L-R: ‘The Beatles’ stars Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), Joseph Quinn (George Harrison).

Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment

L-R: ‘The Beatles’ stars Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr), Joseph Quinn (George Harrison).

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and Netflix have expanded their pay 1 deal into what they claim to be an industry-first worldwide arrangement that will roll out later this year as Sony’s individual territory licences expire.

The pact builds on the parties’ existing pay 1 deal for the US, Germany, and Southeast Asia and is expected to reach full global availability on Netflix by early 2029. As with all pay 1 deals, it kicks in after full theatrical and home entertainment windows.

Film titles in the new arrangement include Sam Mendes’ four-part Beatles release that is scheduled to arrive in cinemas in April 2028, Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse, live-action Nintendo adaptation The Legend Of Zelda, Sony Pictures Animation’s Buds, and The Nightingale starring Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning that will see the sisters act together on-screen for the first time.

As part of the arrangement, which according to reports is worth in the region of $7bn, Netflix will additionally license rights to select SPE feature film and television library titles.

Under the existing deal struck by SPE and Netflix during the pandemic in 2020 that Screen understands was worth around $3bn, the streamer also gave what is understood to be a $750m commitment to take select films directly for the platform. 

One of those was animation Oscar frontrunner KPop Demon Hunters, which just won two Golden Globes last weekend and ranks as the platform’s most-viewed film of all time.

Under the existing pay 1 pact, Netflix streamed SPE films like Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, It Ends With Us, Anyone But You, and Venom: The Last Dance.