Disney has quietly dropped a handful of classic titles from its streaming service, including Home Alone and Doctor Dolittle.
Unlike other streaming giants such as Netflix or Prime, Disney Plus hasn’t announced a list of what’s disappearing from its collection of classic films. Instead, users have been left trying to piece together their own lists of what has been removed from the streaming service.
Related: Disney Plus teases content for the months ahead
So far, it looks like Home Alone, Home Alone 2, The Sandlot, Doctor Dolittle, Flicka, The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Strange Magic have all been dropped from the service. That’s according to some Reddit sleuths, who have created a list of films that have vanished over the past few days.
Speaking with Polygon, an unnamed Disney insider said that the removals may be linked to certain legacy deals, and that the titles may come back to Disney Plus once those deals have expired.
This seems to hold up, as a some Disney Plus users based outside the US have reported that the content listed above is still available for them, suggesting a US-specific deal is responsible for the disappearing titles.
However, could that mean that other titles could soon disappear too?
The streaming service hasn’t launched in the UK yet, much to the disappointment of Disney fans based on these shores. Instead, it’s set to arrive in March 2020.
The main reason for this delay also relates to licensing deals. At present, a lot of Disney property is licensed to Sky, and Disney is waiting for these deals to run their course before sending Disney Plus live here.
So far, Disney hasn’t emerged to officially clarify why the titles have been dropped, or when they might return. We’ve reached out to the company for comment.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
