10 More Movies & TV Shows You Can No Longer Watch
The current content apocalypse is a serious threat to media preservation.
Hollywood is certainly in one hell of a strange place right now, as studios scramble to redefine what "value" means in the age of streaming, all while physical media is being left increasingly in the dust.
2023 has been something of a wakeup call for audiences that rights-holders themselves can't necessarily be relied upon to preserve their own content, what with an alarming number of movies and TV shows being removed from streaming with little warning - and in extreme cases, productions less than a year old.
But this list isn't looking exclusively at recent casualties of the streaming bubble bursting - there are also many beloved films and TV series which, for a multitude of reasons, can no longer be easily or legally watched.
It's devastating seeing so much quality art remaining trapped on defunct formats or, in the streaming era, never even getting a disc release at all, ensuring that for those unwilling or unable to seek more nefarious avenues for missing media, they're simply forced to go without.
Expect this to become an even more pressing issue in the years to follow as Hollywood continues to adjust to industry shifts, and it's likely not going to be pretty for audiences at large...
10. Willow
The long-awaited TV series sequel to 1988's cult classic fantasy film Willow was released on Disney+ in late 2022 before wrapping up its run at the start of 2023.
Though critical reviews were rock solid right out of the gate, audience response was considerably more polarised, resulting in underwhelming viewing figures throughout its initial airing and a swift cancellation back in March.
All the same, it was reasonable to assume that the show - which was produced at a hefty cost of $106 million - would exist in perpetuity on Disney+, what with it being an original production by Disney and Lucasfilm (which Disney owns).
Yet in May, the House of Mouse decided to remove Willow from their streaming service altogether, as part of a wider content purge mounted by Disney CEO Bob Iger, in an attempt to lower their current tax bill.
Star Warwick Davis vocally criticised Disney for their decision, calling the move "embarrassing," and while many of Disney's banished originals this year quickly found homes on other streaming services, at the time of press Willow continues to languish in the abyss.
While it's likely that Willow will eventually be licensed out to another streaming service, for now there's no (legal) way to watch the series. For a show that premiered less than a year ago, that's absurd.