Disney Plus Has Removed Several Movies, and Subscribers Aren't Happy

MovieWeb

By Kevin Burwick

Published Jan 2, 2020

Disney+ subscribers were under the impression that everything would be staying on the new streaming platform.

Disney+ has quietly removed several titles from their library. Subscribers, who were under the impression that everything would not be rotating, are not very happy about the situation. When Disney first unveiled their streaming platform, it was believed that it would be the place for everything that the studio owns, all of the time. There were going to be some hiccups at first, considering that a lot of their material was already under contract with network television and other streaming outlets like Netflix.

Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Sandlot, Dr. Dolittle, Flicka, The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Strange Magic, The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration, White Wilderness, Mickey Three Musketeers, Garfield 2, and Shaggy Dog '06 have all been removed from Disney+.

So far, Disney Plus subscribers seem to be very upset about the Home Alone removals, though they may only keep them up during the holidays. However, this seems far different than what was originally sold to potential subscribers when they were first marketing the service.

While this has proven to be discouraging for Disney+ subscribers, the reasoning behind the decision isn't helping matters. One Reddit user contacted the support team and were told that the titles were taken down because of technical issues. No other explanation was provided. It's also important to note that these changes only seem to effect North American subscribers, as some, not all, of the aforementioned titles are still available internationally.

Customers are still hoping for an announcement from Disney in regard to the "technical issue," though it remains unclear if and when we will get an update. A lot of subscribers have taken to social media to express their frustration. One user had this to say.

"So Disney Plus is losing content already?!? My kids wanted to watch Home Alone, like they did yesterday, and now it is gone."

Disney+ is still very much in its infancy and was put on the fast track to meet its November 17th launch date. At the time of launch, there were (and are) still Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and Star Wars movies that are on other streaming services due to prior contracts. Some of these recent removals may have to do with licensing contracts that were put into place well before Disney had their act together in terms of setting up its streaming infrastructure. Disney is also seeing a lot of Disney+ subscribers cancel after The Mandalorian wrapped up last week, mainly due to a lack of engaging new content like the live-action Star Wars series.

There are plenty of new titles hitting Disney+ this month and that number is clearly bigger than the amount of titles that are leaving. With that being said, Disney should be more up front about the movies and shows they are taking down to keep subscribers up to date. Holiday titles are one thing, but normal, everyday stuff seems a bit odd to remove without warning. Reddit was the first to point out that Disney+ was quietly removing titles without notifying subscribers.