The streaming wars are heating up as Peacock plans to make major moves in the coming days. Next month, NBCUniversal’s streamer will add two of the highest-grossing young adult movie franchises of all time as both the Harry Potter franchise and The Hunger Games franchise head to Peacock in March 2024.
Both film series are set to arrive to Peacock’s content catalog on Friday, March 1. The complete Harry Potter franchise – Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), and Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) – will stream exclusively on Peacock, meaning the films will not be available to stream on competing streaming services.
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At one point the highest-grossing franchise overall, the Harry Potter franchise is based on J.K. Rowling’s book series, which transports readers into the Wizarding World. The franchise debuted in 2001 and stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley. The franchise also stars Tom Felton, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, James and Oliver Phelps, and Helena Bonham Carter. Including several spinoffs, the Harry Potter movie franchise grossed over $7.7 billion worldwide, with the movies’ move to Peacock coming amid Warner Bros. Discovery’s planned Harry Potter TV series adaptation.
Also arriving to Peacock on March 1 is The Hunger Games franchise. Adapting Suzanne Collins’ trilogy of novels into four movies – The Hunger Games (2012), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014) and Part 2 (2015 – the franchise was one of the biggest blockbuster film series of the last decade, grossing over $2.6 billion worldwide. The film series centers around Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a teen girl who sparks an uprising in the dystopian Panem.
Unlike the Harry Potter films, The Hunger Games movies will not be Peacock exclusives throughout the entirety of March, as the first four films will also be available to stream on Netflix beginning March 31. It is unclear if the movies will disappear from Peacock at the end of the month and move exclusively to Netflix.
Notably missing from both Peacock and Netflix’s roster of incoming titles is the latest Hunger Games film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The film, which hit theaters in November, is a prequel that centers around a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and the earliest days of The Hunger Games. The film is currently available to rent or purchase on services like Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV, Google Play and YouTube TV.