Studio Illumination's upcoming animated movie Super Mario Bros. animated movie will be available to stream exclusively on Peacock in the United States following its theatrical run. Reuters reports that Universal and Peacock struck a deal that ensures all Universal, DreamWorks, and Illumination films will head to Peacock no more than four months after their theatrical release.
The new deal shortens the time between theatrical run and streaming service release by about two months. Universal movies currently go to AT&T's HBO TV channe land HBO Max streaming service about six months after they hit cinemas.
The deal goes into effect for 2022 which is when the Super Mario Bros. film is slated to release. It will also encompass other animated films, including new entries in the Minions and Puss in Boots series.
As Reuters notes, the "pay-one" window, which is the period of time after a film leaves theaters and is added to streaming platforms or television channels, is usually 18 months long. However, this deal actually splits into three segments of 4, 10, and 4 months. Peacock will get the movies exclusively for four months before they are offered other streaming services like Netflix or HBO Max for a 10 month period. Peacock will then get the movies back exclusively for the final four months.
Not much is known about Illumination's Super Mario Bros. movie, other than the fact that it's based on the popular Nintendo video game franchise. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said last year that it has an "anicipated theatrical release around 2022."