Credit: AMC/Disney/Inside the MagicThe AMC Channel has rescued the upcoming 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea reboot series Nautilus from Disney+ cancelation, adding to the growing trend of networks snatching up programs canceled by the floundering Walt Disney Company.
Things were not always like this. The Disney+ streaming service was launched in 2019 to much fanfare, touted by its parent company as a major competitor to the dominant Netflix, along with the popular HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and others.
There was good reason for the claim: the Walt Disney Company’s vast catalog of pop culture classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), rebooted new shows like Ducktales, and, hugely importantly, the promise of new Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars series made Disney+ an immediately major force in the streaming market.
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However, after a year of diminishing box office grosses, it seems that Disney+ is doing little but canceling show after show and begging the competition to license them.
Disney+ Cancelations
In the last several months alone, Disney+ has canceled a staggering number of original series, including The Wonder Years, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Doogie Kamealoha, M.D, National Treasure: Edge of History, Big Shot, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and Nautilus.
No doubt, this is due in part to Disney CEO Bob Iger’s mandate to cut costs and trim the fat wherever possible, though one begins to wonder whether the company is actually interested in telling stories and creating content anymore or if that’s considered an unnecessary expenditure.
‘Nautilus’
Nautilus was announced two years ago as a reimagined 10-part series adaptation of Jules Verne’s 1870 novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, widely regarded as a classic of early science fiction. Notably, Disney was already strongly associated with the story after its 1954 feature film of the same title, starring Kirk Douglas and James Mason.
According to AMC, Nautilus will act as an origin story for the iconic Captain Nemo of the titular underwater ship, describing him as “an Indian Prince robbed of his birthright and family, a prisoner of the East India Mercantile Company and a man bent on revenge against the forces that have taken everything from him.”
The series will star Shazad Latif, Georgia Flood, Céline Menville, and Thierry Fremont, along with Noah Taylor, Richard E Grant, and Anna Torv.
AMC executive vice president of original programming Ben Davis says, “Nautilus is a big, sweeping drama that is sure to appeal to fans of our Anne Rice Immortal Universe and other buzzy and fan-forward series like Orphan Black: Echoes.”
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The show will be broadcast on AMC Channel as well as streaming on AMC+.
Disney+ Licensing
In extreme contrast to its prior competitiveness with other streaming platforms, it seems that the service is doing everything it can to recoup costs, including actually licensing its shows out.
The canceled Spiderwick Chronicles has already been picked by Roku. Hulu has begun streaming Marvel shows. This makes Nautilus another confirmation that Disney+ is willing to sell its shows to the highest bidder. We’ll just have to see how long it is before we start seeing Mickey Mouse offloaded to other networks.
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