‘Halloween Ends’ to Debut Simultaneously in Theaters and on Peacock

Laurie Strode’s final battle against her seemingly immortal nemesis Michael Myers will transpire in theaters… and on a streaming service near you.

Universal Pictures has announced “Halloween Ends,” the next sequel in the long-running slasher series, will land on Peacock on the same day it arrives on the big screen. The movie is scheduled to premiere on Oct. 14.

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Directed by David Gordon Green and produced by Blumhouse and Miramax, “Halloween Ends” is positioned as the conclusion to the decades-long film franchise, in which Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode has been relentlessly stalked and tormented by the masked Myers for her entire life. “Only one of them will survive,” according to the movie’s logline, which also hints at “a final confrontation unlike any captured on-screen before.”

The first “Halloween” movie launched in 1978 and spawned several sequels. The story about the perpetually targeted “final girl” was revived in 2018 with “Halloween,” becoming the franchise’s highest-grossing entry with $255 million globally.

The follow-up “Halloween Kills,” which also landed day-and-date on Peacock in 2021, debuted to $49 million in North America and eventually racked up $92 million domestically and $131 million globally. The company did not divulge Peacock metrics. However, Universal’s corporate overlords were presumably happy with the results since it is replicating the hybrid release model for “Halloween Ends.” Plus, growing Peacock’s subscriber base remains a priority for Universal’s parent company, NBCUniversal. And “Halloween” entries carry lean budgets, meaning they don’t take a ton of coinage to turn a profit theatrically in the first place. Other recent Universal releases, such as “Boss Baby: Family Business” and Jennifer Lopez’s romantic comedy “Marry Me,” also landed day-and-date on Peacock to varying results.

In the case of “Halloween Ends,” the move is still disappointing to cinema owners, who were already bracing for a desolate fall at the movies. After a sizzling summer season, the film release calendar has several big question marks (and a few expected hits, like “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Avatar: The Way of Water”) through the remainder of the year. “Halloween Ends,” the latest installment in the commercially successful franchise, was considered a lone bright spot around the spooky holiday.

Curtis, clad in a button-down and jeans as Myers lurks in the woods nearby, took to Instagram to explain the decision of putting “Halloween Ends” concurrently in theaters and on Peacock.

“We discovered that there are people who want to go to theaters and scream their guts out, and other people who want to stay at home and scream their guts out. But what we knew is that people watched. And we got great results, both at the box office and from streaming,” said Curtis, referring to “Halloween Kills,” which debuted during COVID. “This year, we want to make sure as many people as possible can see ‘Halloween Ends’ before Halloween. So, we decided to give that same gift to the fans again.”

Curtis called it the “honor of my life” to play Strode for four decades.

“No matter how you watch this final chapter, I hope you’ll get people to scream and cheer and hold your breath to the end,” she said.

“Halloween Ends” picks up four years after the events of “Halloween Kills” as Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and is finishing writing her memoir. According to the film’s logline, “Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.”

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