Disney+ and Hulu to Remove Dozens of Shows and Movies This Week

Daniel S. Levine

05/22/2023 11:07 am EDT

The Walt Disney Company is following in Warner Bros. Discovery's footsteps by removing original content from streaming platforms. The initial list of 30 titles that will soon disappear from Hulu and Disney+ surfaced on Thursday — with multiple changes being made to the list Friday — and includes Willow, Y: The Last Man, The Mysterious Benedict Society and many more. Disney hinted that this was going to happen soon during its quarterly earnings call earlier this month.

"We will be removing certain content from our streaming platforms and currently expect to take an impairment charge of approximately $1.5 to $1.8 billion," Disney chief financial officer Christine McCarthy told investors, reports Vulture. The studio also plans to "produce lower volumes of content" for its streaming platforms. Disney CEO Bob Iger said more Hulu content will be available on Disney+ as well to create a "one-app experience" by the end of 2023.

Disney is not the first company to pull content from streaming services. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav beat them to it last year when he began pulling less successful shows from HBO Max for tax breaks. While there was fear this meant the shows would be lost to the sands of time, Zaslav turned around and found a new way to make money from them. He licensed them to FAST channel platforms The Roku Channel and Tubi, so viewers could see them for free with commercials.

The House of Mouse could do the same, although Iger had expressed trepidation about licensing programs to third parties. Disney all but stopped the practice when Disney+ launched, only keeping existing deals in place. The CEO appeared to change his mind about it though. In February, sources told Bloomberg that Disney was once again considering licensing out shows and movies to rivals for a chance at more revenue.

The news has already frustrated creators. "Well, you work on something for years, pour your heart and soul into it, as do hundreds of other artists. You make it during a global pandemic, far from home. Then it is canceled before it even has a chance to finish airing. Then, it is disappeared," Y: The Last Man showrunner Eliza Clark tweeted.

Related:

Here is the full list of shows that will disappear on May 26, via Deadline. It's unclear if these shows will also be unavailable to purchase in any way. Disney has refused to release many Disney+ shows on physical DVDs, so they may be gone forever until they resurface somewhere else. 

Additionally, leaving Hulu May 31 are the following Freeform series:

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