THERE’S A BIG HOLE IN THE STREAMING LIBRARY.
The original sci-fi movie Crater, produced by the team behind Stranger Things, has sparked discontent among subscribers of Disney Plus after being removed from the streaming service less than two months after its release.
As reported by The Independent, Crater, which had a production cost of $53.4 million, vanished from Disney Plus without any prior notice after only being available for 48 days. This sudden removal has raised concerns about the fate of other titles and the manner in which content is being purged from the platform.
Crater made its debut on Disney Plus on May 12, presenting the story of a young boy growing up in a lunar mining colony who embarks on a journey with his friends to explore a legendary crater before being relocated to another planet. The film featured Mckenna Grace from Ghostbusters: Afterlife and was directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, based on a screenplay by John Griffin.
The removal of Crater follows the elimination of over two dozen shows across Disney Plus and Hulu in May, including the highly anticipated series Willow, which had concluded its run just six months prior.
This action aligns with Disney CEO Bob Iger’s directive to reduce content on their streaming services after incurring losses of over a billion dollars. As reported by Variety, Iger aims to achieve savings of $3 billion in 2023, and this content purge is expected to result in a content impairment charge ranging from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion.
Disney’s strategic shift in content curation, coupled with the growing trend of content removal from platforms like Max, has raised concerns about the preservation of media. With physical releases becoming less common, many titles are at risk of disappearing entirely.
However, there have been recent developments regarding the licensing of HBO shows under the new agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery. Insecure has recently become available on Netflix for US subscribers, and titles such as Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Six Feet Under, and Ballers are set to follow, forming part of a co-exclusive arrangement with Max.
