Over the past week, just about every title you could have picked to see in a movie theater has been given an early VOD release. Next up is Paramount’s upcoming romantic comedy The Lovebirds, starring Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani and Insecure’s Issa Rae. But unlike other titles, such as Birds of Prey and Bloodshot, which must be rented or purchased, this laugh-out-loud murder mystery is heading to Netflix.
A specific streaming date has not yet been announced for The Lovebirds, but the deal is currently being worked out and is expected to be released soon. The movie’s fate on Netflix has reportedly been in the works for a while too, per Deadline. The Lovebirds was originally slated to come to theaters on April 3, following a March world premiere at SXSW in Texas.
The Lovebirds has Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani playing a couple who unintentionally become the witnesses to a murder that they end up being framed for. The couple do run from the crime scene… so it does look awfully suspicious. Since all major movie theaters have closed down across the country and the Dallas film festival was also cancelled, the studio likely didn’t have much of a choice but to drop The Lovebirds from the big screen.
Although The Lovebirds is losing out on box office money, a deal with Netflix could still prove profitable for the Paramount film. The studio has made deals with the streaming platform before for films such as The Cloverfield Paradox and Annihilation, the latter on the international front. News of this deal comes on the same day the studio announced its February blockbuster Sonic the Hedgehog is coming to VOD early.
The record-breaking video game adaptation will be available to purchase on March 31 for $20 after making $306 million worldwide over the past month in theaters. Disney also announced today that Pixar’s Onward would be available to buy early before hitting Disney+ on April 3. Also heading to digital are The Invisible Man, The Hunt, Emma, I Still Believe and The Way Back, although those first movies will be rental only for now.
Following five years on HBO’s Silicon Valley, Kumail Nanjiani has gained more popularity for his Oscar-nominated biographical comedy The Big Sick, Stuber and his highly-anticipated role of Kingo in Marvel’s The Eternals. The actor went viral when he posted his incredible body transformation while prepping for the MCU role.
Issa Rae started on YouTube producing her web series Awkward Black Girl before being hired to make the hit comedy Insecure. In recent years, the actress has been breaking out into movies with last year’s Little and The Photograph with Lakeith Stanfield. Check out these exciting movies coming to Netflix in April and stay tuned on CinemaBlend for The Lovebirds’ official new release date.
