Disney Just Removed One of Its Worst Movies Ever From Disney+

Disney+ just purged a tons of titles, and Disney is using the opportunity to hide one of its worst original movies of all time. Disney pulled over 30 movies and TV shows from Disney+ and Hulu in an effort to cut costs, and fans are understandably devastated. One of these titles is the 2020 film adaptation of Artemis Fowl.

Disney performed a “streaming purge” on Friday, as laid out in a report by Deadline. Artemis Fowl was on the chopping block and is now nowhere to be found on Disney+. The movie was adapted from the novel of the same name written by Eoin Colfer, and it was directed by Kenneth Branagh. It stars Ferdia Shaw as Artemis Fowl Jr., a 12-year-old genius who becomes embroiled in a mystery involving supernatural powers in a modern setting. Colfer’s novel was published in 2001 and was the first in a massive series of young adult books. There are 11 books at the time of this writing, with the most recent published in 2021.

Like so many other book adaptations this one was heavily criticized for its departures from the source material. Screenwriters Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl were tasked with combining the first two novels in Colfer’s series, which forced some plot points to be condensed and skipped entirely. Many fans also took issue with the casting, believing that characters were not represented accurately from the way they were portrayed in the books.

Among critics, the movie fared even worse. The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: “A would-be franchise-starter that will anger fans of the source material and leave newcomers befuddled, Artemis Fowl is frustratingly flightless.” The movie has an 8 percent positive score among critics and a 19 percent positive score among users.

Still, even the harshest critic would likely be surprised by Disney’s decision to take this movie off of its streaming service. The company is the latest to perform this kind of “streaming purge,” which saves it money primarily because it won’t have to pay royalties to the cast and crew of the movie anymore. It’s more than an inconvenience for fans, too – when a streaming-exclusive movie like this is removed from its primary source, it sometimes isn’t available in any other format. At the time of this writing, Artemis Fowl has no physical release and is not available to purchase or rent on any digital stores, so it is now not available anywhere.