Disney Plus removes Willow, Y: The Last Man, and more to save cash

According to an article published by Deadline on Thursday, Disney will begin removing over 50 specials and series from Disney Plus next week. Disney made its intention to remove the content known during an earnings conference last week. Disney Plus and Hulu will soon be removing titles including Willow, Y: the Last Man, Journal of a future president, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Little Demon Star Girl

On the earnings call, Disney CFO Christine McCarthy said the removal of the series and films was meant to “align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation.” and that the company would expect “to take an impairment charge of approximately $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion.” The move mirrors decisions made by Warner Bros. Discovery, which last year removed content from HBO Max for financial reasons, albeit with some key differences: There’s no news as of yet whether any of the streaming exclusive titles being removed from their respective services will be made available to purchase, rent, or stream on any other services. The creators of the films and shows are also in the dark.

“Devastated that the movie I poured my [heart emoji] & soul into is leaving @DisneyPlus,” tweeted Stargirl writer-director Julia Hart in the wake of the news.

Devastated that the movie I poured my ❤️ & soul into is leaving @disneyplus. Enjoy the show while it lasts! Proud of the work my amazing colleagues & I did. When we began, I was eight weeks postpartum. Even if you don’t like the outcome, the process is worth it. Concentrate on the process. Always. pic.twitter.com/Ft2nOjddZl

— Julia Hart (@juliahartowitz) May 19, 2023

“Well, you work on something for years, pour your heart and soul into it, as do hundreds of other artists,” tweeted Y: the Last Man showrunner Eliza Clark. “You make it during a global pandemic, far from home. After it has been aired, it’s canceled. Then, it is disappeared…”

If you haven’t seen Y The Last Man yet (or if you’d like to watch it again) you have until May 26. It’s really good. It’s really good. Real. Ten episodes. Watch now. https://t.co/Db0R4BIHQ0

— Eliza Clark (@TheElizaClark) May 18, 2023

In addition to the announcement that Disney would soon remove content from streaming platforms, Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors that the company plans to make Hulu content available on Disney Plus by the end of the year, adopting a “one-app experience” approach similar to Warner Bros. Discovery’s move to fold the Discovery Plus streaming library into HBO Max and rebrand the latter to “Max.” Iger also announced that Disney intends to raise the price on the ad-free tier of Disney Plus in an effort, “to better reflect the value of our content offerings.” This follows a reported a 4 million subscriber loss for Disney Plus over the past three months.

Disney’s decision arrives amidst the Writers Guild of America contract negotiation and subsequent strike. The payment of residuals for streaming content to the writers is one of the main points of discussion. Although not directly related to the strikes, the decision to pull shows, films, and specials off streaming services so that they can claim a deduction on their taxes comes at a critical time for the industry.

Variety has compiled a list that includes titles which are expected to be removed from Disney Plus and Hulu on or before May 26.

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