Removed Disney+ Movie Is Already Returning to the Streaming Service

Disney+ users were up in arms at the start of this year as some popular movies left the service for seemingly no reason. Well, it look like one of the most popular films that went missing will be back soon. Disney announced that The Sandlot will be back on February 1st, but there is no word on some of the other movies that went missing near the calendar flip. Other content included in the disappearing act include Dr. Dolittle, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration. Earlier this month a Disney spokesperson spoke to Gizmodo about the missing movies. It turns out the fervor surrounding the disappearance of the content comes down to rights issues surrounding all these different movies.

The comments about the missing content from the spokesperson, “a small number of titles had left the platform over issues relating to legacy deals. However, all of those titles that have left will return to the service as soon as those licenses expire.”

These concerns are nothing new for some users. People has thought this might have been a possibility from the moment the streaming service was announced. Netflix and Hulu have both had some concerns about this sort of thing happening in the background. But, Disney was adamant that this wouldn’t be a big issue with Disney+. Problems are here though and this is just more proof that the giant company still has some kinks to iron out as it gets its legs under it in the streaming wars. This holiday season was a good start but it will take increased value and must-see exclusives to pry more people away from competitors.

“There will not be a ‘rotating slate’ of licensed movies each month,” a Disney+ representative said last year. “With Disney+, beloved classics from the Disney vault will now stream in a permanent home, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King – the entire thirteen film Signature Collection – all available on day one.”

A quick-thinking Twitter user had flagged the potential for content to slide off of Disney+ last year, and it looks like a certain measure of skepticism is warranted. Those expiration dates in the code look like they’re being used as more than placeholders. There’s no established timetable for the other movies to return to the service.