‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ & Captain Nemo Series ‘Nautilus’ Ditched By Disney+ To Be Shopped Elsewhere
It’s another week and a new selection of eyebrow-raising decisions from a streaming service, as Disney+ announces it has decided “not to move forward” with both ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles‘ and the Captain Nemo Series ‘Nautilus‘… both of which had already completed filming. Both series are now being shopped to other broadcasters.
‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ is a live-action series based on the beloved, best-selling books. It follows the Grace Family – twin brothers Jared and Simon, their sister Mallory and mother Helen – as they move into their dilapidated ancestral home. They begin to unravel a dark mystery about their great-great Uncle who once discovered the secret and sometimes dangerous faerie world. Christian Slater is among the cast leading the show.
‘Nautilus’ is a live-action adventure series based on Jules Verne’s classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Star Trek: Discovery’s Shazad Latif takes the iconic role of Captain Nemo, the enigmatic Indian prince who steals a fantastical submarine from the East India Company and sets sail in search of adventure under the sea.
As you might have guessed, the decision not to move forward with both these shows on Disney+ is down to money. Back in May, the streamer began a cost-cutting measure, which resulted in the removal of a number of shows from the service, most notably, the high-profile (and only recently launched at the time) ‘Willow’ series. You may be asking yourself:
How does removing content from a streaming service save them money?
Well, it’s not straightforward, but I’ll try and explain… You might think it saves on paying residuals (i.e. the money actors, writers, etc… get when a show airs) to the people involved, and that is true… Although, as we’ve heard a lot recently due to the current strike by the actors and writer’s guilds, the residuals are a tiny, tiny, part of that cost, and that is one of the things they are striking to change.
The biggest cost is actually license fees. As ridiculous as it may sound, even if a show is made by one arm of Disney – e.g. 20th Television – and airing on Disney+, the streamer still has to pay a license fee to the producing studio for the content if it is sitting on the service. Yes, it is essentially shuffling money which all ends up in the same Disney pot eventually, but in order to look profitable, and to give the illusion of fairness, that is the way it has to be done.
Look at it this way – if Disney+ got given all its content for “free” by FX, 20th Television, National Geographic, Lucasfilm and all the other Disney companies that supply it, Disney+ would look to be racking in the cash… or more cash… But, that would be at the expense of those Disney-owned studios, who would have to mark a massive loss for not getting paid for that show they produced. Those internal financial books need to balance. It also means a streamer like Disney+ does not (on paper anyway) have an advantage over someone like Netflix, who doesn’t have a stable of internal studios feeding it content.
So, to save money, Disney+ looks at its catalogue of shows, sees what is underperforming (i.e. no one is watching), pulls them from streaming, and takes something called an “impairment charge”. That basically means Disney+ is saying “we don’t think this is worth the money we paid for it” and can “write off” the cost of that show.
Those impairment charges work in a couple of ways. If a show has been on the service already, such as with ‘Willow’, the show is “impaired” for a specific length of time (e.g. 12 months), where it can not be added back on the service. After that, it could be impaired again or added back on. They can also sell the show to another streamer. at which point they then subtract the money they make from selling it on from the impairment charge. We saw this happen at WB in the USA where they removed a number of shows from their Max streaming service, but sold them to other broadcasters/streamers.
For a project that has never been aired anywhere, such as ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ and ‘Nautilus’, you can impair the show without a time limit but also look for a new home for it. If you find someone to buy it, you then subtract the amount you get paid for it from the impairment amount. There is also the nuclear second option, such as the high-profile example of the ‘Batgirl’ movie at DC, where you opt to impair the project and throw it into a black hole, never to be seen again!
At this point, you might be wondering how much Disney+ can make by impairing assets. Turns out, quite a lot! When this first started back in May, the Disney CFO commented that they were looking to make “$1.5 to $1.8 billion” from impairment charges by removing content from the service.
So, where does that leave ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ and ‘Nautilus’?
Both shows are completed, and looking for new homes. In the case of ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’, it was a co-production by Paramount Television and Disney’s 20th Television with Paramount as the lead studio, so they are the ones shopping it around. Whilst there is a possibility it could end up on Paramount+, as mentioned above, they don’t get it for “free” and still have to pay a license fee for it, so it could end up anywhere. ‘Nautilus’ is produced by Seven Stories and Moonriver TV, and Disney+ are said to be working with the production to find a new home for it.
Both ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles‘ and ‘Nautilus‘ do not currently have broadcasters, but we’ll let you know if that changes. If you want to keep track of these or any other shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified if/when they get a UK premiere date.
