‘The Princess’ Writers Mourn Film’s Hulu Exit: ‘It May Not Be Available for Anyone to See Ever Again’
25.05.2023 - 21:37
/ thewrap.com
60 movies and television shows have left Disney+ and Hulu. That includes Sundance crowdpleasers like “Timmy Failure,” initially-intended for theatrical releases like “Artemis Fowl” and “The Once and Future Ivan,” big-budget IP adaptations like “Willow” and “Y: The Last Man,” and high-concept YA dramedies like “Stargirl” and “Rosaline.” Once such casualty is “The Princess.”Released in August of 2022, the original high-concept hybrid of “Die Hard” and “The Raid” features Joey King (star of “The Kissing Booth” trilogy) as a princess trapped in a tower having to fight and kill her way floor-by-floor to save herself and her family from a violent coup attempt.
It’s the kind of clever genre exercise that might have been a theatrical release a generation ago. Had it been given a theatrical release, however token, it would also have been available on DVD, VOD and related revenue streams eventually.
But now, once it leaves Hulu, reportedly for a tax write-down, it could vanish, never to be legally seen again.Screenwriters Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton have been vocal online with their displeasure that their splashy action fantasy has been disappeared to create the perception of cost savings from one quarter to the next. It is just one film or television show caught in this grim new normal.
So, just days before their movie was Thanos-snapped out of existence, they sat down with TheWrap to talk about it. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Disney has, as of this writing, declined requests for comment.Was “The Princess” conceived as a streaming title from the beginning?Jake Thornton: There was a mandate to 20th Century Studios by Walt Disney, who had just purchased it, requesting films specifically for Hulu. We
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