As Vladimir Putin goes forward with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many corporations are choosing to cut all ties with Russia. Publix and Kroger took Russian vodka off its shelves. Netflix shelved its adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, despite Tolstoy dying before the Soviet Union even existed and being an anarchist. Kirill Sokolov, a Russian filmmaker with Ukrainian roots, had his film pulled from the Glasgow Film Festival, too.
So when Disney+ Updates, an unofficial Twitter account that shares Disney Plus news, wrote in a since-deleted viral tweet that Anastasia (that, by the way, is not a Disney movie) was removed from the streamer in the United States, many believed the removal was part of the growing ban of Russian and Russian-related products.
The account later clarified that its removal is unrelated to the current war, but it was too late. Disney+ Updates failed to take into account that people on Twitter don’t tend to be big on fact-checking.
After all, that’s how thousands believed that Jeremy Strong of all people would be starring in a Stuart Little remake; Twitter users failed to notice that instead of being tweeted by Film Updates, the “news” came from “Film Updtaes.” (@filmupdtaes has since been changed to @kendilfroy because too many gullible people fell for it.)
As IndieWire explains, Anastasia leaving Disney Plus is tied to Disney’s deal with 20th Century Fox, “an extremely complicated deal that involved many films and shows that were co-produced with other studios.”
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But if you’re outraged over the news because you just wanted to watch Anastasia and hear Liz Callaway sing “Once Upon A December” again, don’t worry. It’ll start streaming on STARZ on March 18, per What’s On Disney Plus, that first reported the news of Anastasia leaving the Disney streaming service.
Disney also recently announced that it will stop releasing films in Russia, including upcoming Pixar title Turning Red.