Can You Stream Academy Awards Contender ‘Women Talking’? When Will Film Starring Mara, Foy, Buckley Be Available?

The newest riveting drama from United Artists is making its theatrical debut this month. “Women Talking” is coming to theaters across the U.S. on Jan. 20, 2023, after seeing a limited release on Dec. 23, 2022.

“Women Talking” centers on a group of women in an isolated Mennonite community as they grapple with reconciling their reality with their faith after a string of sexual assaults committed by the colony’s men. Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Ben Whishaw, and Frances McDormand round out an impressive cast, with McDormand pulling double duty as a producer.

The movie has been praised by critics as poignant, with an effectively delivered message. It currently holds a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Watch a Trailer for ‘Women Talking’:

While the film is considered an Oscar contender, where and when the movie will be available to stream are complex questions. If you’re hoping to be able to watch “Women Talking” from home, the distribution company behind the film United Artists might make you wait. Unlike a lot of distributors that are part of larger corporate organizations, UA is a content “arms dealer,” making it difficult to determine the platform that will get the movie, and what its theatrical window will look like.

“Women Talking” is being distributed internationally by Universal Studios, so it’s possible that the film will head to NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock when it is ready to leave theaters, but that’s far from guaranteed.

It’s also possible that the movie will head to Prime Video when it moves to streaming. Amazon acquired MGM Studios, which owns 50% of United Artists, in March 2022. Unfortunately for the sake of this exercise, Amazon and MGM have yet to nail down a specific strategy for theatrical windows and streaming releases.

The other 50% of United Artists is owned by Annapurna Pictures. Annapurna and United Artists teamed to release the dark comedy “On the Count of Three” in August 2022 exclusively on Hulu. That means that there’s at least an outside chance “Women Talking” heads there when it streams. Netflix has also gotten the streaming rights to United Artist movies in the recent past, such as 2021’s “Bad Trip.”

In short, there’s no great way to know where “Women Talking” will be available when it moves to streaming. The film will almost certainly be available for rent or purchase on transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) websites like Prime Video and iTunes in around 45 days. While the movie is expected to be a player in awards season, it is not projected to be a box office darling. Therefore, UA’s best plan for profitability is to get it on TVOD sooner rather than later and hope that the increased attention from the Academy Awards discussion leads people to pay to check it out.

So, in The Streamable’s best estimation, on or around Monday, March 6, you’ll likely be able to watch “Women Talking” from home, but you’ll have to pay for it. Hopefully there will be more information available regarding its permanent streaming home released down the road as well.