Credit: Warner Bros DiscoveryThe Max streaming service was ahead of the curve when it comes to removing content from paying subscribers, and now it has a new target: Steven Universe.
About a year ago, Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of HBO and the streaming platform formerly known as HBO Max, announced that it would not be releasing the nearly complete Batgirl and the 100% complete Scoob Holiday Haunt.
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This kicked off an industry-wide trend in which studios began refusing to release films and television shows (usually for tax benefits) and removing existing content from streaming services. Since then, the practice has become commonplace, with huge companies like Netflix and Disney+ regularly deleting movies and series from consumer access.
Of course, this has not meant studios lowered the costs of streaming service subscription fees, even as it provides less content. In fact, most services, including Disney+ and Max, have increased their prices while constantly taking away the shows and movies they exist to stream.
In a recent release, Warner Bros Discovery revealed that it would delete Steven Universe: The Movie (2020) from Max as of September 30. Additionally, it is removing Steven Universe: The Movie Sing-a-Long (2020), the simultaneously released musical version.
While the removal of content from streaming services is now just part of paying money to studios for content, Steven Universe: The Movie is a slightly unusual case.
Steven Universe was created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network, the animation channel owned by Warner Bros Discovery. That means that Steven Universe: The Movie belongs to Warner Bros to begin with, and that it most likely is not paying any licensing fees to keep it on Max.
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The show was a critical favorite and aired on Cartoon Network for five seasons. It followed the adventures of the eponymous boy (voiced by Zach Callison) and his companions, the Crystal Gems, Garnet (Estelle), Amethyst (Michaela Dietz), and Pearl (Deedee Magno Hall). It was particularly praised for LGBTQIA+ storytelling and crossover appeal to adult audiences.
However, if you are looking to see the movie, you will have to look elsewhere from Max after September. There seems to be no end in site for studios to stop removing movies and shows, and Steven Universe is definitely suffering for it.