It’s a sad reality that streaming services have begun to delete original films from their platforms – here’s everything that’s disappeared from Disney+…
Disney is currently in the midst of spending over a billion dollars in impairment charges, for deleting films from its Disney+ platform. Basically, it’s spending a lot of money to remove films ahead of time, thinking it’ll save it money in the long term. Bottom line: dozens of films are gone, many of which you currently can’t find anywhere else. These are the ones that have got the axe…
Artemis Fowl
A Kenneth Branagh directed movie, featuring Judi Dench, removed from Disney+?! This is the world we live in now, as Artemis Fowl was taken off Disney+ on 26th May 2023 as part of a mass-deleting of original films and series. The 2020 movie, adapted from the YA fantasy novels of Eoin Colfer, admittedly wasn’t very well reviewed. Nonetheless, that seems a rather harsh reason to make it unavailable in any way, shape or form, and I’m sure there are many people who very much enjoyed it. The film saw a highly intelligent 12-year-old criminal mastermind, Artemis Fowl II, go on a mission to save his kidnapped father. Also among the cast are Josh Gad, Nonso Anozie and Colin Farrell.
Better Nate Than Ever
Another film purged from Disney+ on 26th May is a 2022 musical comedy with a teenage protagonist. Better Nate Than Ever is directed by Tim Federle and based on his book of the same name. Nate is a musical theatre obsessed teen who longs to perform on Broadway, but he’s picked on at school and not entirely understood by his family. When his parents go away on a trip, his best friend Libby tries to help him make his dreams a reality. Rueby Wood made his film debut playing the young Nate, and the movie also featured an appearance from Lisa Kudrow. It’s always good to see films that encourage young people to be themselves and pursue their ambitions being made, so it’s sad that this particular one has been wiped off the face of the Earth.
Black Beauty
Disney’s 2020 adaptation of Black Beauty is the sixth ever cinematic adaptation of Anna Sewell’s novel. As the release date implies, this was one that was meant to have a theatrical release, but was redirected to streaming during the pandemic. It follows the story of a mare named Black Beauty who forges a strong bond with a teenage girl. Narrated from the horse’s perspective, Black Beauty is voiced by Kate Winslet. The teenage girl, Jo, is portrayed by Mackenzie Foy, and Iain Glen appears as her uncle, John. Directed and written by Ashley Avis, it seems a shame that a feature – and one helmed by a female director, at that – that may have had a wider (and possibly physical) release in other circumstances has now vanished completely.
Bursa Bülbülü (The Nightingale Of Bursa)
Other casualties of Disney’s deleting spree seem to be original foreign language films. Bursa Bülbülü (or The Nightingale Of Bursa in English) is a Turkish comedy movie directed by Hakan Algul. The lead character Cengiz – played by Ata Demirer – is a singer in a tea garden in Bursa, whose passion is producing music. His life changes when he meets Taskin (Cem Gelinoglu). This film was only released in January 2023, so only spent around six months on the streaming service before being removed.
Cheaper By The Dozen
Did Cheaper By The Dozen need (another) remake? Probably not. But Disney made one, and then deleted it! Released on Disney+ in March 2022 and directed by Gail Lerner, this version was led by Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union as Paul and Zoe Baker. It follows the hectic life of the couple as they raise their children – ones that are both of theirs alongside some from previous marriages – while their respective exes are also still in the picture. It received mixed reviews on release, and was removed from Disney+ in the great purge of 26th May 2023.
Clouds
Another pandemic release, Clouds was released on Disney+ in 2020. Directed by Justin Baldoni and written by Kara Holden, it’s based on the memoir titled Fly A Little Higher: How God Answered A Mom’s Small Prayer In A Big Way by Laura Sobiech. A romantic drama with teenage lead characters, it has similarities with earlier films like A Fault In Our Stars in that it focuses on a protagonist dealing with terminal illness. Zach Sobiech, played by Fin Argus, looks to fulfil his dream of becoming a musician after finding out that he’s dying of bone cancer. The film also stars Madison Iseman (of the recent Jumanji movies), Sabrina Carpenter, Lil Rel Howery, and Neve Campbell. Again, this is an example of a small and very personal story – a true story as well – being made inaccessible by Disney.
