Cartoons have been around for years and have been a part of many people’s childhoods. Whether you’re from the era of Betty Boop or newer titles like Gravity Falls, it’s likely you’ve found an animation that’s had an impact on you. Unfortunately, the market of streaming platforms has influenced the production of cartoons. Due to the amount of resources the production takes, many beloved shows have been canceled.
Here is a breakdown of what’s happening with animated shows and movies on streaming services.
Discovery HBO Max’s Mass Deletion
During November 2022, HBO Max removed a multitude of cartoon titles off of its platform. This targeted many children’s shows and left many baffled. The announcement of the removal came less than a week before the shows were taken off of the page and many creators spoke out about the unfair treatment.
Summer Camp Island, one of the shows wiped with the move, had a final season which was produced but never released. The removal made it unclear whether the many hours put into production would not air. Julia Pott, the show’s creator, tweeted, “We worked late into the night, we let ourselves go, we were a family of hard working artists who wanted to make something beautiful, and HBO MAX just pulled them all like we were nothing.”
Other creators from the shows have spoken out, such as Owen Dennis, the creator behind another beloved show, Infinity Train. People from these projects claim that there was no word of these removals before the news reports. Some have speculated that these changes were due to financial reasons.
This has set a bad tone and direction for the future of animation on streaming platforms.
Netflix’s Dropped Projects
Netflix has been a prominent streaming platform when it comes to animation. They have a big selection of anime and a ton of other projects in development. Unfortunately, a large portion of the department and projects were canceled this year. Many corporations have been producing animation in two categories: adult animation and children’s animation.
Netflix mimics this by focusing its marketing on Boss Baby’s animated series, rather than many others on the platform. Infinity Train from HBO Max was canceled because the next season was set to focus on a middle-age woman and executives didn’t think a child could relate. This sets a tone that animation has to target a specific age group.
Earlier in May, Netflix canceled five animated projects in order to focus on the specified categories.
Hope With Bee and Puppycat
Despite the hits taken to the animation community within streaming platforms, there have been some exciting successes recently. A noteworthy one is the long-awaited release of Bee and Puppycat: Lazy in Space. This show is an animated cartoon which got its start on Cartoon Hangover.
The pilot was released in two-parts and led to a crowdfunding page. From the success of this page, the creator Natasha Allegri was able to fund the animation of the first season which aired on YouTube. After its release, audiences anticipated season two which began production soon after.
Unfortunately, through the production, Allegri went through multiple studios. After a long fight to release the show, it finally found a home on Netflix. Since its pilot episode released in 2013, Bee and Puppycat: Lazy in Space aired on Netflix on September 6th, 2022. Breaking a lot of norms within the medium, Netflix marketed the show to teen audiences rather than adults or children.
Conclusion
Despite a lot of cancellations and other cuts to animation from streaming companies, luckily there are still a few titles which have persevered. While the future of cartoons is unclear and there may be other disappointments to come, there are a variety of talented artists working to keep the medium alive. Some shows may be becoming lost media, but this isn’t the end of animation.
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