Current Events > Disney+ and Hulu removing dozens of originals for tax write offs.

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is such an awful trend.

https://tvline.com/2023/05/18/disney-plus-hulu-missing-shows-list-willow-big-shot/

Both Disney+ and Hulu will pull an HBO Max on Friday, May 26, and (not-so-)quietly remove dozens of shows from their respecting streaming libraries.

Disneys chief financial officer, Christine McCarthy, gave a heads-up on the library edit during the companys recent Q1 earnings call, saying, We will be removing certain content from our streaming platforms and currently expect to take an impairment charge or, write-off of approximately $1.5 to $1.8 billion.

It is unclear at this time where the excised titles might wind up. Many of those lost to HBO Maxs own purge landed on FAST (free, ad-supported streaming TV) services such as Tubi and Roku.

Beyond the Friday, May 26 removal of titles including Willow, Big Shot, Dollface and others listed below (via Vulture), Disney is also looking to better curate its production of streaming content.

As we grow the business in terms of the global footprint, Disney CEO Robert Iger said, we realized that we made a lot of content that is not necessarily driving sub growth. And were getting much more surgical about what it is we make.

DISNEY+ Shows Being Removed
Be Our Chef
Big Shot
Disney Fairy Tale Weddings
Earth to Ned
Foodtastic
Howard
Its a Dogs Life With Bill Farmer
Just Beyond
Magic Camp
The Making Of Willow
The Mighty Ducks
The Mysterious Benedict Society
The One and Only Ivan
Stuntman
Timmy Failure
Turner & Hooch
Willow
Wolfgang
The World According To Jeff Goldblum

HULU Shows Being Removed
Best in Dough
Best in Snow
Dollface
Everythings Trash
The Hot Zone
Little Demon
Love in the Time of Corona
Maggie
Pistol
The Premise
The Quest
Y: The Last Man

credit to brimic

I've never heard of a single one of those Hulu shows

*checks Hulu list*
*Doesn't find What We Do In Shadows*

False alarm, everyone! Nothing to worry about!

Never watched any of them, but fucking sucks regardless.

Hopefully they've all been "preserved" by now >_>

Oh wow

Sure Willow was bad but I didn't think it was "immediately purge it from the library" bad

They cant be tax write offs if they are already released. They are doing it to avoid paying residuals during a strike/retaliation.

Even though they are fighting desantis in Florida, its important to remember they are a multi-billion dollar corporation and are inherently not good.

What mighty ducks is that?

Oh man I need to watch Y the Last man and Willow before they leave. I don't care if both suck I still want to watch them.

Alteres posted...

What mighty ducks is that?

Game changers, the TV show. Looks like they are only targeting original.shows and nothing old. For now.

TMOG posted...

Oh wow

Sure Willow was bad but I didn't think it was "immediately purge it from the library" bad

From what I heard it starts off bad but gets better.

Ah, I believe it has to be new for this write off iirc so I should have figured that, not sure if it works for new acquisitions.

I dont really care then I guess, have Hulu but never bothered to start any of those and havent heard anything about them.

*still shitty and shouldnt be allowed imo

JasonSehorn posted...

Howard

Borderline offensive to remove this for a tax write off tbh

creativerealms posted...

From what I heard it starts off bad but gets better.

It gets better, then worse, then better, then meh

Jesus, Willow bombed so damn hard. Show was a mess, but I didn't think it was that much of a train wreck for them.

Kind of surprised about Jeff Goldblum. I thought it was a fairly popular show.

Dollface on Hulu had an entertaining first season. The second season kind of didn't know what to do with itself. There were covid interruptions. Maybe that was it. I'm not overly sad to see it leave.

creativerealms posted...

From what I heard it starts off bad but gets better.

Eh, it has like an episode or two that recaptured some of the original fun, but overall it's bad and suffers from a lot of "idk who this is for" type of decisions

I use Disney+ and Hulu regularly and I've never heard of any of the shows on that list.

The Mysterious Benedict Society
Timmy Failure

My kid liked both of these.

That is such BS....

I really really want shit like this to be an eye opener for people to realize how important physical media is.

Like, its one thing if you dont really care and are just a casual TV / movie watcher, I get that there are plenty of people (most likely the majority) who dont give enough of a shit, but Id really like it if more people came to appreciate actually owning what you like instead of perpetually renting.

All I'm thinking is about how the work put into those original shows will now be wasted, even though I'm not interested in any of them. Kinda sucks.

JasonSehorn posted...

The World According To Jeff Goldblum

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/4/2/AAPstsAAEKzq.jpg

Irony posted...

