Is New Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Jackman Movie “The Son” Available to Stream? When Will it Head to Netflix?
A trio of heavy-hitting actors is headed back to the big screen this weekend. Academy Award-winners Anthony Hopkins and Laura Dern join Tony-winner and Oscar-nominee Hugh Jackman in the new family drama “The Son,” which gets its wide theatrical release on Friday, Jan. 20.
The movie follows the story of the Miller family; a couple of years after his parents’ divorce, 17-year-old Nicholas no longer feels that he can stay with his mother, Kate. He moves in with his father Peter and his new partner Beth. Juggling work, his and Beth’s new baby, and the offer of his dream job in Washington, Peter tries to care for Nicholas as he wishes his own father had cared for him. The film serves as a prequel to 2020’s “The Father,” which earned Hopkins an Academy Award for playing the same role of Peter’s father Anthony.
The film is the second of a trilogy of highly acclaimed plays by French writer and director Florian Zeller to be adapted for the screen. In addition to “The Father” and “The Son,” the play “The Mother” debuted in London in 2015 and in New York in 2019. To date, there have been no plans announced for a feature film adaptation of “The Mother.”
Despite the success on stage and screen of Zeller’s previous works, critics on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes have not been impressed with “The Son” on screen. The movie currently sits at a 35% approval rating, although critics praised Dern and Jackman’s performances especially. Audiences have been more generous, with 75% saying that they enjoyed “The Son.”
Watch a Trailer for “The Son”:
If the big-name actors in the film intrigue you, but the film’s reviews have you convinced it’s better to wait for “The Son” to head to streaming, you’re probably wondering when you’ll be able to watch the film from the comforts of home. There may not be an exact streaming date for “The Son” yet, but where it will end up is less of a mystery.
As a Sony Pictures Classics film, “The Son” is most likely to stream on Netflix when it leaves theaters. Under the terms of a 2021 deal between Sony and Netflix, Sony’s films go to the world’s largest streaming service for an exclusive 18-month window before moving onto a Disney streamer.
Sony has not been shy about giving its movies long windows in theaters and on platforms where users can rent or purchase them like Prime Video. Recent releases like “Uncharted” and “Bullet Train” both waited at least 120 days between their initial theatrical release and their debut on Netflix.
On the other hand, Sony has been known to make unpredictable moves with some of its films. The recent Korean War aerial drama “Devotion” skipped Netflix and Disney streamers altogether, instead heading to Paramount+ 46 days after being released in theaters. The move was likely designed by Paramount to promote the streaming release of “Top Gun: Maverick,” which not only shares a fighter pilot storyline with “Devotion,” but actor Glen Powell stars in both as well.
It’s pretty unlikely that the rights to “The Son” will be bought by another streamer to promote another film, so Netflix is the most probable destination. Our best guess for when the film might be available there would be 120 days from its initial release, the same window “Bullet Train” saw. That would mean that “The Son” will be available to stream on Netflix on May 20, 2023.
Netflix
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