Why Disney Trashed a Movie It Spent $50 Million to Make

Sure, Disney  (DIS) - Get Free Report has money to throw around, but $53 million still sounds like a lot to drop even if you are rolling in the dough.

But that's exactly what the Mouse House just did with a film that's only been out on Disney Plus since May 12. Called "Crater," the family film is about five kids on a lunar colony who discover an unexplored crater and decide to investigate. It stars McKenna Grace, Billy Barratt, Isaiah Russell-Bailey, Orson Hong, and Thomas Boyce.

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"Crater" reportedly cost $53.6 million for Disney to make, but on July 4, the movie was pulled from the streaming service -- only seven weeks after its release.

This may seem nonsensical -- why make the movie at all, just to kill it after less than two months -- but it's all a part of cost cutting measures which will contribute towards CEO Bob Iger's plan to drum up $3 billion in savings in 2023.

During the company's second quarter earnings call on May 10, Bob Iger said that Disney+ paid subscribers dropped by four million, while tactfully indicating that change was on the way.

“This is part of the maturation process as we grow into a business that we had never been in,” Iger said.

Many streaming businesses have cited completion rate as an important metric for whether or not a show gets a second season. But when it comes to pulling an entire original film, it's not so much about the money already spent as the aftermath -- in short, Disney won't have to pay residuals to the cast and the production team who worked on "Crater" if the movie is no longer on the platform.

A total of 76 movies and shows have been removed since May 26.

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