Disney+ Doesn’t Stream R-Rated Movies Globally And It Hurts

If you live in the United States, you won’t find R-rated films on Disney+ right now. The Puritans’ descendants are only allowed family-friendly fare on the streaming service. Someone even edited partial nudity in Splash. That said, in some countries, like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Disney+ and Hulu are combined, so there is plenty of R-rated content — including the very raunchy series Pam & Tommy, for example. In the US, more “adult” content is on the Disney-owned Hulu as a separate service.

There are plenty of PG-13 movies on Disney+, however. The Star Wars sequel trilogy, and one of the prequels, are PG-13. So is West Side Story (2021), which will land on the streaming service in March. Many of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are rated PG-13 as well. There are also non-franchise films for adults and older teens on the streaming service that have a PG and PG-13 rating. Examples include 10 Things I Hate About You, While You Were Sleeping, Never Been Kissed, Dan in Real Life, The Fault in Our Stars, and the afore-mentioned Splash.

Could this ever change?

There is wiggle room for content, even on Disney+, it seems. For example, the recorded performance of Hamilton removed the musical’s swear words to make it more palatable for family audiences. But most of the X-Men movies are on Disney+ and those movies famously make use of the “one f-bomb allowed” rule for PG-13 movies. (Seriously, every time I’m impressed by the brilliant deployment of a single swear in each X-Men movie.) It’s not Deadpool, but it’s something.

To put it bluntly: I’m worried about the Marvel shows leaving Netflix. Those messy heroes f*ck and we can’t take that away from them if they go to Disney+! It would be a shame to censor those shows. That said, Moon Knight is reported to be more brutal than its predecessors from the Kevin Feige era of Marvel television.

Maybe this is ushering in a new era for Disney+ in the United States. Maybe we’ll even get R-rated movies there eventually. There are some under Disney’s Touchstone label — and even more now that they’ve merged with multiple studios. A gal can dream.

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(images: Marvel Studios, Disney+)

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Leah Marilla Thomas

Leah Marilla Thomas (she/her) is a contributor at The Mary Sue. She has been working in digital entertainment journalism since 2013, covering primarily television as well as film and live theatre. She's been on the Marvel beat professionally since Daredevil was a Netflix series. (You might recognize her voice from the Newcomers: Marvel podcast). Outside of journalism, she is 50% Southerner, 50% New Englander, and 100% fangirl over everything from Lord of the Rings to stage lighting and comics about teenagers. She lives in New York City and can often be found in a park. She used to test toys for Hasbro. True story!