Cuckoo—a horror thriller from Longlegs studio Neon starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens—is new in theaters. When will it be coming to streaming?
Cuckoo marks the third horror film from Neon in 2024. The indie studio released Sydney Sweeney’s Immaculate in March and Nicolas Cage’s Longlegs in July.
The logline for Cuckoo reads, “Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen (Schafer) leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König (Stevens), her father’s boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister Alma (Mila Lieu).
“Something doesn’t seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family.”
Right now, the only way you can see Cuckoo is in theaters. The film plays in previews Thursday night before opening in theaters on Friday.
Like most theatrical releases, Cuckoo will first be released on digital streaming via premium video on demand before it debuts on a subscription streaming service. In addition, the window between any film’s theatrical release and PVOD is generally determined by how well any given film does in theaters.
Neon’s window from the studio’s theatrical releases to their debut on PVOD is generally 30 days. For example, Ferrari—starring Adam Driver—premiered in theaters on December 25, 2023, and hit PVOD about a month later, on January 23.
More recently, Immaculate opened on March 22 but debuted on PVOD in just under a month, on April 16.
If Cuckoo follows the same release pattern, viewers can expect to either purchase or rent the film on PVOD anytime between September 10-13, since digital streaming titles typically debut on Tuesdays or Fridays.
However, if Cuckoo is as big a success as Longlegs, the wait for PVOD could be a bit longer. According to The Numbers, Longlegs has earned more than $85 million to date on a production budget of less than $10 million before prints and advertising.
Longlegs opened in theaters on July 12 and its PVOD date is still pending.
How Soon Will ‘Cuckoo’ Come To Streaming Video On Demand?
Per Deadline, Neon signed a multiyear, first output deal with Hulu in 2017 so the streamer would be the first subscription service to offer the studio’s movies on streaming video on demand.
Once again using Neon’s Ferrari and Immaculate as examples, it’s likely that Cuckoo will not make its SVOD debut on Hulu for at least five months.
Again, Ferrari opened in theaters on December 25, 2023, but didn’t start streaming on Hulu until May 25. Immaculate, meanwhile, opened in theaters on March 22 and is scheduled to make its SVOD debut on August 15.
As such, viewers will likely have to wait until the second week of January 2025 to stream Cuckoo on Hulu.
As of Thursday, Rotten Tomatoes critics have given Cuckoo a 79% “fresh” rating based on 92 reviews, while the Audience Score from RT users is still pending.
The RT Critics Consensus for the movie reads, “Directed with inventive flair by Tilman Singer while given flavorful personality by stars Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens, Cuckoo is a madcap madhouse horror that’s on the right side of deranged.”
Also starring Jessica Henwick, Cuckoo plays in previews on Thursday evening and opens in theaters on Friday.
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