Guest Column: What’s Changing in the Streaming World in 2024?
We’re back with another guest column from streaming analyst When’s It On Streaming?, who provides some of the best information and analysis of the SVOD landscape on Twitter/X.
What’s Changing in the Streaming World in 2024?
Guest Column by When’s It On Streaming?
As streaming services, their ownership, and the studios that deliver the movies they carry continue to react to the ever-changing landscape of the media world, each new year brings changes with where you can expect to find the movies you want to see. With that in mind, let’s take a runthrough of what’s changing, what’s staying the same, and what possibilities are on the horizon in the year 2024.
The past year brought a few new studios onto the scene, some of whom definitely made their presence known loudly. A particularly big splash came from faith-based distributor Angel Studios, which was previously known primarily for their crowdfunded streaming series The Chosen. After dipping their toes in theatrical waters with compilations of Chosen episodes and the feature His Only Son, they aggressively and successfully marketed the human trafficking-focused film Sound of Freedom as a patriotic summer blockbuster, using a ticket-redemption program made the film much more of a bargain to see in theaters than at home. From there, they released two films in the fall, After Death and The Shift, and have at least two films on the docket for 2024 as well.
Angel primarily operates through their own website and app, and as of early January, all four of their 2023 films can be found there. However, while most of Angel’s media is available for free, in order to help spread their religious and political messages, the four films are restricted to the “Angel Guild” early access program, costing $20 USD per month. With the high profile of Sound of Freedom, however, Angel struck a deal with Amazon that brought both that film and His Only Son to Prime Video in late December. Whether (and when) After Death and The Shift will follow is unclear, but it seems likely they will.
Another small company that began trying its luck on the big screen in 2023 was Ketchup Entertainment, first with the delayed Ben Affleck action feature Hypnotic in May, followed by the Jessica Chastain drama Memory in December. Hypnotic would make its streaming premiere on Peacock in September, but it’s too early to determine if that will be the norm for Ketchup films. Another small distribution outlet, Variance Films, emerged with two films, Spinning Gold and The Adults; as of now, neither have reached an SVOD platform. Also in 2023, Falling Forward Films appeared on the scene to distribute two films partly financed by and shot entirely within the Cayman Islands, The Retirement Plan and The Baker; the former is now on Hulu and the latter is set to follow on January 19th.
Perhaps the biggest coup on the theatrical scene, however, came from a distributor with the least interest in streaming services of all – AMC Theaters. 2023 brought the shock announcement that pop sensation Taylor Swift would bypass the studio system entirely and collaborate with the U.S.’s largest theater chain to bring her hyped concert film The Eras Tour to cinemas. The film, which went on to become a blockbuster hit, has since been made available to rent on PVOD platforms, but, at present, there is no word on if and when it may reach an SVOD service. AMC would repeat the experiment with another concert film, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, near the end of the year.
AMC Theaters’ entry into direct film distribution reflects a market that is scrambling to figure out what the best way to put a movie out into the world is. 2023 saw outlets like Disney+, Paramount+, and Showtime (shortly before the latter two merged) follow in the regrettable footsteps of HBO Max (now Max) by pulling numerous streaming films and series from their platforms, with many remaining legally inaccessible. Warner Bros. Discovery continues to scrap completed films for tax rebates, with the company only relenting on Coyote vs. ACME due to intense industry backlash. Prices for services are rising across the board, and an overwhelming majority of streamers have begun emphasizing ad-supported tiers. Small wonder that free ad-supported services like Tubi have seen some of the largest growth, as consumers begin to wonder what the point of paying is when they get ads either way.
Over the last 5 years, numerous legacy media companies (e.g. Disney, Warner, Paramount), hungry for the stock market fame of Netflix, built streaming services around their own brands. Now, just as many of those companies have finally finished wholly regaining the rights to stream their own films (as said rights had been sold to various different cable platforms over the preceding decades), they’re now looking to put their movies back on the market, in the hopes that their competitors will pay a pretty penny for them to bolster their own services’ libraries.
Let’s take a look at how things are playing out for the established names, studio by studio.
Warner Bros.: During the splashy relaunch of HBO Max as simply Max in May 2023, Warner made sure to put an emphasis on the availability of its own films and series alongside the library of Discovery-branded reality and cooking shows. However, just a few months later, you could soon find a number of recent Warner releases across a wide range of platforms, including Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video. This even included films from the flagship DC brand, which suffered from poorly performing films throughout 2023 and a confused effort to reboot the entire series.
