‘The King’s Man’ Gets Early Hulu Debut
If you missed “The King’s Man”, Matthew Vaughn’s World War I-era prequel to the popular spy franchise, in theaters then you’re about to get your second chance. The film will debut on Hulu on Feb. 18, the streaming service announced on Tuesday.
In international markets, “The King’s Man” will debut on Disney+ under the Star or Star+ brands, rolling out on Feb. 9 in the UK & Ireland, Japan and Korea; Feb. 23 in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Luxembourg; and on Star+ on March 2 in Latin America.
“The King’s Man” stars Ralph Fiennes as Orlando, the Duke of Oxford, who begrudgingly starts the private spy organization after suffering a personal tragedy during World War I. The movie combines the irreverence of the previous films with an alternate history flavor, and characteristically bombastic action set pieces from Vaughn (including a fight sequence involving Rasputin). The film co-stars Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson and Djimon Hounsou. The film was released on Dec. 22 exclusively in theaters last year and was immediately overshadowed by “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
The debut of “The King’s Man” on Hulu less than two months after the film premiered in theaters reiterates Disney’s commitment to offering fresh content across its streaming platforms.
It’s unclear whether or not this will be one of the 20th Century titles that Hulu shares with HBO Max, since the original agreement was that 20th Century films would debut in their first pay window on HBO/HBO Max. An arrangement had been fortified towards the end of last year where the two streamers would share titles; hence “Ron’s Gone Wrong” playing on HBO Max and Disney+ simultaneously and “The Last Duel” hitting HBO Max exclusively in January.
Of course, if we’ve learned anything from the gentlemanly “Kingsman” franchise, it’s that manners maketh the man.