'Freaky' Director Slams Hollywood for Releasing Movies in Theaters & on Streaming at Same Time

Christopher Landon, the director of the horror movie Freaky, is slamming Hollywood studios for “day-and-date” releases amid the disappointing box office performance of Halloween Ends.

The new horror film grossed $43 million in its opening weekend, which is still a great number, but many experts predicted that it would gross at least $50 million for its first weekend. Last year’s Halloween Kills also opened to $49.4 million with the same day-and-date release strategy.

The two Halloween films were available for streaming on Peacock on the same day the movies were released in theaters.

Freaky came out in theaters in November 2020, when many theaters were still shut down due to the pandemic. The film was released on VOD less than a month after it hit theaters.

Click inside to check out Christopher Landon’s “rant” about the release strategy…

Christopher took to his Twitter account over the weekend to voice his frustration with day-and-date releases.

“Ooooooh I feel another rant coming on: Today it’s the Day & Date release strategy for Halloween Ends. Stop doing this. Please. It doesn’t work. Studios: stop gambling with filmmakers and their movies to try and prop up your fledgling streaming services. This happened to me on Freaky and it destroyed us,” Christopher tweeted.

He continued, “We worked SO HARD to make a fun movie. Blood sweat and tears. Months away from our families. And for what? They love to use the term: ‘two bites of the apple’ but that’s just another way of saying ‘we’re gonna use your movie as a Guinea pig’ for our Streaming service. Sorry. I begged the studio not to do this. Either circle the wagons and protect it for theatrical or just go all in on streaming. Don’t split hairs. At least the Halloween folks were made whole. We got hosed. So yeah…bitter subject. PTSD.”

“Dear studios: stop trying to suck two dicks at the same time. Honor the sanctity of the theatrical experience. End rant,” he concluded.