Disney Plus and Hulu are losing content — and the first wave could happen next week
Late last week we heard news Disney Plus and Hulu would be losing some content in the near future. But, at the time, it wasn’t revealed what content might go missing or when it might happen. Now Deadline claims to know exactly what will be leaving the services — and it may all start next week.
This is all down to Disney attempting to save $3 billion during 2023. Pulling content from streaming services is designed to help that along: saving money on residuals, royalties and data storage costs. It also helps Disney earn some money by selling the rights to some other service.
According to Deadline's report a bunch of content will be pulled from Disney Plus and Hulu on May 26 — just one week from today. It’s not clear if this is everything subscribers will lose for the near future or just the first wave of an ongoing plan to continually trim the fat.
The list itself is actually rather long, which makes me suspect it could be the former. Especially as it's mostly made up of canceled TV shows, limited series, direct to streaming movies and other content that isn’t likely to convince people to subscribe.
Here’s what’s apparently being pulled.
Shows and movies leaving Disney Plus on May 26
Big Shot
Turner & Hooch
The Mysterious Benedict Society
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers
The Making Of Willow
Diary of a Future President
Just Beyond
The World According to Jeff Goldblum
Marvel’s Project Hero
Marvel’s MPower
Marvel’s Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever
Rosaline
Cheaper by the Dozen (2022)
The One and Only Ivan
Stargirl
Artemis Fowl
The Princess
Encore!
A Spark Story
Black Beauty (2020)
Clouds
America the Beautiful
Better Nate Than Ever
Weird but True!
Timmy Failure
Be Our Chef
Magic Camp
Howard
Earth to Ned
Foodtastic
Stuntman
Disney Fairy Tale Weddings
Wolfgang
It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer
The Real Right Stuff
The Big Fib
Rogue Trip
More Than Robots
Shop Class
Pick the Litter
Own the Room
Among the Stars
Harmonious Live!
Pentatonix: Around the World for the Holidays
Shows and movies leaving Hulu on May 26
Y: The Last Man
Pistol
Little Demon
Maggie
Dollface
The Hot Zone
The Premise
Love in the Time of Corona
Everything’s Trash
Best in Snow
Best in Dough
Darby and the Dead
The Quest
What this means for Disney Plus and Hulu subscribers
That is rather a long list of content, and Disney Plus certainly seems to be losing the lion’s share compared to Hulu. It’s also worth mentioning that most of this content isn’t the kind of stuff that’s likely to bring in new subscribers.
Artemis Fowl is a great example, having been released to Disney Plus during the pandemic only to be slaughtered by audiences and critics alike. In fact its critic score on Rotten Tomatoes is just 8% — with a 19% scoring from audiences.
Likewise a lot of these TV shows have already been canceled, including Turner & Hooch, The Mysterious Benedict Society and so on. Willow, which may or may not be canceled depending on who you ask, doesn’t seem to have a particularly bright future now that it’s being pulled from Disney’s library.
It’s not clear what sort of future these shows have, either. Content pulled from HBO Max eventually found its way onto free ad-supported streaming services like Freevee, Roku and Pluto TV. It makes sense Disney would sell off the streaming rights and bring in some more money on top of whatever cost-cutting measures pulling content can offer.
We’re just going to have to wait and see what happens going forward. Thankfully the best Disney Plus TV shows and the best Hulu shows will likely be sticking around for the foreseeable future. Plus, if you're looking for new shows and movies to watch this weekend, some of our picks are available to stream on Disney Plus and Hulu. So it’s not like there will be any shortage of things to watch.
