Universal Pictures has just struck a deal with streaming service Peacock, which will make its new movies Peacock exclusives in the US for the first and last four months of their 18-month streaming window, after it has finished its cinema showings.
This deal, which comes into effect in 2022, will affect the upcoming Minions movie, a Puss In Boots sequel, the next Jurassic Park movie, and the Super Mario movie, which is currently underway at Illumination.
Both Universal Pictures and Peacock are part of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast, so if you're wondering who the heck Peacock is — it's NBC's rival to Netflix and Disney+.
US viewers without Peacock will be able to watch the Super Mario either in the cinema, or during the ten-month period in-between the Peacock exclusive months.
Around this time last year, we heard that the Super Mario movie was "making good progress", and in May, we reported that Chris Meledandri, the founder of Illumination, would be working more closely with Nintendo as a "non-executive outside director".
However, a lot of information about the Super Mario movie is still unclear. Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, was reportedly not cast as Mario (or even approached for the role).
As to whether we'll be seeing more Nintendo movies in future — it's a possibility, as Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said they were "looking into" representing other franchises.
[source reuters.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
