In a move to boost Peacock’s popularity amidst the streaming war, NBCUniversal might pull its movies from competitors Netflix and HBO Max, according to a new report by Bloomberg.
Currently, HBO Max has a contract that allows it to stream new Universal Pictures movies nine months after they hit the theaters. This deal includes franchises such as Fast & Furious and Jurassic Park. Netflix has a similar deal with Illumination Entertainment, the animation studio behind big hits such as Despicable Me and The Secret Life of Pets. Both these deals expire this year, which gives NBCUniversal all the freedom it needs to move its movies to the Peacock service.
This has the potential to be big news for Peacock, not only because it could become the only home for some of our favorite franchises, but also because new movies could theoretically go straight there. HBO Max already streams every big Warner Bros. movie at its premiere date, and Disney’s next move on the streaming war is to bring Black Window to Disney+ the same day the movie gets to theaters. Even Paramount+ is closing ranks in order to compete in this new market, with movies such as Mission: Impossible 7 and Top Gun: Maverick moving exclusively to the service only 45 days after release.
Losing their contracts with NBCUniversal would certainly be a blow both to Netflix and HBO Max, since they would lose a chunk of their current library and no new movie from the company would likely ever reach their service. At the same time, Peacock’s service would hugely increase its value to film fans, especially if big future hits such as F9 become exclusives. It makes sense that NBCUniversal takes its time before announcing a decision, as they could shake up the streaming service and bet all their chips on Peacock’s success, or they could pressure competitors to sign more profitable deals.
Whatever NBCUniversal’s decision ends up being, streaming is here to stay, even after we get rid of the pandemic. Their decision will not only reflect on how many subscriptions we need to keep up with all the major releases coming out, but also the price of these subscriptions. While it's unclear when NBCUniversal will make a decision about these franchise, it will certainly be a big deal when they make a choice either way.