Movies and TV shows regularly come and go from streaming services; we all know this, but the trend has taken a disturbing turn in the past year, with content being pulled, sometimes permanently, just to save a few bucks. I know, it’s just business, but for the hundreds of creatives who have had their hard-work yanked from existence, it hurts. Disney+ has taken things to a new level as they have pulled Crater from the service, a movie which was released on May 12th… less than two months ago.
There’s no official word on why Crater was removed from Disney+, but The Independent believes that it’s “an attempt to cut costs relating to licencing deals.” The decision has sparked an outcry on social media, with some wondering why they’re paying for the service that can’t even keep their own content.
Crater tells the story of five unlikely friends exploring parts unknown on the Moon in order to fulfill the wish of the dearly departed. Isaiah Russell-Bailey, Mckenna Grace, Billy Barratt, Orson Hong, Thomas Boyce, and Scott Mescudi starred in the movie, which was directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez and scripted by John Griffin. “Crater is the story of Caleb Channing (Russell-Bailey), who was raised on a lunar mining colony and is about to be permanently relocated to an idyllic faraway planet following the death of his father (Mescudi),” reads the film’s official synopsis. “But before leaving, to fulfill his dad’s last wish, he and his three best friends, Dylan (Barratt), Borney (Hong) and Marcus (Boyce), and a new arrival from Earth, Addison (Grace), hijack a rover for one final adventure on a journey to explore a mysterious crater.“
Crater is far from the only piece of content that Disney+ has removed this year, but it is the most recent. The service ditched a handful of TV shows in May, including Willow, Y: The Last Man, Big Shot, Turner & Hooch, Earth to Ned, and many more. Some of these shows could pop up again on other platforms, but as very few have a physical media release, they’re just… gone.
Did you get the chance to watch Crater before it was yanked from Disney+?