The Bad Guys – Picture: Dreamworks
DreamWorks’ new animated movie The Bad Guys is slowly releasing around the world theatrically and will be among the first wave of titles coming to Netflix as part of newly struck animation deals in the United States. Here’s when we’re expecting The Bad Guys on Netflix.
Set to release in late April in the United States (other regions saw it released theatrically through March and early April), the new animated movie comes from director Pierre Perifel and is based on the illustrated children’s books by Aaron Blabey.
Among the voice cast for the movie includes Sam Rockwell, Craig Robinson, Marc Maron, Anthony Ramos, and Awkwafina.
When will The Bad Guys be on Netflix in the United States?
Thanks to the newly announced DreamWorks deal, we can actually pretty accurately predict when The Bad Guys will come to streaming in the United States.
Per the deal, Netflix US will have part of what’s called the pay-1 window. That window is 18 months in total and starts 45 days after the film releases theatrically.
For the first 4 months of that deal the movie streams at Peacock, then Netflix for 10 months, and then back to Peacock for the final 4 months.
If that’s the case, here’s a rough estimate of when it’ll be streaming:
- Theatrical release window: April 22nd – June 6th, 2022
- Peacock Window 1: June 6th – October 6th, 2022
- Netflix Window 1: October 6th, 2022 – August 6th, 2023
- Peacock Window 2: August 6th – December 6th, 2023
Netflix would also then be expected to receive the movie again in the second window in 2026 but that’s yet to be confirmed.
Other movies set to release as part of this deal in the future includes Minions: Rise of Gru, and the Mario movie releasing this holiday season.
Will The Bad Guys be on Netflix outside the United States?
Outside the United States, we sadly don’t know the plans for Dreamworks and Illumination titles as of yet. As a result, don’t expect to be streaming The Bad Guys at the end of 2022 as the US will.
Based on previous years, Dreamworks movies don’t typically come to Netflix UK until two years after their premiere theatrically (as with the case for Trolls: World Tour). If that’s the case for this movie, you won’t be seeing it until 2024.
Many regions of Netflix such as Canada, Latin America, and other select regions just received 2019’s Abominable. If that’s the case for these regions for The Bad Guys, it won’t be available until late 2024/2025.
We’ll keep this post updated over time to reflect changing information as and when we get it.
Are you looking forward to checking out The Bad Guys on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.