‘Prey’ Is Hulu’s Biggest Debut Ever, So ‘Prey 2’ Plans Begin To Form

Games ‘Prey’ Is Hulu’s Biggest Debut Ever, So ‘Prey 2’ Plans Begin To Form Paul Tassi Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet. New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Aug 10, 2022, 09:11am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Prey Hulu Not only is Prey a shockingly good Predator prequel and a hell of an action movie, it now also holds the record for the best debut in streaming service Hulu’s entire history. Hulu is reporting that in its first three days of viewership, it has amassed more viewing hours than all of its TV series and movies over the same time period. The last thing to hold that record was apparently The Kardashians, the reality series which became a Hulu exclusive after the original E! series ended.

Prey also set records for Star+ and Disney+ in non-American regions where Hulu doesn’t exist. Do you want actual numbers? Sorry, this is streaming, we don’t do those here. But the context of Prey’s performance raises three central questions: 1.

If this movie was so good, why wasn’t it in theaters? 2. Surely this means Prey 2 will happen, right? 3. If Prey 2 exists, where will it debut? Prey Hulu MORE FOR YOU ‘Demon Slayer’ Season 2 Finally Has An Actual 2021 Release Date Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Not A Sure Thing, Says Director ‘Genshin Impact’ Still Refuses To Increase Anniversary Rewards, Despite Fan Outcry Answers: 1.

The idea of debuting big, blockbuster movies on streaming services has been a pretty hot topic of debate lately, and seems to be trending in opposing directions. You have a service like Netflix, which is determined to build movie “universes” out of pricey blockbusters like The Gray Man and Red Notice, full of A-list casts. But you also have HBO Max, where new management there has said it no longer makes any sense to develop movies for the streaming arm alone as opposed to theaters.

In Prey’s case, they made this call, and it’s possible that in this current age of Top Gun and superhero movie domination, Prey may have been lost in theaters as opposed to setting these streaming records. So it seems like it worked out. 2.

It would be pretty absurd for Prey not to get a sequel, Prey 2, after this, which would absolutely need to continue to star Amber Midthunder, who did a phenomenal job as the lead, and would certainly warrant becoming an iconic franchise character. Prey 2 is already starting to be teased by the original’s director , saying that the end titles were a hint about what could be coming in the future. The tease there, which is easy to miss, shows a short animation of multiple Predator ships heading to earth after Naru is made warchief.

3. Even if it was true that the original Prey may have benefitted from streaming-only release, I could see the argument being made that now that the movie is a hit, Prey 2 might deserve to be released as an actual theatrical production, given the built-in audience that now exists. Hell, I think you could make the argument that even the current version of Prey should come to theaters, as I would absolutely pay to see that on the big screen.

That said, they may not want to mess with success, and if they want to replicate how well the first one performed, they may not change anything at all, and just release it for “free” on Hulu, like the first one. We’ll have to see what strategic decision they make. Regardless, it’s been great to see how well Prey has performed, and I look forward to whatever’s next.

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