How movies and shows end up on your streaming services: studio rights explained
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Who decides which streamer gets what, and when?. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. If like me you enjoy nothing more than watching a great new movie on great home cinema kit, you've probably asked this question more than once about an exciting new release: when's it coming to one of the best streaming services – and which streamer is it coming to? And the answer is: it's complicated.
![[Eddie Murphy in the movie poster for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F]](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/356MXydziqWXFaeUF4LuWf-320-80.jpg)
In a simpler world every movie would come to every streaming service. But of course we live in a world that's much messier, which is why we write separate guides to cover the best movies coming to Netflix, to Disney Plus, to Max, to Prime Video, to Paramount Plus and to Apple TV Plus.
![[Brad Pitt and George Clooney in WOLFS]](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QKu7NrgK5bqHTRE2QaTUNY-320-80.jpg)
So how do certain movies end up on certain streamers, and who decides who gets what and when? Let's find out. It's important to clarify what it means when we talk about films being released. Films aren't sold outright; in most cases, the companies that paid for them own them and like to keep it that way. What studios and their distributors do is sell licenses to show, sell or stream movies in a particular way, in a particular place, for a particular period of time.
![[Five Nights at Freddy's movie]](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/juSkCAFQXbdf7RbXoV6gDQ-320-80.jpeg)
When your local megaplex shows Wicked, it hasn't bought the movie; the theater chain has bought a licence to screen it in certain territories for a few weeks or months. Similarly, when Prime Video, Max or Paramount Plus offers a movie as part of your membership, the streamer has bought a licence that gives it the right to stream it – again, in certain territories for a certain period of time.
![[Margot Robbie's Barbie smiles as she sits in her pink car in her solo movie]](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6Ns69NApQ4ox82eJCFwB89-320-80.jpg)
