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Disney+ backflip on Queensland-made series, Nautilus.

Already completed 10 part Jules Verne series filmed in Queensland is now without a home.

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Disney+ will no longer screen a major drama series filmed and completed in Queensland at Village Roadshow studios.

Nautilus is a 10 part UK series, based on 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, which charts the origin story of Captain Nemo.

The series filmed from February 2022 to January 2023 throughout Australia,  injecting an estimated $96 million into Queensland’s economy and creating approximately 240 jobs for local cast and crew, plus 350 extras.

The cast includes Star Trek: Discovery’s Shazad Latif (as Nemo himself), Loki’s Richard E. Grant, The Witcher: Blood Origin’s Jacob Collins-Levy, and Black Sails star Luke Arnold.

But Deadline reports the decision is part of Disney’s streaming content removal plan unveiled in May, for which the company is taking an impairment charge of approximately $1.5 billion-$1.8 billion. It followed the February announcement by Disney that it intends to cut $3 billion in non-sports content spend across the company.

The project is now seeking a new home, with the streaming service’s execs working with the production companies to try and find another interested party to step in and air the show.

Disney+ also is not going forward with another upcoming original series, The Spiderwick Chronicles, a U.S. live-action series adaptation of the popular children’s fantasy books.

At the time of Nautilus‘ production, Screen Queensland CEO Kylie Munnich said, “Nautilus will be a complex production requiring the construction of large-scale sets, together with heavy visual effects and a highly technical set-up for computer-generated creatures and worlds – it’s an epic project on a large scale, scheduled to film in Queensland for many months.

“In addition to its sound stages, Village Roadshow Studio’s three water tanks will be critical to this production, alongside expert local crew who are particularly experienced with water work – other key factors that positioned Queensland as a stand-out candidate to bring this highly anticipated series to life.”

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  2. Disney is facing some litigation involving Governor Ron DeSantis that may decide whether Disney retains the power to control development around its huge theme park, and there are also numerous economic issues as well, some of which may involve looking in the books of Reedy Creek for misappropriation of funds, which is a criminal offence under Florida law. In a nutshell Disney needs funds quickly, some recent bad business decisions and poor content choices have emptied coffers, cancelling shows and removing streaming content provides some much needed tax right-offs. Looking ahead Bob Iger has some difficult decisions to make not least being to get the Disney brand on its feet again and save his job.

  3. The thing I don’t understand about Disney+’s current cuts is with the strike they don’t know when they’ll get new content. Guess they’ll rely on overseas product.

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