In the Halloween franchise, the night “he” came home is usually October 31. This year though, it’s October 28. Universal, Blumhouse, and Miramax just announced that the highly anticipated horror sequel Halloween Kills will debut in your home if you have the streaming service Peacock, on the same day the film hits theatres.
Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Peacock is only available in the United States, although you may still be able to access it with the use of a VPN.
Way back when the Halloween sequel trilogy — co-written and directed by David Gordon Green, and starring series veteran Jamie Lee Curtis — was announced, this second film was supposed to debut in October 2020.
Then, of course, the covid-19 pandemic happened, and to keep the film’s holiday tie-in, Universal bumped both the second and third movies a full year: 2021 for Halloween Kills, 2022 for Halloween Ends. Since then, things had been cruising along toward a full on theatrical release, just like other major Universal Pictures releases Candyman, F9, and Old had in the previous months. So this is quite the sudden shift.
Ultimately, though, it’s a good thing because anyone who wants to watch it will be able to. Plus, there are a ton of other elements to factor in. Fear and caution surrounding the delta variant, for one. A lack of buzz (and an initially “Rotten” Rotten Tomatoes score) coming off its debut at the Venice Film Festival last week. Plus, this is part two of a trilogy. Halloween Ends, the final piece of the puzzle, will be out October 2022. For that film to be a success, this one has to get eyeballs on it, and putting the film on streaming day and date with theatres will certainly do that.
And while most recent Universal titles have been theatrical only, Universal was also the first studio to skip theatres for a major release with Trolls World Tour last year, and moved another big animated sequel, The Boss Baby: Family Business, to a simultaneous theaterical and Peacock debut earlier this year. So the company has all kinds of data on how these kinds of releases work, and it seems for Halloween Kills this is the right move.
Halloween Kills picks up immediately following the events of the 2018 reboot/sequel Halloween. Laurie Strode (Curtis), her daughter (Judy Greer) and granddaughter (Andi Matichak) left Michael Myers to die in Laurie’s burning house. This film sees Michael getting out and continuing to kill, so the Strode women bring together the whole town to finally take him down. Which… they won’t. Because there’s a part three next year. But, if you’re interested in seeing what happens, now you can stay inside the house. The opposite of what Michael did.
Halloween Kills arrives in Australian theatres on October 28, and on Peacock in the U.S. on October 15.