As of now, we’re looking at a setup where most Warner films will make their streaming premiere on Max somewhere in the vicinity of 3 months post-release, before becoming available on a second platform – usually Netflix or Prime – a few months after that. (The exception is the super-blockbuster Barbie, which took several extra months to reach Max.) We’ve seen some films, notably the aforementioned DC titles like Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Black Adam, make multiple platform hops, from Prime Video over to Netflix, though they remain simultaneously available on Max all the while. In the short term, this gives Warner an opportunity to have its cake and eat it, too, but one wonders if Max users not invested in a popular HBO series will wonder what the point of having Max is. Though Max has an ace up its sleeve in that regard, which we’ll get to shortly.
Universal (and Focus Features): For the moment, there’s no major change to Universal’s streaming setup. That’s in part because Universal got a jump on the idea of sharing; presently, movies from Universal and Focus begin their streaming runs with four months on their in-house service Peacock, followed by 10 months on either Prime Video (for live-action films) or Netflix (for animated films), and then a final four months on Peacock before the start of a second window on Starz.
A big question going forward for Universal will be whether the studio continues releasing any films day-and-date in theaters and on Peacock. Pure theatrical windows reaped huge rewards for the likes of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Oppenheimer (the latter of which, per director Christopher Nolan’s stipulations, is reaching Peacock after a much longer theatrical/PVOD window, on February 16th). But going day and date also seemed to help fuel the event release of horror hit Five Nights at Freddy’s. Currently, Wolf Man is scheduled to release in late October; don’t be surprised if it becomes the latest in what’s now an annual tradition of Universal October horror releases going day-and-date.
Sony: Without a streaming service of its own, Sony has been able to capitalize on streamers’ need for movies outside their own ecosystem. 2024 will mark the third year of their lucrative deal with Netflix, as well as the year some of their 2022 releases begin moving to their second streaming window on Disney-owned platforms. A major hiccup in all this, however, has been Netflix’s failure to add many newer films from Sony Pictures Classics. Through uncertain means, this has led to some of them popping up in alternative places, such as Return to Seoul and One Fine Morning recently premiering on Prime Video.
Disney (and 20th Century Studios/Searchlight): 2023 marked the year where new films from 20th Century Studios and Searchlight began premiering exclusively on Disney-owned platforms, the longstanding HBO deal having ended with Avatar: The Way of Water. Even so, CEO Bob Iger has been open about his desire to open up the rights to those very films back to other streamers. However, in contrast to Warner, he has stressed that the company’s flagship brands, namely those from Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, will remain inside Disney’s walled garden.
Throughout the past year, Disney began stretching the length of the theatrical window from the 45 days that had become the norm in 2021-2022, though not drastically so. MCU films, as well as Pixar’s Elemental, debuted on Disney+ around three months after release; Haunted Mansion was just over two months; and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny had the longest wait at five months. Wish, despite weak box office, has held out longer than the 30 days granted to Encanto and Strange World in years past. On the Hulu side, things were more flexible; The Boogeyman and The Creator waited 3-4 months each, while Chevalier and A Haunting in Venice arrived after a little under two months.
2023 also saw the beginning of the integration of Disney+ and Hulu, which is looking to be a potentially rocky process as Disney weighs the future of keeping third parties aboard. At present, it looks as though Disney has made inroads on bringing more Hulu-hosted films aboard, including those from IFC Films. However, some of Hulu’s biggest draws, namely NEON films, remain absent.
Paramount: The dust is settling on the merger of Paramount+ and Showtime, though a recent bout of controversy erupted when standalone Showtime streaming services were axed completely, without any kind of complimentary Paramount+ access provided as compensation for cable Showtime subscribers. 2024 brings a development that Paramount has long-awaited, however – exclusive rights to their own films.
For many years, the streaming rights to Paramount films have rested with the cable network Epix, which was formed as a joint venture between Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM. MGM bought out Paramount and Lionsgate’s stakes in Epix in 2017, but the network’s license for Paramount films ran for many more years. Viacom re-merged with CBS Corporation, which owned CBS All Access and Showtime, in 2019, upon which the former was redeveloped into Paramount+. But the unavailability of Paramount films posed a major problem for the rebranded service.
In 2021, the solution was announced; beginning with A Quiet Place Part II, Paramount and Epix would share new Paramount films through the remainder of Epix’s license. In exchange for Paramount being able to premiere films on their service as early as 45 days after theatrical release, Epix’s license was extended through the end of 2023, and Paramount+ also licensed Epix’s movie library. This arrangement would continue even as MGM was taken over by Amazon, with Epix subsequently being renamed MGM+ in early 2023.
Throughout the deal, the synchronization between Paramount+ and MGM+ availability of Paramount films was deeply erratic and inconsistent, making predictions difficult. For much of 2022, MGM+ and Paramount+ debuts would be perfectly aligned, with the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Smile, and even Top Gun: Maverick hitting both services the same day. In early 2023, the two services began to decouple, and, at present, there is a significant gap between when Paramount films reach Paramount+ (typically 45 days post-release) and MGM+ (typically 5 months post-release). With the Amazon acquisition, Paramount films also reach Prime Video 3 months after hitting MGM+.
