu]
- The Premise [Hulu]
- Love In The Time Of Corona [Hulu]
- Everything’s Trash [Hulu]
- Best In Snow [Hulu]
- Best In Dough [Hulu]
- The One And Only Ivan [Disney+]
- Timmy Failure [Disney+]
- Be Our Chef [Disney+]
- Magic Camp [Disney+]
- Earth To Ned [Disney+]
- Foodtastic [Disney+]
- Stuntman [Disney+]
- Disney Fairy Tale Weddings [Disney+]
- Wolfgang [Disney+]
- It’s a Dog’s Life With Bill Farmer [Disney+]