• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Streaming and movie theaters for major films may have reached a threshold when it comes to “windowing.”

Starting next year, Universal Pictures will extend the theatrical window for new release movies to five weekends this year (around 35 days), and seven weekends (around 49 days) in 2027, according to a New York Times report.

This is a major reversal of pandemic period strategy (in 2020 to 2021) where studios pulled theatrical releases as soon as 17 days for some releases -- to move titles to promote and push Peacock, which at the time was NBCU’s new streaming platform.

Upcoming Universal films “Reminders of Him” (opening March 13), “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” (April 1), “You, Me and Tuscany” (April 10), “Disclosure Day” (June 12), “Minions & Monsters” (July 1) and Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” (July 17) will get five exclusive theatrical weekend windows before moving on to streaming platforms, including Peacock and Netflix streaming platforms.

Donna Langley, chairwoman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, told The New York Times: “Our windowing strategy has always been designed to evolve with the marketplace, but we firmly believe in the primacy of theatrical exclusivity and working closely with our exhibition partners to support a healthy, sustainable theatrical ecosystem.”

Langley says that -- perhaps in contrast to other studios -- Universal remains a “theatrical-first studio.”

This is not intended to suggest that big moviemaking studios are going to shun streaming releases of top quality movies -- just that some adjustment is necessary.

Generally, theatrical windows have narrowed from the longtime standard of 90 days to around 45 days (three to five weekends) for most studios in recent years. Walt Disney is still primarily at more than 60 days.

Streaming maturation may be an issue behind the change at Universal -- as theatrical box-office revenue still lags results in pre-pandemic years, 2019 and before.

Perhaps when the next iteration of “Wicked” comes up for Universal there will be a different set of rules.

At the same time, studios still need some theatrical magic.