Making things more complicated, certain Paramount franchises seemed to be oddly excluded from MGM accessibility, namely Scream and PAW Patrol. Scream (2022) and Scream VI instead rotated back and forth between Paramount+ and Showtime, while the two PAW Patrol movies have been exclusive to Paramount+ throughout their first streaming window. (PAW Patrol: The Movie would eventually become available on Prime Video during its second window.)
2024 brings all the confusion to an end, as, beginning with Mean Girls, the MGM+ deal is over and all new Paramount films will premiere solely on Paramount+ for their first window. How long this will remain the case, considering Paramount’s debt woes, is anyone’s guess, but for now, it’s a boon to Paramount+, as well as a loss to Prime Video, which is currently the most cosmopolitan streaming service in terms of new films from major studios (Paramount, Warner, Universal, MGM, and even some Sony). The final film of Paramount’s set to reach MGM+ and Prime Video under the expired deal is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which, like Top Gun: Maverick, has had an extended window on theatrical and PVOD services at Tom Cruise’s behest.
A24: This is the big shakeup of 2024. After hopping from Prime Video to Showtime in 2019, the famed indie distributor and budding mini-major is now shifting hands once again, this time to Max, just at the moment Max needs it most.
The setup for a move to Max was laid some time ago, when Max acquired a large library of A24’s older titles. It proved a significant boost to Max’s film library in the wake of its content purges, and to its credibility as a house of acclaimed films in the wake of controversies over the loss of HBO branding and Warner CEO David Zaslav’s firing of Turner Classic Movies executives. Thus, it was clear Max would benefit from having more of A24 on board, and, in December 2023, it was announced that Max would be the new home of first-window A24 films.
Due to A24’s long theatrical and PVOD windows, there are still a number of films left that have yet to premiere on Paramount+ with Showtime. You Hurt My Feelings is set to debut on January 26, while Oscar hopeful Past Lives is set for February 2. Summer horror hit Talk to Me is believed to be the last A24 feature that will make its streaming debut on Showtime, estimated around March or April. Those long windows will shrink for the Max era, however, as Dicks: The Musical will be the first A24 film to premiere on Max, premiering on February 2 as well. It will be followed by Priscilla, Dream Scenario, and The Iron Claw.
Other Theatrical Distributors: Paramount and A24 are the big changes of 2024, and, at the moment, no other studios of note are believed to be on the precipice of a notable switch. IFC Films continues to send its films home to AMC+, and, several months later, to Hulu as well. NEON is still licensing to Hulu, while Amblin/DreamWorks (the live-action company) and Bleecker Street still have deals with Paramount+ with Showtime.
Lionsgate, at present, is in a surprisingly slow process of splitting itself up from Starz, less than ten years after acquiring the service. For the time being, this is unlikely to have a major effect on Lionsgate’s streaming relationship with the service, though it could mean a separation whenever Starz’s current license expires. Oddly, however, we’ve seen a few instances pre-split of Lionsgate’s films heading to other platforms – Jesus Revolution premiered on Netflix, while Cobweb went to Hulu as part of the “Huluween” event. Precisely why these divergences happened is unclear, so it’s impossible to ascertain a pattern at the moment.
Streaming Distributors: Despite the reported success of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery during its week in theaters in November 2022, Netflix did not follow it up with any further wide releases in 2023; merely the usual set of limited runs for the acclaimed/award-seeking titles, and a small 70mm run for Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon: Part 1 – A Child of Fire. By contrast, Apple Original Films began a confident move into theatrical releases in late 2023, partnering with Paramount for Killers of the Flower Moon and with Sony for Napoleon. That’s set to continue with Argylle (Universal) in February, and several more theatrical features are on deck. With Killers having reached Apple TV+ on January 12, it seems a theaters-to-SVOD window of around twelve weeks has been established.
Meanwhile, Amazon has begun the process of merging Amazon Studios with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, forming Amazon MGM Studios as of fall 2023. Paramount+’s license to the MGM+ library was apparently revoked midway through the year, despite the deal for Paramount movies running several months longer; as a result, MGM+ and Prime Video are now the only place to find current MGM features. While most films continue to reach MGM+ initially, before being added to Prime three months later, a few special cases, such as blockbuster Creed III and awards contender Saltburn, reached Prime first.
And thus we enter a year that is likely to be turbulent for streaming services, as the combined megaservices of Max, Paramount+ with Showtime, and the Hulu-infused Disney+ set sail for their first full years of operation, and those behind the scenes scramble to drive up revenue for their platforms. There may not be a huge slate of changes coming this year in comparison to some past years, but 2024 could still prove very impactful indeed for the future of online streaming.
