Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy film “Willow” was a striking hit when it was first released, mixing Tolkien-like wizard magic with traditional “Star Wars”-like story beats. The title character (Warwick Davis) was an innocent Nelwyn sorcerer who finds an abandoned human infant in his remote village. This infant was born with a mystical birthmark, implying that she would bring about the downfall of the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh). The birthmark also explains why hellhounds seem to be on its tail. Willow decides to leave home and return the baby to her parents. Along the way, he’ll fall into the company of a wisecracking criminal named Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), and several other co-adventurers besides.
The film was a notable hit, making over $137 million on a $36 million budget, although it wasn’t a runaway success. It did, however, face still competition that year from films like “Big,” “Rain Man,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” “Coming To America,” “Twins,” “‘Crocodile’ Dundee II,” and “Die Hard.” Nonetheless, “Willow” does have its fans, mostly among those who were kids when they first watched it in 1988.
To bank on its nostalgia, Disney+ and show creator Jonathan Kasdan brought “Willow” back in TV form in 2022. “Willow” was one of the many projects Disney put into production when they purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, in addition to new “Star Wars” movies and a new “Indiana Jones” movie, and hopes were running high. Disney poured over $156 million into an eight-episode season, and old fans perked up. The good feeling, it seemed, was about to return.
But then, after those eight episodes were up, Disney announced that they were canceling “Willow.” It was a disappointing decision, as the series seemed to have a lot of potential (even though /Film’s own Josh Spiegel said it would have functioned better as a feature film). Then, to make matters worse, Disney removed “Willow” from their service entirely, making it wholly unavailable.
Why did they do that? Because, according to Deadline, Disney needs to do some serious reconnoitering.
