Credit: Inside the Magic Disney removed one of the more sought-after shows of 2020, giving Disney fans a closer look into their favorite films, Prop Culture. Now, the host of the show, Dan Lanigan is speaking out, and he is not too happy about Disney’s decision.
Here we saw that direct-to-consumer sales have increased by 9%. That being said, Disney+ subscribers had dropped to 146.1 million. Disney’s goal for Disney+ subscribers was 154.8 million, so this new number fell short of their goal. Disney’s “core” consumers increased by 1% — regardless, we started to see subscribers drop off now that Disney has begun to reduce the amount of content they are able to bring to their audience, the people paying for these services on a month-to-month basis. Additionally, Disney upped their prices and cracked down on password sharing.
At this time, over 50 shows and movies were axed from the streaming platform. This is not unusual to see on streaming platforms, as Netflix does it all of the time. Netflix actually warns guests when something is new or leaving with a red banner overlaying the bottom of the movie photo stating “recently added” if new, or “leaving soon” if the title is disappearing.
For Netflix, the streaming mogul licenses a lot of their content, and may not have the title contracted in perpetuity. Another issue that can present content being removed is popularity, as it may not be worth the cost to leave it up, if subscribers are not watching it. With Disney+ things work similarly.
Earlier this year, Prop Culture was removed from Disney+.
Prop Culture was a documentary series on Disney+ that explored the world of iconic movie props and costumes. Hosted by collector and film enthusiast Dan Lanigan, each episode focuses on a specific Disney film, offering an in-depth look at the behind-the-scenes stories of memorable props.
Lanigan embarks on a journey to track down, restore, and reunite some of the most iconic items from classic Disney movies, showcasing the craftsmanship and artistry involved in their creation. The series covers a range of Disney classics, including films like Mary Poppins, Tron, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and The Muppet Movie. Each episode provides viewers with an inside look at the magic of filmmaking and the enduring legacy of these beloved cinematic masterpieces.
According to Parrot Analytics, “Prop Culture ranks at the 89.8th percentile in the Documentary genre. This means Prop Culture has higher demand than 89.8% of all Documentary titles in the United States”. Parrot Analytics has also found that “the audience demand for Prop Culture is 1.8 times the demand of the average TV series in the United States in the last 30 days. 64.1% of all shows in this market have this level of demand.”
So, while the show was not wildly successful, it certainly had an audience. That being said, it appears that the audience was not wide enough for Disney to not only renew the show, but even keep it on the platform.
Facebook user William Swift recently posted on the social platform, “Anyone else upset Disney removed Prop Culture on disney+?”. To Swift’s surprise, Dan Lanigan replied, “Thanks for the post, William! I’m certainly upset that they removed it.”
William responded back to the host, “of course! I think you did a really great job and the show was really good. I was really excited to see what films were gonna be chosen for season 2. Couldn’t have been that expensive of a show to make so idk why they didnt have a season 2 let alone remove it all together. Im sorry man. It really was a great show. Somehow pawn stars gets 10 years and a spin off yet this gets 8 episodes and then destroyed a year later. Big big lame.”
Others replied in support of the show, including Chris DeCicco, who said they were, “crushed when they removed it. You did such an amazing job! I can’t believe they didn’t renew it for a second season”.
Dan further stated, “In the case of Prop Culture, it didn’t have any residual requirements outside of the short film clips, and some of the music used. PC was a very inexpensive show to keep on Disney+ (relatively speaking) compared to anything else out there, except for some documentary or game show style shows. I still don’t understand why they removed it, as it was great promotion for their older films.”
Other documentary-style Disney shows, such as Behind the Attraction or The Imagineering Story remain on the platform, despite Prop Culture‘s disappearance. Considering the show has been axed, it seems that this will likely just remain as a sore spot for Dan, and fans of the series.
Inside the Magic reached out to Dan for comment, but have not yet heard back at the time of this article’s publishing.
Were you sad to see Prop Culture removed from Disney+?