Naturally Disney+ is worth signing up for if you’re looking for more content tied to Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, but since launching in late 2019, the Mouse House’s platform has released various kinds of original movies and shows unconnected to those properties. Among the more recent in the former category is Crater, which debuted to Disney+ subscribers on May 12. Unfortunately, less than two months later, this movie has already been wiped from the streaming service.
Per What’s On Disney Plus, Crater’s removal from Disney+ came amidst a handful of other content being taken down, including the 2022 documentary More Than Robots, the TV shows Alaska Daily and The Company You Keep (both of which were recently cancelled) and various Turkish originals. This is the latest in a string of Disney+ purges that kicked off in mid-May, with the original content taken down in that initial bloodbath including Big Shot, Turner & Hooch, Willow, 2022’s Cheaper by the Dozen, Stargirl and Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, to name just a few. Disney is reportedly writing off $1.5 billion in taxes this quarter by cutting all this content.
Taking place in 2257, and starring actors like Isaiah Russell-Bradley, Mckenna Grace and Billy Barratt, Crater follows a boy named Cable who grew up on a lunar mining colony and embarks on a journey to visit a specific crater on the Moon with his friends before he’s taken to the planet Omega, per the wishes of his recently-deceased father. Kyle Patrick Alvarez directed the feature and John Griffin wrote the script. Crater was met with mixed critical reception, ranking at 64% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes and boasting a 63% Audience Score.
Unfortunately, unless you watched Crater during the less than two months it was available to watch, there’s now no longer any legal means to judge the movie for yourself. Like most other Disney+ original content, the movie was not released on physical media, nor can it be purchased on its own digitally. Made with a reported budget of $53.4 million before tax incentives, evidently Crater didn’t meet Disney’s performances expectations and decided to simply take it off Disney+ rather than keep it around, effectively burying it.
Of course, Disney+ isn’t the only streaming service that’s been removing content lately. In August 2022, then-HBO Max quietly removed exclusive movies and shows like An American Pickle, Moonshot, Aquaman: King of Atlantis and Generation Hustle, and that was followed months later by taking down shows like Westworld, The Nevers and The Time Traveler’s Wife in favor of making them available on a third party, free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service. Then just last month, Paramount+ removed original shows Star Trek: Prodigy, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Queen of the Universe and The Game shortly after cancelling them.
Although Crater is no longer available to watch, it’s still worth looking over the best Disney+ original movies and best Disney+ original shows that remain on the platform. Should any other notable pieces of content be taken off the Mouse House’s streaming service, we’ll let you know.