Crater
Crater is one of the more shocking of the Disney+ removals. With a budget of $53m, it’s a sci-fi film focused on a group of young people living on the moon in 2257, who go on a trip to see a legendary crater. Among the cast are Mckenna Grace, Billy Barratt, Orson Hong, Thomas Boyce, and Scott Mescudi. Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, the movie was released exclusively on Disney+ on 12th May 2023, only to be taken off the service with very little warning at the start of July – just seven weeks after release. There’s now nowhere you can (legally) watch Crater.
Darby And The Dead
Darby And The Dead is yet another teen film that was targeted in the great purge. It’s a supernatural comedy starring Riele Downs as the titular character who can see and communicate with the dead who refuse to move on. Her strange ability isolates her from others in her school, but that changes when former friend and popular cheerleader Capri (Moana's Auli’i Cravalho) dies unexpectedly and needs help accepting it. The cheerleader helps Darby to fit it in with the other students, who then help to arrange Capri’s 17th birthday party – the one thing she wants to experience before leaving the living world. The movie was directed by Silas Howard from a screenplay penned by Wenonah Wilms and Becca Greene. Teen films seem to be a running theme when it comes to what’s being removed from Disney+, and that’s a shame because it’s an age group that seems to be being catered to less and less now when it comes to film.
Flora & Ulysses
Who’d have thought to write a story about a squirrel with superpowers? That’d be Kate DiCamillo, who wrote the children’s novel this film is based on. Brad Copeland adapted the tale for the screen, and Lena Khan took the reins as director. Cynical ten-year-old Flora Buckman – played here by Matilda Lawler – resuscitates a gravely injured squirrel that she names Ulysses, only to discover that the animal has developed superpowers. Awkward situations involving the empowered squirrel ensue. Ben Schwartz and Alyson Hannigan star as Flora’s parents, and Danny Pudi and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth also appear. Despite being the second most-streamed film across all streaming platforms on its week of release, Flora & Ulysses could not escape the 26th May purge.
Hollywood Stargirl
Another teen rom-com bites the dust. Hollywood Stargirl is a sequel to Julia Hart’s Stargirl – which appears further down this list. The protagonist, Stargirl (Grace VanderWaal) relocates to Los Angeles when her mum gets a costume design job on a big studio film. While there, she makes new friends and finds success as an actor. Hart co-wrote the screenplay with Jordan Horowitz. Unlike the first film, this is an original script not based on the books of Jerry Spinelli. In response to the films being removed from Disney+, Hart wrote on Twitter about the impact that the films being available can have on the careers of the talent involved:
Last night a depart. head on both @Stargirl movies told me producers were considering him for a project & watched Stargirl. They were leaning in & watched the 2nd. Watching both made them want to hire him. They watched them on @DisneyPlus Those movies are about to be gone.
— Julia Hart (@juliahartowitz) May 21, 2023
King Shakir: Recycle
Another Turkish offering, King Shakir: Recycle (or Kral Sakir: Geri Dönüsüm) was released on Disney+ internationally in January 2023 – spending around six months on the platform before being deleted. Written and directed by Haluk Can Dizdaroglu, King Shakir: Recycle is an environmentally conscious animated film. In it, a futuristic Earth has begun sending its rubbish into space in rockets, where it lands on alien planets. Naturally, the aliens aren’t too happy with this arrangement, and head to Earth for revenge. The lead character, King Shakir, and his family do their best to save the world from destruction.
Magic Camp
Starring Pitch Perfect's Adam DeVine, Magic Camp centres around DeVine’s straight-laced banker (and former magician) as he returns to the magic camp he attended as a child. Now acting as a counselor, he coaches other kids in the ways of magic in the hope that he can beat his nemesis (Gillian Jacobs) in the end-of-year competition. The film was directed by Mean Girls and Freaky Friday (2003)’s Mark Waters.
