Peacock is getting serious about new film releases
Discover more from Entechtainment.today
Peacock is getting serious about new film releases
The NBCUniversal streaming service, come January, will get pay-one exclusivity on a whole lot of movies
It's no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated processes that are now changing the movie industry almost real-time, so it comes as no surprise that all players are modifying their strategies at a similar pace. After Disney releasing many new films day-and-date in cinemas and on Disney Plus or Warner releasing all of its 2021 movies in theatres and HBO Max simultaneously, it's NBCUniversal's turn: its streaming service, Peacock, will be getting every Universal, DreamWorks, Illumination and Focus films first, starting next year.
This collaboration model is somewhat more open-ended than the one Disney, Warner, Paramount and others are following with their respective films and services. Movies from all four of the aforementioned studios will be heading to Peacock "for the first four months, as well as the last four months of the traditional 18-month pay-one window". What this means is that there will also be a ten-month period where films from those four studios will be licensed to other, competing streaming services too. This is something that Disney, Warner and others either do not do or do beyond the critical first 18-month "pay-one" window.
NBCUniversal also seems reluctant to aggressively shorten theatrical release windows as other movie studios choose to do. According to the company, movies from Universal, DreamWorks, Illumination and Focus will head to Peacock as exclusives "no later than four months after they premiere in cinemas". Four months is a far cry from the 60 or 90 days other studios push for but, then again, "no later than" can mean anything in practice (chances are that this window will vary in duration on a per-case basis). Those four months also mark a strategic shift for Universal, as the studio had already reached an agreement with top theatre chain AMC for a premium VOD release window of just 17 days (!) for new films last summer. That agreement is probably meaningless now.
Films that will be handled in the way this new agreement describes in 2022 include Jurassic World: Dominion, The Bad Guys, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Minions: The Rise of Gru. As part of the new agreement, Universal Pictures will also be producing new movies that will not be released in theatres at all and will be debuting exclusively on Peacock instead (no other information regarding those was shared).
Peacock is available on almost all popular platforms including Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon FireTV, Chromecast, LG webOS, Samsung Tizen, Roku and Vizio SmartCast, as well as on PlayStation and Xbox. It's only operating in the US for now, though, and NBCUniversal has not shared a timetable of availability in Europe, South America or other markets.
Reports regarding Peacock's userbase are somewhat conflicting: some put it at more than 50 million "sign-ups", while others claim that the actual figure of "active subscribers" is less than 15 million. Peacock offers a free ad-supported tier - and that might explain a few things... - but, most importantly, several reports claim that only 6% of Peacock's userbase is paying the full $9.99 monthly fee (there's a partially ad-supported $4.99 option that's not very popular apparently). NBCUniversal will have to give consumers more reasons to use its service and actually pay for it, which is what this new agreement should help with. Whether that help will prove to be enough in an already overcrowded streaming services market remains to be seen.
Links Worth the Clicks
Handpicked stories of the week from around the Web
Joe Biden Wants You to Be Able to Fix Your Own Damn iPhones
A sweeping new presidential directive includes, among other things, an initiative to secure consumers’ right to repair their own devices
What the "OLED Model" means for the future of Nintendo Switch
Who's it for? Where's the 4K support? And does Nintendo really need it?
As Marvel’s epics get bigger, Black Widow’s stakes feel too small
A movie out of time, in more ways than one
Intel erased all the market share gains AMD CPUs made this year
Nearly three out of four CPUs on the Steam Hardware Survey are Intel chips
Death Stranding Director’s Cut Trailer Reveals Release Date, New Missions, More
Available for the PS4 and PS5 in September in standalone and upgrade form
Netflix Is Losing Its Cool
Even as it dominates globally, the streaming giant no longer shines. HBO Max and Disney+, your move
A new skin in Windows 11 is not going to suddenly make me use the Microsoft Store
It's the open ecosystem that has made Windows successful, not the apps
It's become impossible to keep up with all these damn "seasons"
Can developers and players really maintain this pace?
Marvel’s What If…? gets a new trailer and an August 11th release date
Answering the MCU’s biggest hypotheticals
The 20 best racing games to play in 2021
A complete list of the best arcade, sim, motorsport and open-world racers
This Week in Turn On | Press Play
This newsletter’s stories from Monday through Thursday
Are you game for a 17.3-inch iPad Pro in 2023? I am!
But under one specific, non-negotiable condition - so take that into account, Apple
New Nintendo Switch model official, kind of underwhelming
The rumors were true… but the real thing is decidedly less exciting, here’s why
Choose The Perfect TV 2021: So You Just Got It! Now What?
Some things to do at once, some other things to consider at some point
Don't like Windows 11 after upgrading from Windows 10? Then hurry up.
Microsoft will be offering a rather short roll-back window (sorry) to consumers... but... why?
Have a nice weekend!