I’m a huge fan of director Guillermo del Toro and while I was glad to see his most recent film for Netflix, Frankenstein, get recognized with four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, I have a very special spot in my heart for his 2006 Spanish-language film Pan’s Labyrinth. This unique fantasy film introduced me to the concept of magical realism at a young age and has had an incredible influence on my literary and film tastes in the 20 years since.

When my family wanted to revisit this film over the weekend, I was thrilled, as I think this movie is always worth a rewatch. However, when they asked where to stream it, I was dismayed to find that not only has the film been removed from Netflix, but it is not available to buy or rent anywhere. Luckily, I still have a DVD of the film, and the Criterion Collection version of the Blu-ray is still available on Amazon as of this writing.

But if you are looking to stream the film that arguably put Guillermo del Toro on the map (in America at least) you are sadly out of luck.

What happened to Pan’s Labyrinth on streaming?

The latest victim of rights issues

This isn’t the first time a movie has completely disappeared off of streaming. Several years ago, The Others, one of my favorite horror films of all time, also disappeared without a trace from every platform seemingly overnight. The main issue with that film was that Dimension Films, which distributed The Others in the US, had been bought and then sold by Disney, and was then shuffled off to an investment company. This company, which held the rights to The Others as well as dozens of other titles, let the streaming rights expire before it was then absorbed as part of a merger with Paramount. And, fortunately for horror fans, now that this latest acquisition is complete, The Others is once again able to be streamed on multiple platforms.

I suspect something similar is happening with Pan’s Labyrinth. Though the film’s US distribution was previously handled by Warner Bros., Deadline reports that the film was recently acquired by Cineverse (whose biggest box office hit thus far has been Terrifier 3), which is likely where the rights holdup is.

Pan’s Labyrinth also has a big anniversary coming up

Could a new version of the film debut on streaming soon?

As part of its acquisition of Pan’s Labyrinth, Cineverse has announced plans to re-release the dark fantasy title in theaters. And while no news has been released yet about a 4K or IMAX remaster, if something like this is in the works, perhaps we could see a new, upscaled version of the film debut on streaming services in time for the 20th anniversary later this year.

Though it is disappointing that there is no way to stream Pan’s Labyrinth right now, I am confident that the film will return in some capacity before the end of the year. Now where it will be available, in what form, and how much it will cost to stream, remains to be seen, but hopefully more will be announced soon. In the meantime, if you’re really wanting to watch the film, you’ll just have to dust off your old Blu-ray player and enjoy the magic of physical media.