More Than Robots
This 2022 documentary was directed by actor Gillian Jacobs, and follows four groups of teenagers as they prepare for the 2020 FIRST Robotics Competition. The teams come from various cities around the world, and this documentary follows their struggles to get their unique designs to the competition – struggles that include limited resources and a little something called Covid. This was yet another casualty of the great deleting of 26th May 2023.
The One And Only Ivan
Based on the novel by Katherine Applegate, The One And Only Ivan was a Disney+ original that was originally intended to have a theatrical release. Instead, it was released via Disney+ in August 2020, during the pandemic. In the film, Ivan the gorilla attempts to remember his past as he and an elephant named Stella hatch a plan to escape from captivity. Sam Rockwell voices Ivan, with Angelina Jolie as Stella. Also among the voice cast are Danny DeVito, Helen Mirren, Brooklynn Prince and Chaka Khan. Bryan Cranston plays one of the human characters, and expressed great disappointment at the movie no longer being available to watch as of 26th May 2023.
He wrote on Instagram “I heard the news that my film, ‘The One And Only Ivan’ is being pulled from Disney+ as early as next week. I was very proud of this sweet, family movie that was released after the COVID Lockdown began. And I urge you to gather your kids, or nieces & nephews, make some popcorn, and watch this engaging and delightful story that was based on real events!
“The real life guy that I play actually adopted a baby gorilla (Ivan) and raised him in a Washington state suburb. A crazy true story!! Thanks to Disney for giving us the opportunity to make this movie in the first place. I just know that it will make for really great family time – but you have to do it this weekend before it disappears forever. I promise, you’ll be glad you saw it. Have a great weekend… Bryan.”
Own The Room
Like More Than Robots, this film is a documentary focused on a group of young people trying to achieve their dreams. Own The Room sees five students from various parts of the planet take their business ventures to China to compete in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards. Each student has come from a different background, but all have overcome serious obstacles to get where they are. Own The Room is directed by Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster, who are Emmy award-winning filmmakers. It was released in 2020 before being removed, like many others, on 26th May 2023.
Özür Dilerim (My Apologies)
Özür Dilerim (or My Apologies) in English is another Turkish title that’s been removed from Disney+. It’s directed by, written by, and starring Ibrahim Büyükak. Here’s the synopsis:
‘Erkin, in his mid-30s, lives alone and is a lighthouse keeper. One day Erkin, who is dealing with loan debts, receives the news of his grandfather’s death, who lives in a nursing home. He rushes to the nursing home, but encounters an unexpected situation.’
This film was released as recently as 14th April 2023, so only spent a matter of months on the streaming service before being removed.
The Princess
Starring Bullet Train's Joey King, The Princess turns the ‘damsel in distress’ trope on its head. The royal protagonist is locked away in a tower when she refuses to marry a dangerous and unstable suitor, but rather than someone else coming to her rescue, it’s the princess who must save her own kingdom. It was the third highest streamed film on its week of release on 1st July 2022, but that wasn’t enough to save it from being deleted from the Disney+ servers on May 26th 2023.
Recep Ivedik 7
Even long running series aren’t safe from having instalments removed from streaming, it seems. Recep Ivedik 7 is another Turkish film to be released on Disney+. This one premiered in December 2022 and was removed on 30th June 2023. It sees the protagonist Recep move to a house in a rural village that he inherited from his grandmother. When he finds out a big development project is threatening the village and surrounding forest, he must work to save it.
Rosaline
After initially going into production at MGM, Disney’s 20th Century Studios picked up Rosaline in May 2021. The film takes the classic Shakespeare play Romeo And Juliet and turns its focus to the character of Rosaline, the woman Romeo was seeing before meeting Juliet. As the familiar tale of romance plays out, Rosaline – played by Kaitlyn Dever – tries to dissuade Juliet from courting Romeo so that she can win him back. Like many others on this list, Rosaline was removed from Disney+ on 26th May 2023 as part of the studio’s cost cutting measures.
