The Abyss is taken off Disney+ in the UK, as the controversy over the rat scene continues. More on the story here.
Forgive me, but it’s necessary to start a story on The Abyss with an explanation as to how we got here.
James Cameron’s 1989 movie has long fallen foul of the British Board Of Film Classification in the UK – that’d be the BBFC – which has taken umbrage with the infamous ‘rat drowning’ sequence in the movie. On initial cinema release in the UK, back when Cameron’s power was less, that sequence was trimmed out of the film. An error over at Channel 4 led to it being included many years later in a television transmission of the movie.
But still, as you can read at the BBFC website here, any attempt to get the film classified with that scene included in the UK will be met with short shrift. The 4K remaster, and subsequent 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release, pretty much skipped the UK, where we didn’t get a cinema re-release a year or two ago. Elsewhere in the world, the film was back in cinemas and back on disc. Over here, James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment refused to remove the rat scene, the BBFC refused a certificate, and The Abyss’ longer cut remains unavailable on these shores.
Only it doesn’t. A couple of months back, the film first popped up on the ITVX streaming service, and then on Disney+. Thing is, the rat was back, but the BBFC hadn’t changed its guidance. This, it seemed, was a loophole covering streaming broadcast. In turn, it led to a protest from the RSPCA here in the UK. And now, Disney has removed The Abyss from the Disney+ service over here. It’s still on ITVX, but that presumably is a matter of a time.
As per Games Radar, a statement from the RSPCA reads “This isn’t about cancel culture — we’d welcome Disney Plus reinstating the film to their platform, just with this troubling scene removed — as is already the case in cinemas, on TV, and on DVD.”
The Abyss remains available to buy on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray via import services, but its chances of a UK reappearance on Disney+ UK are very, very slim.
