Disney+ pulls plug on Nautilus, The Spiderwick Chronicles

The House of Mouse has shut its door in the face of two upcoming Disney+ series, as both Nautilus and The Spiderwick Chronicles have removed from their upcoming slate of programming. Both series, which had already concluded filming, are now being shopped to other studios.

As reported by Deadline, the move to ax both Nautilus and The Spiderwick Chronicles comes as Disney+ is looking to cut some serious costs. As previously stated by CFO Christine McCarthy, “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…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.” This aligns with the studio removing such titles as Willow, Y: The Last Man and dozens of others from Disney+.

The British Nautilus depicts the early days of Captain Nemo (Star Trek: Discovery’s Shazad Latif) and the titular vessel, which famously went 20,000 leagues under the sea in Jules Vernes’ sci-fi adventure novel and numerous adaptations like the terrific 1954 version with Kirk Douglas. It was set for 10 episodes. The cast also includes Georgia Flood, Thierry Frémont and Pacharo Mzembe.

Meanwhile, The Spiderwick Chronicles was an adaptation of Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black’s children’s book series of the same name, which was turned into a well-received movie 15 years ago. Set for six episodes, the cast here includes Christian Slater, Jack Dylan Grazer and Lyon Daniels.

While Disney+ has struggled with existing properties (RIP, Willow), it’s quite possible that they recognized that both The Spiderwick Chronicles – whose original book series haven’t had a new installment in nearly 20 years – and Nautilus – whose own source doesn’t exactly have a wide appeal and hasn’t had a good adaptation in seven decades – just wouldn’t land the audience that they need right now. Still, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is due for a big-budget epic at some point…

How do you feel about Disney+ pulling the plug on both Nautilus and The Spiderwick Chronicles? Are they making a good decision or is this a continuing sign of things to come for the streaming service? Give us your take in the comments section below.