Over the last two years, when streaming services (like HBO Max) has been cutting content, animated shows were among the first ones to cut. Among the first ones to go were Infinity Train, OK K.O., Close Enough, Summer Camp Island, and many others were among the first to be cut. Then more shows that aired on Cartoon Network. This year, Chowder, Gumball, Regular Show, and Steven Universe were dropped from Warner’s streaming platform Max.
Just recently, Disney+ cut Hailey’s On It from their platform, showing that even Disney is starting to purge animated shows.
Do major studios hate cartoons these days? Has animation became a thing in the past?
Yes, it's because they don't want to pay the people who make their cartoons the money they are owed to be kept on their platform, so they just cut them off entirely so they don't have to pay the people making their shows. The reason animation is being affected by this the most is that animation has never been respected or treated fairly by the general public and large corporations know they can get away with it.
Cartoons are seen as childish and not marketable to a wider audience, so that’s why most of the ones made for adults have the same ugly artstyle and are often not put on streaming services.
Yeah unfortunately cartoons don't seem to do as well as they used to in the past, its a shame because I do enjoy watching cartoons. I feel like things come and go in popularity.. maybe in a few years it will be popular.
To add to all of that, most simpleminded people are still stuck in the stage where animation is what they put on to keep their child's attention span for a few minutes. There was that one line at the Oscars paraphrased cause I can't be bothered to find it right now 'Animation is what kids watch and adults endure.' So with that kind of mindset you can see why this medium doesn't have a lot of respect.
Reading this thread made me realize I'm glad I don't use HBO Max.
This also made me remember when I was at a friend's house back in 2015 and Netflix had loads of cartoons, including The Powerpuff Girls, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Danny Phantom, Adventure Time, Regular Show, and The Amazing World of Gumball. I was watching some episodes of The Powerpuff Girls.
It seems like that nowadays, Netflix focuses on more live-action rather than animation...
