Shorter Windows, Connected Universes: Summer Blockbusters Provide Endless Bonuses for Legacy Streamers
One of the issues that Netflix has encountered while trying to retain its massive subscriber base is that as legacy media companies have entered the streaming world, their original content is buoyed by — and in many cases built upon — their decades of intellectual property. Despite still being the world’s largest streaming service, Netflix doesn’t have a roster of beloved characters and established movie franchises to prop up as content tentpoles to keep customers coming back on a regular basis.
With Disney+ being the home to expansive Marvel and Star Wars universes, HBO Max capitalizing on its decades of premium offerings, and Paramount+ attempting to integrate years of content from across TV and movies, nearly every premium subscription service has thousands upon thousands of hours of familiar content to offer subscribers to revisit and for creatives to mine for future projects.
When “Top Gun: Maverick” hit theaters over Memorial Day Weekend, it was a massive success for Paramount Studios, but the anticipation for the long (long, long)-awaited sequel also proved to be a boon for the company’s streaming arm as well.
Television technology and analytics company Samba TV reported that in the week leading up to Memorial Day, 2 million U.S. households had streamed the original 1986 “Top Gun” movie on Paramount+.
In its first weekend in theaters, “Top Gun: Maverick” grossed $191,137,143 at the domestic box office, making it the largest opening of Tom Cruise’s career, but still third of the calendar year behind superhero entrees “Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “The Batman.” To date, the “Top Gun” sequel has brought in $330,637,143 globally.
While these box office hits are doing their part to rejuvenate a movie theater business still reeling from the pandemic,
studios have taken strides to capitalize on cinema success by shortening the window between their theatrical and streaming debuts. It was announced this week that the multiversal “Dr. Strange” sequel will be coming to Disney+ on June 22, a somewhat surprisingly short 47 days after its release in theaters.
Similarly, Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra recently said that while “Top Gun: Maverick” will be an exception, “I think what we’ve learned is that we really like this 45-day fast-follow as sort of the default,” meaning that most Paramount movies will hit Paramount+ roughly a month and a half after debuting in theaters.
This quick turnaround will allow the streamers to benefit from the buzz of the theatrical releases while also relying on the often sizeable marketing push done for a film’s initial release. However, as Samba’s “Top Gun” data shows, there are other ancillary benefits for streamers when it comes to new installments of beloved franchises hitting the big screen.
Undoubtedly, “Thor: Ragnarok” will see an increase in streams at Disney+ ahead of next month’s release of “Thor: Love and Thunder.” Similarly, families who enjoy “Minions: The Rise of Gru” in theaters over the Fourth of July Weekend might find themselves turning on the original “Minions” movie or the “Despicable Me” franchise on Peacock.
This is the benefit of having a library of deeply integrated IP. Netflix realizes its inherent disadvantage by not having a substantial studio archive to build upon, but is investing in building out the worlds of some of their major hits like “Stranger Things,” “Bridgerton,” “The Witcher,” and more.
In an era where the only movies that move the theatrical needle are increasingly born out of established cinematic universes, this summer will see its fair share of familiar titles, characters, and creators — and that means that nearly every streamer will have legacy content to support those theatrical releases.
Check out some of the library titles that you should watch before and/or after seeing some of this summer’s biggest hits in the theater.
June 10: “Jurassic World Dominion”
-
Jurassic World
June 6, 2015Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond.
-
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
June 6, 2018Three years after Jurassic World was destroyed, Isla Nublar now sits abandoned. When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen and Claire mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event.
-
Jurassic Park Movies
An American science fiction adventure film series based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. The films center on the fictional Isla Nublar near Costa Rica in the Central American Pacific Coast, where a billionaire philanthropist and a small team of genetic scientists have created an amusement park of cloned dinosaurs.
