When Disney+ launched back in November, it opened up a nostalgic paradise of favorites from our childhoods, ranging from animated classics and throwback sitcoms to fun-filled adventures. But the pleasant streaming service dream felt somewhat brief when Disney+ removed a handful of titles at the top of 2020 originally without any type of warning or announcement from Disney.
At the beginning of January, the streaming platform removed Dr. Dolittle, Strange Magic, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Sandlot and so forth. Now, as of February 1, one of those titles is returning to Disney+: the 1993 cult-classic The Sandlot. And hey, this is great news for fans of the baseball-centered family comedy!
A couple weeks ago, a Disney+ spokesperson explained that some of the titles that left the streaming service recently stemmed from issues related to legacy deals. Once the deals expire, the titles will return to the site. And it looks like The Sandlot hit the first home run!
Other services such as Netflix and Hulu publish the titles that are coming and leaving their site regularly. And considering Disney+ is owned by the studio behind all of its content, it just didn’t add up when The Sandlot and others just disappeared from the streaming service one day.
Disney is still juggling a lot of contracts for its various films with other streaming platforms and networks, so don’t be surprised if hiccups like this could continue. For example, there are some Disney movies that will actually leave Disney+ in 2026 and return to Netflix.
Another thing to note is that rotation of content is embedded in the DNA of streaming. While in a perfect world everything on Disney+ will stay there and new content will keep filtering in, from a business standpoint, a shuffling of content in and out does benefit streaming platforms.
Home Alone and The Sandlot may prove to be key titles to the Disney+ brand since they are both expected to have original content about them. A Home Alone remake is on the way, and it was announced last year that the co-writer and director of The Sandlot is developing a Disney+ television series featuring many of the original cast members as adults with children living in 1984.
Back in 2018, it was also announced that The Sandlot would have a prequel film, also from Sandlot’s director, David Mickey Evans. When Disney bought Fox last year, the studio reportedly scrapped the project along with a ton of other in-the-works movies, such as a Flash Gordon movie and a Die Hard prequel. Disney recently rebranded its Fox asset as “20th Century Studios,” completely dropping the old studio name.
Either way, hoorah for those who have been itching to see the group of rowdy Sandlot kids play baseball and have summer adventures.
