Last fall, as the theatrical industry was working to recover from the devastating hit of the COVID-19 pandemic, Universal made a big pivot with their release strategy for David Gordon Green's Halloween Kills. Instead of having horror fans come together to watch the anticipated sequel on the big screen, the studio opted to give audiences an option to watch the film at home – giving the film a day-and-date release on Peacock. Now, almost a year later, the same move has been pulled with the upcoming Halloween Ends.
Jamie Lee Curtis took to her social media platforms today and posted a video announcing that Halloween Ends is going to be given a simultaneous release in theaters and on Peacock on October 14 – and it features a special cameo from her slasher co-star, who can be seen lurking in the background. Watch the video from her Instagram account below:
So what happened last time that a Halloween movie was sent to theaters and streaming simultaneously? The same thing that we've seen happen time and time again with these kinds of hybrid releases. Halloween Kills' opening weekend was a success, with the film earning $49.4 million at the box office by the time all of the accounting was finished, but its second Friday-to-Saturday run was rough. With Denis Villeneuve's Dune arriving as competition, ticket sales plummeted 70 percent weekend-to-weekend.
By the end of Halloween Kills' theatrical run – stretching through the titular holiday – the money that it made from its opening weekend accounted for more than half of its domestic gross, and it's not hard to point a finger at the streaming release as the cause. While the fans most excited for the film made plans to go see the movie when it first hit the big screen, the numbers suggest that there are a lot of people who settled for getting a Peacock subscription and watching it at home (this audience was evidently big enough to convince Universal to give the same hybrid treatment to Halloween Ends).
The reason this news is a bummer is because of how special the theatrical experience is when it comes to watching horror films. There's nothing like being surrounded by strangers in a dark auditorium and hearing everyone scream and jump at once while watching a scary movie. Passionate fans of Halloween will surely go out to their local theater to witness the conclusion of an era in the franchise, but there are going to be a lot of people who are lured away from the big screen by the siren song of convenience, and smaller crowds diminish the communal joy of movie-going.
However you choose to watch it, Halloween Ends will be released in less than two months. The talented cast in the sequel includes not only Jamie Lee Curtis returning as Laurie Strode, but also Kyle Richards, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Will Patton, and Nick Castle. To learn about all of the films that are set to be released in what remains of the year, check out our 2022 Movie Release Calendar.
