Halloween Kills to debut on Peacock on same day as theatrical release
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Michael Myers is coming into your home.
Halloween Kills will debut on Peacock and in theaters on the same day, Universal Pictures announced Thursday, making the slasher flick the latest film to opt for a day-and-date release amid a turbulent moviegoing landscape. The film will be available to Peacock Premium subscribers starting Friday, Oct. 15, for no additional fee. (The streaming service is available for free with a reduced library, for $4.99 per month with ads, or $9.99 per month without adds.)
Studios' release strategies have varied wildly since the COVID-19 pandemic first struck the U.S. last year, with many dropping their films on streaming to compensate for reduced box office earnings. Hollywood is currently emerging from a scattershot summer movie season, in which total grosses were down by about 60 percent compared to 2019, according to the analytics firm Comscore.
Universal Pictures Jamie Lee Curtis in 'Halloween Kills'
Horror movies, however, were a notable bright spot over the summer, with A Quiet Place Part II taking in nearly $300 million worldwide and Universal's own Candyman topping the box office its opening weekend with $22 million. (The Nia DaCosta-directed slasher has grossed $53 million worldwide to date, more than doubling its reported $25 million budget.)
A growing sense of chaos has emerged in recent weeks as Hollywood moves into a fall season boasting several tentpole releases, many of which were delayed from 2020. While Paramount pushed Top Gun: Maverick to 2022 due to concerns over surging COVID cases, Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings opened to strong numbers over Labor Day weekend, and Sony moved the release date of Venom: Let There Be Carnage up two weeks to Oct. 1 on Monday.
The news of Halloween Kills' Peacock release comes just after the film's premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Wednesday, where it garnered polarized reviews. The follow-up to 2018's Halloween, with director David Gordon Green returning, Halloween Kills features Jamie Lee Curtis back once again as Laurie Strode, facing down killer Michael Myers. This time, Laurie and her daughter and granddaughter (Judy Greer, Andi Matichak) unite their town to take matters into their own hands, forming a vigilante mob that sets out to hunt Myers down once and for all. Or at least until the next sequel, Halloween Ends, arrives next year.
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