Dozens of titles removed from Disney+ globally – What’s happening on Disney Plus

Unlike other streaming services, Disney does not announce in advance that titles will be leaving Disney+. While in the US, it’s common for a title or two to leave Disney+ due to contracts made with other platforms like HBO or Starz, before Disney+ was created or before the Walt Disney Company bought 20th Century Fox.

Internationally, it has been much less common for titles to be removed, but it still happens occasionally. However, in the past week, Disney+ worldwide, including in the UK, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada, has had dozens of titles removed without warning. There is also some regional variation with content removal. These removals generally do not affect Disney+ in the US, as they are all within the Star brand, which is usually found on Hulu.

Some of the interesting titles that have been removed recently include many Star Originals, such as:

• The promised land
• Queens
• Our kind of people
• Rebel
• The great leap

Several series and films from 20th Century Studios have also been removed, including:

• Downhill
• Titanic
• Breakthrough
• Dollhouse
• Wayward Pines

Other random shows that have been removed in some countries include:

As well as some National Geographic documentaries and third party movies/series, some of which were recently added.

Currently, it is not known why so many movies and shows have been removed at once. There are many reasons why this could be the case, for example:

• An error – These titles may have been removed by mistake, or an incorrect expiry date was entered, making them unavailable.
• Licenses – Some of these titles may have reached the end of their licensing agreement with Disney. However, some of these titles are owned by Disney, so this seems less likely.
• Licensed Out – An alternative theory is that Disney has removed titles to license out to other platforms, although this seems unlikely as usual, these deals have previously been non-exclusive.
• Budget – One of the interesting issues with Star Originals being axed, all these series have been cancelled. So can Disney take a page out of Warner Brothers Discovery’s rulebook and remove them as a tax break?

If this is an error, these titles may return to Disney+. One title that was removed and re-added this past week was the Star Original special, “Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself”. We’ve seen Disney+ suffer from a similar problem in the past, with a large number of titles being removed and brought back.

Usually, takedowns tend to follow a pattern, but these latest takedowns are from different studios, so a mistake would seem more likely.

Ultimately, we’ll just have to wait and see. If this is a mistake and things are returned, hopefully it won’t happen again. But if these removals are permanent, this is terrible news for Disney+ subscribers.

I have contacted Disney a few days ago for clarification as to why all these titles have been removed from Disney+ and have been told they are looking into it. When I get an update, I will update this article.

What do you think of these removals?

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a child and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney parks all over the world and has a huge collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What’s On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: [email protected] Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk