The decision comes as Disney - along with other media companies - is reassessing their streaming strategies by cutting program costs with a renewed focus on profitability. It's part of the major write-off on content Disney announced in May, sources said.
“We are in the process of reviewing the content on our DTC services to align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation,” Disney CFO Christine McCarthy at the time. “As a result, we will be removing certain content from our streaming platforms, and currently expect to take an impairment charge of approximately $1.5 to $1.8 billion.”
Shortly after that announcement, dozens of original series and specials were pulled from both Disney+ and Hulu. In July, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the making of Marvel and Star Wars series and movies will also be scaled back for Disney+. In February, Disney unveiled a plan to cut $3 billion in non-sports content.
In addition, Disney +'s live-action strategy has also been reviewed. The Spiderwick Chronicles was a Disney+ series based on a title that did not come from Disney itself, but from an outside studio.
Sources are reporting that Disney Branded Television, which provides Disney+ with live-action content not from Marvel, Star Wars or Nat Geo, will focus more on Disney-owned titles.
A good example of that is the upcoming Percy Jackson series, based on the novels published by Disney's Hyperion Books.
There will be exceptions, including Sony TV's upcoming Goosebumps series, which I hear will air on both Disney+ and Hulu, and a new Doctor Who season from BBC.
New content is in the pipeline, with development and greenlight delayed due to the ongoing strikes, as the list of Disney+ non-Marvel/Star Wars live-action titles undergoes a change, with most of the first batch of original content no longer on the platform.
The Spiderwick Chronicles was first announced as part of the Disney+ Day in November 2021. The series began production in Canada last September, and filming is set to wrap up in early 2023. Christian Slater (Mr. Robot), who had a one-season deal to play villain Mulgarath, stars alongside Jack Dylan Grazer (We Are Who We Are), Lyon Daniels (Patriot (2017)), Noah Cottrell (Punky Brewster ( 2021)), Joy Bryant (For Life) and Mychala Lee (Truth Be Told (2019)).
Based on the bestsellers by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, The Spiderwick Chronicles is a contemporary American gothic coming-of-age story. Leaving New York and moving to Michigan and their dilapidated ancestral home - The Spiderwick Estate - with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves in an alternate, fantastical world.
Aron Eli Coleite serves as showrunner and along with Holly Black, DiTerlizzi, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, D.J. Goldberg, Julie Kane-Ritsch and Kat Coiro.
