Hulu announced this morning the launch of Hulu Documentary Films, a collection of streaming documentaries exclusive to Hulu. Or, at least, it’s supposed to grow into that. As of today, Hulu is only announcing its first documentary acquisition: The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, a coming feature-length doc from director Ron Howard focusing on the band’s early career.
Hulu is getting into documentaries, starting with Ron Howard’s Beatles film
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
It won't premiere on Hulu
Notably, Hulu has only acquired US streaming rights to the documentary. That means the film will still run in theaters, outside of Hulu’s control, before it goes online. When Netflix purchases a film, it usually acquires all rights to it, so that it’s able to present it before anyone else. It’s possible that’s outside of Hulu’s budget — or it’s possible that Hulu is just playing a longer game; years from now, the film will still be on Hulu, and no one’s going to care where it ran first.
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week will premiere in theaters this fall and head to Hulu shortly thereafter. Hulu hasn’t gone into any detail about where Hulu Documentary Films will head next, but if Netflix’s own documentary acquisition spree is any guide, it appears that Hulu has the opportunity to grow its catalog quickly.
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