June 17: “Lightyear”
-
Toy Story Movies
Toy Story is a CGI animated media franchise created by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The franchise is based on the anthropomorphic concept that all toys, unknown to humans, are secretly alive, and the films focus on a diverse group of toys that feature a classic cowboy named Sheriff Woody and a modern spaceman named Buzz Lightyear. The group unexpectedly embark on adventures that challenge and change them. The collection currently includes Toy Story 1-4.
-
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
October 2, 2000Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is an American animated science fiction/adventure/comedy series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The series originally aired on UPN and ABC from October 2000 to January 2001 as part of Disney’s One Saturday Morning programming block. It follows the adventures of space ranger Buzz Lightyear, who first appeared in the film Toy Story as an action figure and one of the film’s protagonists.
-
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
August 8, 2000Buzz Lightyear must battle Emperor Zurg with the help of three hopefuls who insist on being his partners.
June 24: “Elvis”
-
Elvis & Nixon
March 22, 2016In 1970, a few days before Christmas, Elvis Presley showed up on the White House lawn seeking to be deputized into the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs by the President himself.
-
Elvis Presley: The Searcher
April 14, 2018The story of Elvis Presley the musical artist, a comprehensive creative journey from his childhood through the final 1976 Jungle Room recording sessions.
-
Jailhouse Rock
November 8, 1957After serving time for manslaughter, young Vince Everett becomes a teenage rock star.
-
Blue Hawaii
November 22, 1961Chad Gates has just been discharged from the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surf-board, his beach buddies and his girlfriend.
-
Viva Las Vegas
February 8, 1964Lucky Jackson arrives in town with his car literally in tow ready for the first Las Vegas Grand Prix - once he has the money to buy an engine. He gets the cash easily enough but mislays it when the pretty swimming pool manageress takes his mind off things. It seems he will lose both race and girl, problems made more difficult by rivalry from Elmo Mancini, fellow racer and womaniser.
-
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
December 21, 2007Following a childhood tragedy, Dewey Cox follows a long and winding road to music stardom. Dewey perseveres through changing musical styles, an addiction to nearly every drug known and bouts of uncontrollable rage.
July 1: “Minions: The Rise of Gru”
-
Minions Movies
‘Despicable Me’ spin-off series, focusing on the Minions characters.
-
Despicable Me Movies
The Despicable Me franchise centers on Gru, a super-villain (who later becomes a dad and superhero); his yellow-coloured Minions; and his three orphan girls, Margo, Edith and Agnes.
July 8: “Thor: Love and Thunder”
-
Thor Movies
A superhero film series based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics, and part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film series. The series centers on Thor, the crown prince of Asgard.
-
The Avengers Movies
A superhero film series produced by Marvel Studios based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, and part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The series features an ensemble cast from the Marvel Cinematic Universe series films, as they join forces for the peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D. led by Nick Fury.
July 22: “Nope”
-
Get Out
February 24, 2017Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
-
Us
March 14, 2019Husband and wife Gabe and Adelaide Wilson take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends. But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.
-
Key & Peele
January 31, 2012Key & Peele is an American sketch comedy television show. It stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, both former cast members of MADtv. Each episode of the show consists of several pre-taped sketches starring the two actors, introduced by Key and Peele in front of a live studio audience.
July 29: “DC League of Super-Pets”
-
Superman (DC Universe Animated) Movies
The Adventures of Superman within the DCAU
-
Batman (DC Universe Animated) Movies
A collection of Batman films based upon Batman the Animated Series.
-
DC Super Hero Girls Movies
At Super Hero High School, well-known DC heroes, both male and female, attend challenging classes and deal with all the awkwardness of growing up with the added stress of having unique superpowers.
August 5: “Bullet Train”
-
John Wick Movies
A neo-noir action thriller film series that follows Jonathan ‘John’ Wick, a former assassin, who comes out of retirement seeking vengeance for the theft of his vintage car and the murder of the puppy his deceased wife left to him.
-
Atomic Blonde Movies
An undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.
-
Snowpiercer
August 1, 2013In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.
