Welcome to the first in a new monthly tradition – Disney Plus Snubs. Each month after the “coming next month” list is released I’ll share the titles that are available or that have recently completed seasons that somehow didn’t make the list – AKA the SNUBS.
Vampirina (2017 – 2021)
The final season, Season 3 ended June 28, 2021. This appears to be the final Disney Branded TV title under the legacy contracts that required seasons to be complete before coming to Disney Plus. In addition, these legacy contracts required titles to be cable-exclusive for a few months after their completion. This is why Vampirina expires November 1, 2021 from on-demand. In other words – this snub will continue to be snubbed all the way until Thanksgiving time. Thank goodness these deals are no more… SCRATCH THAT – Vampirina is coming in September! So weird to see Disney bring it in early but no complains.
The Simpsons (1989 – Present)
Season 32 of The Simpsons will stream on Disney Plus. We recently revealed the premiere date as an exclusive. EDIT: Weirdly enough, we received bad intel – Simpsons is not coming the last week of September if we go off the September press release. It won’t arrive until the new season is already airing – ridiculous.
Like Vampirina, The Simpsons is under a terrible legacy contract Fox made for Hulu many years ago. The most recent seasons of Fox shows aren’t allowed to stream until the new season is about to premiere. As a result, the 32nd season which is already streaming in South East Asia’s Disney+ Hotstar services won’t be available here for a while yet. If Disney were smart, they would rework their contract so that the Simpsons could no longer be licensed to Hulu. It’s bonkers they haven’t done that yet. If they did, we could have “same week” episodes next year instead of them going to Hulu “same day.” So odd that The Simpsons were such a huge part of the promotion of Disney+ but they allow Hulu to have that privilege.
Breakthrough (2019)
This one is confusing. The status of the 2019 Fox film licensing is not known because that’s the first year Disney had ownership. Due to their pre-existing Pay One window contracts with HBO the 2019 Fox films are only now trickling off HBO. The first to leave was January 2019’s The Kid Who Would Be King which left HBO January 2021 and transferred to Disney+ 3 months later, arriving April 2021. The second 2019 Fox film to leave HBO was April 2019’s Breakthrough which left HBO contract April 2021. Notice a pattern? But unlike KWWBK Breakthrough did not transfer over in July and apparently isn’t coming in August either… It doesn’t make much sense, the films should be following similar pattern. That leads to our next snub.
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
New cult classic Alita left its HBO contract May 1 which should have set it for an August arrival if it had followed the pattern set by TKWWBK. One must be very, very concerned that Disney+ will pull some funny business and move this PG-13 title to Hulu because it’s “too mature” for Disney+… Hopefully September brings this so its fans don’t have to worry. The pattern seems like it works when it wants to. Dark Phoenix (2019) is the 4th Fox 2019 film to leave HBO contract. It left June 1st and is confirmed to arrive on Disney+ in September, right on schedule. It’s definitely seems like something to worry about with Alita although a PG religious film like Breakthrough also not showing up on schedule suggests maybe it is just Disney choosing to sit on titles intentionally due how few titles they actually have access to this year.
The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)
Yes, the 5th Fox 2019 film to leave HBO contract is this one. It left July 1. It will likely appear October – November. The HBO deal is awful for Americans. Most countries have the full 2019-2020 Fox slate already and USA won’t have the full 2019 slate until about 3 years after they premiered.
Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book (1994)
Left HBO’s library deal April 1st. One of few Disney Pictures films from the 90’s still missing. Seems a sure-fire addition in the future but is weirdly absent globally…
Dick Tracy (1990)
Left HBO’s library deal March 1st. Yes, it’s Touchstone. But it’s also PG… and it was listed in the database during the infamous StitchKingdom library hack September 2019. Disney certainly planned it… but we’ve seen how that’s gone. *Cough* The Jennie Project *cough* Shaggy Dog *Cough* Barefoot Executive *Cough* Cory in the House *cough* Malcom in the Middle *cough…*
Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
Left HBO’s library deal March 1st. Already streaming in other countries since early 2020.
All Vintage Animated Shorts, Serials, Specials, and Films (1920-1990)
Would you expect anything else?
Drew Ryan is a film, TV, and Disney geek. He has degrees in English, Student Personnel Administration, and Library & Information Science from Lawrence University, Concordia University-Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Interested in the minutia and licensing of streaming service content, he is always publishing lists, suggestions, and advocating for Disney’s missing library to be added to Disney+. Drew subscribes to Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and Paramount+. You can find him waxing nostalgic over classic Disney Channel or geeking out over Marvel, CW shows, & Disney on Twitter.
