Is David Harbour’s ‘Violent Night’ Available to Stream? When Will it Debut on Peacock, Netflix?
Have you been naughty, or have you been nice? Hopefully it’s the latter, because Santa isn’t bothering with lumps of coal this year. Instead, he’s dealing out destruction and mayhem on a massive scale in “Violent Night,” the newest action/holiday flick from Universal Studios coming to theaters on Friday, Dec. 2.
The film stars “Stranger Things” hunk David Harbour as Santa. When a little girl’s Christmas wish is that Santa frees her and her wealthy family from a group of mercenaries that have kidnapped them, he doesn’t hesitate to cross this item off of his list. Santa turns all of his powerful Christmas magic toward putting the mercenaries on blast… literally.
“Violent Night” also stars John Leguizamo, Cam Gigandet, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Leah Brady, Edi Patterson, and “Christmas Vacation” veteran Beverly D’Angelo. The film currently sits at a 70% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the outlandish plot and the film’s overall absurdity.
Check out a Trailer for ‘Violent Night’:
If you’re a fan of ridiculous action comedies, but don’t want to fight the holiday crowds at the theater, you may want to know when you’ll be able to stream “Violent Night” at home. As a Universal Studios film, “Violent Night” will head to parent company Comcast’s streaming service Peacock first, but just exactly when is less immediately clear, since the company does not have a concrete policy on theatrical windowing.
As always, however, past releases can offer at least a glimpse at Universal’s strategy. Jordan Peele’s most recent thriller “Nope” took 120 days to reach Peacock after its theatrical debut. Although “Violent Night” is a semi-similar genre, its holiday setting and less well-known and regarded director will probably keep it in theaters for a shorter time.
There is also the question of when the film will hit Netflix. As part of its 2021 deal for the streaming rights to Universal's animated features, the world’s largest streamer doesn’t get access to the studio’s live-action slate until four years following films’ theatrical releases. That means you shouldn’t expect to see “Violent Night” on Netflix until at least late 2026.
Unless “Violent Night” does absolute gangbusters at the box office, the most likely scenario is that it comes to streaming after 45 days, which would make its arrival date on Peacock on or around Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. That would allow NBCUniversal to capitalize on the holiday season setting of the film in theaters, then send it to streaming in time to capture the attention of audiences who weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to the holiday spirit.
Peacock
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