Disney+ Compilation Movies: An Idea For Your Consideration

How come there’s no Disney+ compilation movies yet? Or compilation movies for any of these big streaming series, really?

I’m not necessarily arguing anything for artistic integrity. In fact, in some cases this flies in the face of it. But I’m a big proponent of stories expressing themselves in multiple mediums in different ways. And this is one way to present a story in a new way to a new audience.

I say this because I’m a major film fan, as you might know from my Letterboxd. TV shows are a great medium, but it’s just not the same to me. So while I watch a lot of these big streaming series, especially the miniseries, my though it always, wow, I wish this was a movie.

So I propose Disney+ compilation movies as a solution.

I’ve felt the pace a lot with the new Star Wars: Ahsoka. It’s an eight-episode limited series, each episode 45 minutes long, so that’s six whole hours. Cut out the credits and recaps and it’s still a good five and a half.

I’m mostly enjoying the series, no real problems with the storytelling or acting or worldbuilding or any of that. It’s just… really slow. Like, REALLY slow. Scenes plod around with characters walking slowly, brooding, talking quietly. It’s got a lot of vibes, and certain viewers are gonna love that stuff. I’m not really one of those viewers.

I’m a really big Star Wars fan. Mandalorian and Boba Fett, both pretty episodic, worked great for me. Andor worked great for me thanks to being amazing. But Ahsoka, and ESPECIALLY Kenobi, feel more like super ultra long movies.

The Marvel shows have been even worse about it. She-Hulk and half of Wandavision aside, every single one feels like an overly long movie with a billion unnecessary subplots and a glacial pace. Some people love it, but I really don’t! The extra character moments don’t even close to outweigh it for me!

Disney+ compilation movies could solve that. They wouldn’t exist to replace the series, just supplement it. Trim stuff down, hurry up the pace, get these stories down to two to three hours and feeling really strong. It gives you a full experience, but lets you watch the full series if you want that instead.

Some important stuff will have to be cut, obviously, but the creators handling it get to decide those things. It’s an editing challenge and the creators get to express themselves in a whole new way. Focus on a certain character or theme more strongly, or even do something kinda experimental sometimes.

Anime compilation movies are super normal, but are often criticized for being terribly edited. They compress four to five hours into 90 minutes, but they often do so in a low-effort way that doesn’t feel cohesive at all. Although, with animation, there’s no coverage or extra unused footage to deal with; animating brand-new scenes is a tough call. They CAN be good, but they give the format a bad reputation.

But Disney+ compilation movies would have a lot easier time, so I’m confident they could do something good with them. Heck, fan edits like this release all the time. The very famous Kenobi Patterson Cut comes to mind. But official releases get a major boost by having access to all the raw footage, all the cut content, and the funding to do it right on a tighter schedule.

It’s nothing essential. But it would be extremely nice. I’m convinced Ahsoka would make a quite good movie compressed from six hours to three. And I KNOW that Hawkeye show would have been a Christmas classic as a single film. Remember that one? Nope, don’t worry, nobody else does. But a reedited Disney+ compilation movie would bring new life into that forgotten show.

Everything from Ms. Marvel to Willow to Andor could get brand-new audiences with a movie-length recut. People who don’t watch TV but love movies. People who are too burned out on franchises to invest the time. It’s basically a win-win. And, hell, if the WGA and SAG strikes go on long enough… Well, these recuts would probably do OK premiering in theaters for a couple weeks in 2024. Maybe the theaters won’t go bankrupt after all!

That’s my pitch for it. I’ve been yearning for it for years, but Ahsoka’s what finally made me articulate this desire.

It’s not just Disney+, of course. What TV series or miniseries do you think would work well as a compilation movie?