Barbie will be visible on VOD in only two weeks in the United States
Greta Gerwig’s film is still a hit in theaters, but Warner is already preparing its digital release.
With such a fast media timeline, Hollywood studios can get their movies on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray very soon after their theatrical release. Except for exceptions: Tom Cruise had, for example, expressly asked Paramount to postpone the digital distribution of Top Gun: Maverick as long as this blockbuster would be successful in theaters.
Thus, Warner Bros announced that Barbie, the summer card signed Greta Gerwig, will be visible in American living rooms from September 5th. That is 49 days (a month and a half) after its cinema release. A surprising strategy, both the film is still doing well at the box office : it accumulates 1.3 billion dollars in revenue, and this weekend, if it has been doubled by Blue Beetle narrowly, he won an additional 20 million greenbacks and fell only to second place in the US top.
Barbie brought back an audience that had deserted movie theaters
In France, media timeline is stricter, and imposes longer delays between a broadcast in the cinema, then on VOD/DVD/Blu-ray, on television and in streaming. Keeping the example of Barbie, it will be necessary to wait four months after its initial release date (Wednesday July 19 with us) so that it can be broadcast on VOD. Which brings us to November 19, 2023. Then it can be shown on television, encrypted, from January 2024, via the special agreement signed between Canal +, the FNCF, the CNC and the Ministry of Culture. Finally, the film will be visible streaming between 15 and 17 months after its release on the big screen.
Here is its trailer: