“Halloween Ends”Universal has now released the film as a day and date release strategy, with simultaneous rollouts in theaters and on streaming service Peacock. Christopher Landon (director of the Blumhouse horror movies) “Happy Death Day” “Freaky”Universal is tired of Hollywood’s strategy at the expense directors.
Landon discussed how to make a tweet thread about Saturday’s Twitter conversation. “Freaky,” his horror comedy about a teenage girl who switches bodies with a wanted serial killer, was released theatrically in November 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic but then released as a video-on-demand title less than a month later, in keeping with Universal’s then-newly-signed agreement with major theater chains allowing them to release films on-demand as early as 17 days after theatrical release.
“Studios: stop gambling with filmmakers and their movies to try and prop up your fledgling streaming services. This happened to me onFreakyand it destroyed us. We worked SO HARD to make a fun movie. Blood sweat and tears. Months away from our families. And for what?”He was sad.
While Universal and its indie wing Focus Features have released dozens of theatrically-exclusive films since theaters reopened in spring 2021, the 17-day windowing deal has been a major factor in the elimination of the 90-day theatrical window that was defended by theaters prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Universal hasn’t used the day-and date strategy as liberally than Warner Bros. (which released all 2021 films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max), but it has done it with a few films. It also includes “Halloween Ends,”Films like the predecessor “Halloween Kills,” DreamWorks’ “The Boss Baby: Family Business”The Jennifer Lopez/Owen Wilson romance-com “Marry Me”Have also been day-and dated on Peacock.
“They love to use the term: ‘two bites of the apple’ but that’s just another way of saying ‘we’re gonna use your movie as a Guinea pig’ for our streaming service. Sorry. I begged the studio not to do this. Either circle the wagons and protect it for theatrical or just go all in on streaming,”Landon wrote.
But after this weekend, it’s probably unlikely that Universal will completely give up the practice. While “Halloween Ends” earned the lowest opening of the franchise’s reboot trilogy with a $41 million launch, Universal reported that the film became Peacock’s most-watched film in the first two days of release. Universal did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
As Hollywood moves deeper into streaming-fueled Hollywood, the experimenting with theatrical windows will continue. But Landon made it clear by a profane conclusion.
“Dear studios: stop trying to suck two d—s at the same time. Honor the sanctity of the theatrical experience. End rant.”
