Earlier this year, Disney removed over a hundred original films and shows from its streaming services around the world, including Hulu, Star+ and Disney+.  These removals were an impairment charge to write off over $2 billion dollars of costs for Disney’s streaming service business, which was still not making a profit.

Many shows, including “Willow”, “Big Shot”, and “The Mysterious Benedict Society” were removed from Disney+ around the world, in addition to many original films like “The One And Only Ivan”, “Crater” and “Better Nate Than Ever”.  Unfortunately, at the time, we had no idea if these films and shows would ever be available to fans ever again or simply added to the recycling bin.

The good news is that Disney has re-released a number of the Disney+ Original films on digital platforms, including Vudu and Amazon, in the United States, to purchase or rent, including:

• Crater
• Better Nate Than Ever
• Flora & Ulysses
• The One And Only Ivan
• Rosaline
• Cheaper By The Dozen
• Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made

It looks like Disney has just cherrypicked out some of the more popular films from the “removed” list to restore, as unfortunately, not every removed film has been re-released on digital platforms, and it’s unknown if Disney will also be re-releasing the lost original series on digital platforms to purchase or rent.  They could also potentially be licensed off to other streaming platforms to generate additional revenue.

Since these films and shows have been written off as an asset for Disney+, it’s unlikely they will be returning to Disney+ any time soon, but for the people who created and starred in these films, it’s great to see Disney making them available to people, rather than just popping them in a vault somewhere to never be seen again.

What do you think of Disney making these former Disney+ Original films available to rent and purchase?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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