Is ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ Available to Stream? When Will Movie Adaptation Be Coming to Netflix?

Ever since it was released in August 2018, Delia Owens’ novel “Where the Crawdads Sing” has been a phenomenon. By the end of the following year, it had already sold over 4.5 million copies, making it the most sold adult title — fiction or non-fiction — of 2019. The coming-of-age novel topped the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers list in both 2019 and 2020, and has spent more than 150 weeks on bestsellers lists since its release.

Now, on Friday, July 15, a film adaptation will come to the big screen produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company; Witherspoon was one of the early champions of the novel, selecting it for her popular Book Club in September 2018.

Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jojo Regina, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer, Jr., and David Strathairn, the film also features an original song called “Carolina” written and performed by Taylor Swift, another ardent fan of the novel.

The story focuses on Kya, a girl who was abandoned by her parents in the early 1950s and is forced to survive on here own in the North Carolina marsh. As she grows up, Kya — played by Regina as a child and Edgar-Jones as an adult — finds both love and heartache. After surviving an attempted rape at the hands of her former lover, Kya is accused of his murder.

Where the Crawdads Sing

July 14, 2022

Abandoned by her family, Kya raises herself all alone in the marshes outside of her small town. When her former boyfriend is found dead, Kya is instantly branded by the local townspeople and law enforcement as the prime suspect for his murder.

The film had originally been scheduled for a June 24 release, before being initially moved to July 22, and then settling on July 15. So, with all of the confusion around its release date, it would make sense if audiences were a bit confused as to where and when they could find the film.

Unfortunately, as of now, “Where the Crawdads Sing” is not available to stream, although thanks to a 2021 deal between Netflix and Sony — who is distributing the film — the movie adaptation will eventually arrive on the streaming service, likely later this year. However, figuring out the timing of that arrival is a little tricky.

Recent Sony-to-Netflix films have premiered on the streaming services four to five months following their big-screen debuts. “Uncharted” arrives on July 15 following a Feb. 18 cinema release — 147 days later; “Umma” arrives on Saturday, July 16 — 120 days after being released in March. If that trend continues, “Where the Crawdads Sing” could be available to stream as early as Sunday, Nov. 13; 120 days after its premiere.

However, if the movie is as successful as the book, the wait could be quite a bit longer. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” drops on the streaming giant on July 15 — the same day as Tom Holland’s other recent blockbuster “Uncharted” — which is 210 days after it debuted on the big screen in December 2021. While “Where the Crawdads Sing” is unlikely to do the nearly $2 billion of box office business that “No Way Home” did, there does appear to be some wiggle room in how Sony is windowing its films.

That being typed, “Where the Crawdads Sing” is only expected to gross roughly $10 million during its opening weekend, meaning that it is not likely to be an earth-shattering hit, expediting its move to streaming. So, The Streamable’s best educated guess would be that it will arrive on Netflix around mid-November in time for fans of the book to snuggle up and relive the tale on their couches during the holidays.