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Netflix to stream Sony's new movies like Spider-Man, Jumanji starting in 2022

They'll hit Netflix after already running in theaters and formats like online rentals. But the service won't get Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter
Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.
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Joan E. Solsman
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Netflix struck a new deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to stream all the studio's new movies starting with films theatrically released in 2022, the companies said Thursday. That will include popular franchises like Jumanji, the Spider-Man films linked narratively to Marvel's blockbusters and Morbius, a spinoff from that Spider-Man universe. The films will be available to stream in what's known as a pay-one window, after they've already finished their runs in cinemas and have been available for home viewing like online rentals. 

The companies noted that the new deal means Netflix will be streaming "several more ... films featuring Marvel characters, including future installments of Venom and Spiderman; and expected follow-ups for the Jumanji and Bad Boys franchises." 

But Spider-Man: No Way Home won't be one of of the movies hitting Netflix. For the rest of this year, Starz holds the pay-one window rights to theatrically released Sony movies, and Netflix takes over the rights for anything released in cinemas starting Jan. 1. Currently, No Way Home, the third in the trilogy of films starring Tom Holland as the mild-mannered superhero, is slated for theatrical release Dec. 17, putting it on en route to Starz rather than Netflix. 

Typically, movies licensed in a pay-one window would be available to watch on a streaming service or TV network roughly nine months after a film's theatrical release. But the last year has seen a dramatic collapse of these windows as the COVID-19 pandemic forced cinemas to close and limit crowds around the world, decimating the box office. Studios, distributors and theater chains are now in the throes of figuring how long cinemas will enjoy exclusives on new movies when public health restrictions finally lift to widely reopen cinemas again. While it's too early to know what movie release cycles will be like after the pandemic, agreements so far indicate movies will never be released the same way again. 

Netflix and Sony didn't specify how long after theatrical release their pay-one window would start making movies available to stream. 

The new Netflix deal also includes a provision giving the streaming giant first shot at snapping up any movies Sony decides to make direct-to-streaming titles, in what's called a first-look agreement. But Sony said it won't be scaling back the number of movies it releases in cinemas; any direct-to-streaming projects will be additive to a "full theatrical film slate, which will continue at its current volume," the companies said.

As part of the pact, Netflix will start streaming select titles from Sony's past movie library next year, the companies said without specifying any titles. 

Financial terms weren't disclosed. Bloomberg News previously reported Sony was seeking as much as $250 million a year; Variety reported Thursday that the new deal is believed to run about five years.

These sort of pay-one deals have been a staple of Hollywood for years, a lucrative way for studios to generate big bucks for their films. But as more major media companies launch their own streaming options to rival Netflix, these deals have become more rare. Disney, for example, allowed its pay-one megadeal with Netflix to elapse the year before it launched Disney Plus, reserving all its own films to make their streaming debuts on its own service instead. 

Netflix already had a deal to stream Sony Pictures Animation's films, including the sequel to Oscar-winner Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. That means Netflix will become the streaming hub for all Sony Pictures Entertainment film labels and genres, the companies said. 

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