I've never heard of a single one of those Hulu shows

You never heard of Y The Last Man? I thought it got some decent discussion on here when it first came out

It's based on a comic book series where one day all male creatures on earth drop dead. Except 1 male monkey who is the pet of 1 young man. The last 2 males on earth

BakonBitz posted...

All I'm thinking is about how the work put into those original shows will now be wasted, even though I'm not interested in any of them. Kinda sucks.

They'll probably wind up on another service depending on the cost.

This is nothing like the HBO situation, these are things that are probably expensive to keep on there contractually (Jeff Goldblum ect al) but just aren't being watched in enough capacity to be worth it.

Dark-Summoner posted...

They'll probably wind up on another service depending on the cost.

This is nothing like the HBO situation, these are things that are probably expensive to keep on there contractually (Jeff Goldblum ect al) but just aren't being watched in enough capacity to be worth it.

Fairly certain they have to be destroyed. There was info out when HBO started doing this shit.

JasonSehorn posted...

It is unclear at this time where the excised titles might wind up.

I'd tell you where they'll wind up but I don't want to be modded

Irony posted...

I've never heard of a single one of those Hulu shows

Dollface is the show with that chick that has huge mommy milkers

ProfessorKukui posted...

damn, what the hell is up with all these clowns starting this shitass trend?

Zaslav got away with it now they all do it

the fuck?? mighty ducks was an awesome series.

How does removing the content they already made save them money?

__starsnostars posted...

How does removing the content they already made save them money?

tax loopholes that they are experts at navigating most likely

I might cancel all these streamings I like just sitting outside more lately

This is shifty. These shows are still pretty new. I wont pretend I understand how the write off stuff works, but it just feels wrong that Disney is going to make 1.5B by dumping shows they produced.

It would be so much better for art preservation if they stopped paying residuals indefinitely to the actors/writers/producers. Bigger upfront payments and bigger residuals based on views, but with an expiration date after several years.

David Zaslav Suggests Rival Streamers Should Bundle Together: If We Dont Do It Ourselves It Will Be Done To Us

https://deadline.com/2023/05/david-zaslav-streamers-max-bundle-1235371789/

kinda like cable lol

My understanding, from similar discussions surrounding Toonami series like Megas XLR, is that shows that are written off cannot be resold or made profitable at a later date. Basically, say goodbye to these forever... legally.

Should be illegal.

If residuals are present a streaming service should be legally obligated to host a show for the lifetime of the service.

ChocoboMog123 posted...

My understanding, from similar discussions surrounding Toonami series like Megas XLR, is that shows that are written off cannot be resold or made profitable at a later date. Basically, say goodbye to these forever... legally.

Until they go public domain around the end of the century

I think the analogous versions in "traditional" television are widely accepted. "The Black Donnellys" was a show that I watched on NBC in the mid 2000s that was cancelled mid-season. It stopped being shown on TV at that point. They released a dvd box set for the season and just washed their hands of it. Hypothetically they have distribution deals with some places such that residual pennies appear every once and a while, but generally most money that anyone makes from the show is done. Even the release of the DVD season wasn't out of some sense of "media preservation".

It feels like bad faith to stop showing something like Westworld that you know people are still going to watch in large numbers just to avoid paying any more for it (even if you determine that it's not a financial draw to HBO Max). Removing The Making Of Willow doesn't seem like a sneaky way to not pay people. It feels like media going away like it used to.

And they wonder why people pirate

Indiana Jones 5 already at a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes after the Cannes premiere, and it has an unbelievable $300 million budget. This is going to be an absolutely brutal year for Disney.

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

Indiana Jones 5 already at a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes after the Cannes premiere, and it has an unbelievable $300 million budget. This is going to be an absolutely brutal year for Disney.

That budget is astronomical, but Disney will he fine. Little Mermaid is going to do gangbusters. If it doesn't THEN they may have a rough time. But guardians is doing great for em

Bur really all of these shows already flopped and some of them I didnt even know existed

Why does Harrison Ford hate star wars and think it's childish and lame.....but he came back for Indiana Jones twice after the original end?

Zikten posted...

Why does Harrison Ford hate star wars and think it's childish and lame.....but he came back for Indiana Jones twice after the original end?

Because Indiana Jones is a better character than Han Solo.

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

Indiana Jones 5 already at a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes after the Cannes premiere, and it has an unbelievable $300 million budget. This is going to be an absolutely brutal year for Disney.

Damn 50%? That was a disaster for Mario.

Zikten posted...

Why does Harrison Ford hate star wars and think it's childish and lame.....but he came back for Indiana Jones twice after the original end?

Probably because weirdo nerds don't constantly ask him stupid questions about Indiana Jones.

How are they getting paid 1.5 billion dollars by removing a few shows on their streaming services? What company is paying them more than a billion dollars to do that?