Universal Extends Theatrical Window to Five Weekends in 2026, Seven Weekends in 2027

Mar 12, 2026 7:14am PT Movie Theaters, Rejoice! Universal Extends Theatrical Window to Five Weekends in 2026, Seven Weekends Starting in 2027 By Rebecca Rubin Plus Icon Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter rebeccaarubin Latest Maya Rudolph to Star in ‘Oh, Mary!’ in Broadway Debut 44 minutes ago Kate Winslet in Talks to Star in ‘Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum’ With Andy Serkis 21 hours ago ‘People Underestimate the Book World’: Can Colleen Hoover’s Box Office Wins Save the Genre From Streaming? 21 hours ago See All Universal In a shocking reversal in strategy, Universal Pictures is lengthening the time that movies will play exclusively in theaters. It’s a major change from the pandemic era when Universal was aggressive in brokering deals that shortened the theatrical window to 17 days, or three weekends. Now the studio is committing to longer runs, promising a minimum of five weekends in 2025 and seven weekends in 2027 before a film moves to home entertainment. It’s also a huge win for movie theater owners, who have long argued that audiences wouldn’t pay to see films on the big screen if they could wait a few weeks to watch them at home. Way back when, 90-day windows were the norm but the average shrunk to roughly 45 days since the great COVID box office reset. Popular on Variety “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,” NBCUniversal Entertainment chair Donna Langley told the New York Times, which broke the news of the shift. More to come… Jump to Comments Donald Trump Lashes Out at Robert De Niro for Telling Americans to ‘Resist’ the President: ‘A Sick and Demented Person With an Extremely Low IQ’ Trump Says He’s Ordered ‘All Federal Law Enforcement’ to Search for Savannah Guthrie’s Mother: ‘The Prayers of Our Nation Are With Her’ Ted Sarandos Responds to Donald Trump’s Call to Fire Board Member Susan Rice: ‘He Likes to Do a Lot of Things on Social Media’ Trevor Noah Mocks Donald Trump’s Friendship With Jeffrey Epstein During Grammys: ‘What Are You Going to Do About It?’ Michael Imperioli Says ‘A Lot’ of ‘The Sopranos’ Characters Would ‘Probably’ Be Trump Supporters: ‘The Show Is About the American Dream’ Donald Trump Claims Melania Is a ‘Big Movie Star’ Now: ‘I Always Say There’s Not Room in One Family for Two Stars’ JavaScript is required to load the comments. Loading comments...