I got curious and bored, so I thought with my limited resources (I.E. Google, Wikipedia and Roku search) I would find out what the status of the DC live action movies and TV shows not on the app were.
Now… I made a list and thought of cut and pasting it but don’t think anyone wants to scroll through that. So in a nutshell here is what I found out.
Of the movies not on the app that are not part of the DCEU or currently ongoing TV series (as it has been well established why they are not on here, AKA they are licensed or still making larger revenue selling and renting over being on here) and here is what I discovered…
Of the movies and series based on DC Comics that are not owned by someone else, the only movies not streaming SOMEWHERE are The Dark Knight Rises, Jonah Hex, the Losers, The Kitchen (never heard of the movie or comic but Wikipedia says it is a DC imprint title made into a movie), Road to Perdition, and a History of Violence. And for that matter of the movies not produced and owned by Warner but made into movies… The Return of Swamp Thing is the ONLY one not streaming somewhere.
And as for live action TV shows… it get’s more grim. The only live action shows not on the service already that are owned by Warner and not someone else… are Smallville, Powerless, and the original Human Target. And Smallville is on Hulu and thus not eligible presumably. Batman 66 and Swamp Thing are not streaming anywhere else that I coudl find, but Warner and DC also don’t own them.
So while people have complained about the lack of live action movies (including me I admit) and some TV series not on here. The reality is that even if we were to believe the ones not streaming are not tied up somewhere anyway and could be added right now, then that means all DC could add are…
Dark Knight Rises, Jonah Hex, and handful of movies most probably didn’t know were even based on comics at all. I mean I like History of Violence and know Road to Perdition was a successful movie but is anyone really going to go to DC Universe even expecting to find those in the first place, much less complain they are on. I don’t know what the deal is with Dark Knight Rises, but since the other films in that trilogy were on here I have to assume the licensing rights are tied up. So what… Jonah hex by most peoples opinion sucks so does anyone think anyone unhappy will turn their opinion around if that was on? Hell even if Return of Swamp Thing were owned by Warner how many people would even care if it was on here… or if they hadn’t watched it later be glad they did? As that movie from what I remember makes Jonah Hex look good. Even if DC could work out a deal to lisence it to this service who on earth thinks they should spend their money on getting that of all the DC based movies they don’t own?
And TV shows are worse. Smallville is tied up, Swamp Thing and Batman 66 are more desired shows as far as people wanting them on here but are likely not available. Powerless and the original Human Target might interest people who hadn’t seen it but Powerless was not well received (and was recently on Hulu so may not be freed up yet for all we know) and most don’t even know there was a Human Target series out besides the one currently on here.
My long winded point that I have come to, is that while I am pretty much everyone wishes we had more live action movies and TV shows on here. It seems most everything in the movies catagory is tied up even if DC could show one owned by a different ocmpany or work out a licensing deal to get it on the service… nothing is free save a few movies no one is really interested in seing on here, if at all. And the TV shows have damn near everything save one highly requested show they can’t put on there due to it being on another streaming service (Smallville) a couple requested shows they don’t own, and two shows most don’t even know existed (although do suspect sooner or later Powerless will be on here).
I think that for better or worse they gave us the best selection possible with what they have to work with. Doesn’t mean if people don’t think it is enough they are not within their rights to cancel. But a lot seem to think DC is just holding back, or for some reason doesn’t get we want more, or is convinced no one wants to see Smallville or something. But the reality is, at least based on what my ameature and limited research found out… is the best selection for what they had to work with. At best they could have added a few movies almost no one is interested in seeing beyond completion and few would watch, and a couple TV shows that there is virtually no interest in which beyond saying they had a few more selections would basically just sit there with no real interest. And again, that is assuming reasons we don’t know aren’t tying those movies up.
Heck seems even if DC wanted to shell out some money to work out a deal to show some movies like the 60’s Batman movie they don’t own, Swamp Thing or the live they would not be free to add anyway.
This is it… yeah I am sure with time some of this stuff will filter in here as licenses run out. But right now… for the immediate future for better or worse… they are giving us the best of what they have to work with.