( Reuters)- Recently released flicks from Universal Studios will stream simply on Peacock as soon as 45 days after they debut in theaters and will be available for druggies to rent or buy, the company said on Thursday.
The new release strategy begins with Universal’s 2022 flicks. It’ll bring pictures to NBCUniversal’s incipient Peacock streaming service more snappily by compressing the traditional eight to nine-month delay between a film’s theatrical debut and its vacuity on streaming services.
“ It’s Peacock flexing its muscles on the happy front,” said Wedbush Securities critic Daniel Ives. “ Showing they could come veritably redoubtable challenges to other platforms, given aggressive content moves similar as this.”
NBCUniversal, possessed by Comcast, joins other major media companies in tapping the lure of recent flicks to bolster their streaming services.
The Walt Disney. brought” Free Joe” and”Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” to its Disney service just 45 days after their theatrical debut. AT&T’s WarnerBros. blazoned an analogous 45- day window for its 2022 movie slate, after making this time’s pictures available contemporaneously in theaters and on WarnerMedia’s HBOMax streaming service on the same day, in a release strategy called “day-and-date.”
“ You do have to wonder after guests have gotten used to day-and-date from players like HBOMax, whether 45 days is going to be enough to move the needle,” said Craig Moffett, a critic with MoffettNathanson. “ Honestly, (Peacock is)struggling. They’ve launched a single buzzy show that has put them on the chart yet.”
Peacock reported it had 54 million sign-ups to its service as of July, with 20 million active accounts– with many million more active accounts added in recent months. The service is roughly similar, in size, to ViacomCBS’s Paramount, though dramatically lower than Netflix and Disney, with 214 and 116 million subscribers independently.
Universal’s 2022 film slate includes “ The 355,” a globe-sprinting asset suspenser starring Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, and Lupita Nyong’o, “ Ticket to Paradise,” starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts and “ Marry Me,” with Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson.
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