• by Wayne Friedman , December 9, 2021

Looking to clear up any confusion about where its movies will debut next year, NBCUniversal says a “majority” of its films will get, at minimum, an exclusive 45-day run in theaters before moving to Peacock, its streaming service.

This includes “most” productions from all its film units: Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Illumination and DreamWorks Animation Films.

NBCU didn’t offer specifics as to which movies will be getting theatrical exclusive exposure and which will get shared opening releases in theaters and on Peacock.

Some of NBC’s biggest summer/winter holiday upcoming franchises are assumed to be on this theatrical exclusive list -- including the latest edition of the “Jurassic World” franchise -- “Jurassic World: Dominion” -- and the next installment from its “Despicable Me” franchise: "Minions: The Rise of Gru."

This past summer, Universal Pictures' “Fast and Furious” released “F9: The Fast Saga,” which got an exclusive window in theaters, and earned $70 million for its first weekend.

In October, it released “Halloween Kills” on the Peacock streaming service on the same day as its theatrical release. It pulled in a big $49.4 million for its opening weekend in theaters.

Other new upcoming 2022 Universal movies include “Ticket To Paradise,” starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts; “The Black Phone,” starring Ethan Hawke, and “Marry Me,” starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. Also from DreamWorks Animation is “The Bad Guys” and Focus Features’ “Downton Abbey: A New Era.”

This past year witnessed some general trends.

High-valued franchise summer and winter holiday films were scheduled by studios for theatrical exclusive releases -- films which then went to streaming, airing anywhere from 30 days to 45 days afterwards. Scheduling less expensive -- more older, adult-skewing films -- were either a simultaneous debut in theaters with streamers, or exclusively to a streaming platform.

WarnerMedia was the only legacy movie company to have all its theatrically intended films simultaneously open in theaters and on WarnerMedia’s HBO Max streamer.