Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment

Universal movies to hit Peacock as early as 45 days after debuting in theaters

Trevor Mogg
By

NBCUniversal is giving a boost to its Peacock video streaming service by exclusively showcasing a raft of movies on the platform around six weeks after their theatrical release.

The company said this week that “the majority” of movies from Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Illumination, and DreamWorks Animation will stream exclusively on Peacock as early as 45 days after their theatrical release, cutting the usual wait by several months.

Recommended Videos

It means there’s some notable content is headed Peacock’s way in the coming year, including espionage thriller The 355 starring Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger and Lupita Nyong’o; Ticket To Paradise featuring George Clooney and Julia Roberts; The Black Phone with Ethan Hawke; and Marry Me starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson.

Related

Also incoming is Downton Abbey: A New Era; Ambulance, described as “a breakneck thriller” from director-producer Michael Bay; the final installment of the Halloween franchise, Halloween Ends; and DreamWorks’ The Bad Guys.

Universal movies unlikely to make it to Peacock after 45 days include Jurassic World: Dominion, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Christopher Nolan’s war epic Oppenheimer, according to the LA Times. Those titles are likely to land 120 days after release, the news outlet said.

“As we continue investing in the most valued and sought-after content for Peacock, films are essential to that mix,” Peacock President Kelly Campbell said in a release. “The team at Universal Filmed Entertainment Group are fantastic partners and we are excited to bring their amazing slate of blockbuster films and beloved franchises to Peacock as early as 45 days after their theatrical release, and provide a steady stream of fresh, original films exclusively for Peacock customers throughout the year.”

Peacock launched in July 2020, and as of last summer had 20 million monthly active users. Setting it apart from rival services is its free tier, though content is limited and includes ads. A monthly payment of $5 (Premium) gives you access to Peacock’s entire library of content, though still with ads. Hand over $10 a month (Premium Plus) and the ads will mostly vanish.

For some great ideas on what to watch on Peacock right now, check out this carefully compiled list from Digital Trends.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Netflix reveals top shows and movies as subscribers hit 200 million
Netflix button on remote control

Netflix continues to pull in plenty of users, despite intense competition from rival video streaming services.

The California-based company reported this week that it now has 203.6 million subscribers globally. This marks an increase of 8.5 million customers on the previous quarter, nearly four times what it was expecting, and an increase of 36 million on a year earlier — its highest-ever annual gain.

Read more
The most anticipated shows coming to Peacock
upcoming anticipated shows on peacock brave new world

Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming service, will officially launch in July (it has been available for a limited number of Comcast customers since April) with a strong slate of on-demand TV series and movies as well as live content. But later this year and in 2021, more content is coming.

This includes not only full seasons of some popular series for fans to binge-watch again or for the first time, but also some interesting new originals. What are we most looking forward to, or have high hopes about? Here's a look at some of the most anticipated series coming soon to Peacock.
Battlestar Galactica (reboot)
This won't be the original series but rather a reboot inspired by the story and created by Sam Esmail, known for Mr. Robot and Homecoming. Esmail has said that the new series will address our modern political climate and the "divisiveness of the current era." It will be a new story within the same mythology, which is set hundreds of years in the future where robots have decimated the human race and anyone who managed to survive must fight to find a new home. No word yet on when the series will debut, but it remains one of the most anticipated ones for the streaming service.
Punky Brewster (revival)

Read more
Fandango buys Vudu because movie theaters are dead (for now)
where and how to watch 4k uhd content vudu user interface web

What do you do when you're a business that derives most of its earning from movie ticket sales, now that the movie theater business has been mothballed for the foreseeable future? If you're Fandango, the answer is you buy Vudu, a movie streaming service with millions of potential viewers, from its current owner, Walmart.

The cost of the Vudu acquisition has not been released, but we do know a fair bit about Vudu itself. Unlike subscription streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or even Disney+, which offer an all-you-can-eat model for a monthly fee, Vudu is a movie rental business that has quietly grown over the years into an impressive streaming platform. It reaches more than 100 million living room devices across the U.S and its mobile app has been downloaded over 14.5 million times, according to TechCrunch.

Read more