Disney+ Just Removed All These Movies And Fans Are Upset
What gives, Mickey?
Disney+ subscribers awoke on New Year's Day to find that the spanking-new streamer with less than two months of availability under its belt had removed several movies from its library. Needless to say, these subscribers were less than pleased.
The deletions are surprising for a couple of reasons. First, everything on Disney+ is owned by the Walt Disney Corporation; with none of its content licensed from other parties, there doesn't appear to be any reason for anything to ever disappear from the streamer's library, and indeed, subscribers were under the distinct impression that the Disney+ library would not be a rotating one.
For another, the fact that content has begun to disappear so soon after the streamer's November 14 launch is nothing short of stupefying. While the list of the vanished titles isn't very extensive, and many of said titles aren't terribly popular, that's decidedly beside the point; the Disney+ library wasn't super-deep to begin with, and again, the deletions appear to have taken place for no good reason.
Which movies have disappeared from Disney+?
Perhaps the most glaring omission from the Disney+ library: the 1990 classic Home Alone, which a truckload of subscribers are likely to have watched mere days before it vanished. It is, after all, a Christmas classic; we suppose it stands to reason that as such, it may only appear on the streamer seasonally. If this is the case, however, Disney would have done well to inform its subscribers that some titles would only be available at certain times of the year, which it obviously did not. The flick's 1992 sequel also up and disappeared, although — as noted by one irate subscriber on Twitter — 1997's Home Alone 3, which features an entirely different cast and is nowhere near as well-regarded as the first two, is still available.
In addition to those films, the offerings that have mysteriously left the service are: The Sandlot, Dr. Dolittle, Flicka, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Strange Magic, The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration, White Wilderness, Mickey Three Musketeers, Garfield 2, and Shaggy Dog '06. (via MovieWeb)
Why is Disney+ removing movies from its library?
To add insult to... well, insult, Disney has had no public statement to offer about the situation as of this writing. The only possible clue has come from Reddit, and a single user who reported that they contacted Disney+ customer service to inquire as to why there were suddenly movies missing from the catalog.
According to this user, they were told that the deletions weren't intentional, but were actually a technical issue. It appears that so far, nobody else has thought to try this, so we don't have confirmation. But if it is indeed the case, we've got to say it would be understandable — after all, like we pointed out, the service has only been up and running for less than two months. It also seems significant that the mysterious disappearances took place right after the turn of the new year; perhaps some server somewhere glitched out, and it's for this reason that viewers can't get their fix of the Wet Bandits getting their asses handed to them by Kevin McAllister.
If it were a mere technical problem, however, it certainly seems like Disney would have said something publicly about it by now. In fact, the Mouse House's complete radio silence isn't helping matters in any event; Disney+ was already looking at the loss of a not-insignificant number of subscribers now that the first season of the hit series The Mandalorian has concluded, and wantonly deleting random titles from its library doesn't seem like a great way to reassure anyone that the service is worth keeping.
Is anything being added to Disney+ this month?
You may be wondering, with all of the titles that have suddenly departed, if Disney+ will be adding anything to its library this month. The answer is: yes, tons of stuff.
Most significantly, last year's smash hit live-action remakes of Aladdin and The Lion King will be streaming on the 8th and 28th, respectively. Already available as of January 1 are the 2003 classic Holes, the 1993 sports comedy Cool Runnings, and the fascinating 2014 documentary Marvel: 75 Years, From Pulp to Pop!
Also arriving at various points during the month will be new episodes of Disney+ original series Forky Asks a Question, Encore!, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Marvel's Hero Project, Pixar in Real Life, Disney Family Sundays, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum. Also, the third and final season of Marvel's Runaways will hit the streamer on January 10, and a wealth of entire seasons of Disney Channel and NatGeo series such as The Lodge, The Proud Family, and Dog: Impossible will also be making their debuts. (via TechRadar)
It stands to reason, though, that subscribers would like some reassurance that their favorite content isn't going to suddenly disappear from Disney+ at some point down the road. We'll be keeping a vigilant eye out for any statement from the Mouse House, and we'll update this post as soon as any new information becomes available.