Stargirl
Like its sequel, Stargirl was directed by Julia Hart and stars Grace VanderWaal as the title character. Hart, Jordan Horowitz and producer Kristin Hahn co-wrote the screenplay together, which focuses on students at an Arizona high school, and how their relationships with themselves and each other are changed by the influence of the unconventional Stargirl. Despite positive reviews and a sequel, Stargirl was removed from Disney+ on 26th May 2o23. Hart wrote about her disappointment on Twitter:
Devastated that the movie I poured my ❤️ & soul into is leaving @disneyplus. Watch while you can! Proud of the work my amazing colleagues & I did. I was 8 weeks post-partum when we started. The process was worth the sacrifice even if the result was not. Focus on process. Always. pic.twitter.com/Ft2nOjddZl
— Julia Hart (@juliahartowitz) May 19, 2023
Stuntman
In this documentary executive produced by Dwayne Johnson and Danny Garcia, we follow stunt performer Eddie Braun as he attempts to honour his hero Robert ‘Evel’ Knievel. During his career, Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho using the Skycycle X-2, a steam powered rocket designed specifically for the stunt. It failed when the rocket’s parachute deployed during the launch. Over the course of this documentary Eddie Braun looks to successfully recreate the stunt – spending his life savings in the process to fulfil his dream. The movie premiered at Los Angeles Film Festival in 2018, where it won Best Documentary Feature. It’s a shame that Stuntman, a personal story as well as an ode to stunt performers, who often get too little recognition, is now unavailable to watch.
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made
Directed by Tom McCarthy, who directed Spotlight and wrote Christopher Robin, Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is based on the book series by Stephan Pastis. McCarthy and Pastis also worked on the script together alongside Benjamin Pestana. The film is a family fantasy-comedy where imaginary friends exist alongside humans. Timmy is a very imaginative 11-year-old who has set up his own personal detective agency with his polar bear imaginary friend named Total. Together they look for “cases” to solve. He gets a real case when his segway – which he calls the Failure-Mobile – is stolen. Winslow Fegley, who’s also acted in Nightbooks, 8-Bit Christmas and Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, plays Timmy. It’s especially sad for young actors like him to have a significant part of their body of work made completely unavailable.
Willow: Behind The Magic
One of the most outrageous Disney+ removals remains the legacy sequel series Willow, which began streaming weekly on Disney+ at the end of November 2022. It was therefore removed less than a year after its premiere, and at a time when creator and executive producer Jonathan Kasdan was expressing some amount of optimism that the show would continue. Willow: Behind The Magic is a documentary released after the series finale. It goes behind the scenes of the making of the series, and features talking head interview with various members of the cast. These interesting behind-the-scenes documentaries – that often accompany the release of a Disney+ show – are something that, in my opinion at least, the streaming service has been doing right. It’s a shame that audiences no longer get to enjoy the sequel to George Lucas’ Willow or take a sneak peek at how the magic is created.
Wolfgang
It’s becoming clear that Disney doesn’t think that documentaries are doing so well on their streaming platform, as Wolfgang has also been removed. Directed by David Gelb, perhaps best known for the Netflix series Chef’s Table, Wolfgang follows the life of Wolfgang Puck, a celebrated chef who had a troubled childhood and had to overcome various obstacles to get where is today.
Yilbasi Gecesi (New Year’s Eve)
Yilbasi Gecesi (or New Year’s Eve) is a festive Turkish comedy that revolves around an unlikely group of people coming together to see in the new year. It’s directed by Ozan Açiktan and written by Gülse Birsel, a prolific comedy writer. It’s a shame that several foreign language films have been part of this mass removal of movies, as streaming in theory is a good place to discover new things that you might not otherwise have watched.
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