Hulu Renews ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Inks Deal With DreamWorks Animation, Passes 20 Million Subscribers – Newfront

Hulu Renews ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Inks Deal With DreamWorks Animation, Passes 20 Million Subscribers – Newfront

Hulu said it has surpassed 20 million U.S. subscribers, a milestone that shows its commitment to original programming is paying dividends.

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The video streaming service announced the latest subscriber numbers during today’s NewFront presentation at the newly christened Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, where executives also announced original programming and exclusive deals — including its first multi-year deal with DreamWorks Animation.

“Hulu is the complete TV experience for consumers, offering both live and on-demand programming and more consumer choice than ever before,” said Hulu CEO Randy Freer.

Following its record-breaking second season premiere last week — which has already doubled its audience versus season one — Hulu renewed the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning series The Handmaid’s Tale for a third season.

Hulu has expanded its slate of critically acclaimed original series with new series orders for Four Weddings and a Funeral and Ramy, which join upcoming Hulu originals Castle Rock, Catch-22, and Little Fires Everywhere.

Four Weddings and a Funeral is a limited series written and executive produced by Mindy Kaling and Matt Warburton, inspired by the 1994 British romantic comedy film. The series will follow a group of friends as their lives intersect through five events.

Kaling and Warburton, who teamed up together for The Mindy Project, will executive produce alongside Jonathan Prince, Howard Klein (3 Arts), Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (Working Title).

Hulu gave a series order to Ramy, a comedy series based on the real-life experiences of Ramy Youssef, a first-generation American Muslim who takes viewers on a spiritual journey in his politically divided New Jersey neighborhood. The show will explore the challenges of being caught in between an Egyptian community that thinks life is moral a test, and a millennial generation that thinks life has no consequences.

Ramy is written, executive produced and created by Ramy Youssef, and executive produced by Jerrod Carmichael, co-creators Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch as well as A24’s Ravi Nandan. The series marks the first original series order for Hulu from A24, an award winning New York-based media company.

In partnership with Blumhouse Television, Hulu unveiled Into The Dark, a new horror series from award-winning producer Jason Blum’s independent TV studio. The series will include 12 standalone episodes, with a new installment released on the first Friday of every month throughout the year.

Each episode is inspired by a holiday from the month of it release, but all will feature Blumhouse’s signature genre/thriller spin on the story.

The first story, The Body, premieres October 5. Set in the selfie culture of Los Angeles on Halloween night, The Body follows a sophisticated, overconfident hitman who always carries out his work in style. Tom Bateman (Murder on the Orient Express,Vanity Fair) stars as Wilkes, the suave, professional hitman, and Rebecca Rittenhouse (The Mindy Project, Blood & Oil) as Maggie, a feisty, intelligent woman who becomes captivated by Wilkes.

Under a new agreement with Sony Pictures Television, Hulu secured exclusive on-demand streaming rights to ABC’s hit drama series The Good Doctor. Following last year’s acquisition of NBC’s This Is Us, this marks the second consecutive year Hulu has secured exclusive on-demand rights to broadcast’s top new drama.

Hulu announced its first multi-year deal with DreamWorks Animation, making Hulu the exclusive streaming home to future DreamWorks Animation feature films, as well as library titles including Shrek, Shrek 2 and Shark Tale.

Through the deal, Hulu will stream theatrical releases from the studio beginning in 2019, including upcoming films How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, The Boss Baby 2 and Trolls 2.

In addition, Hulu will work with DreamWorks Animation Television to develop original kids & family series for exclusive streaming based on the company’s popular franchises and upcoming feature films. This marks the first time Hulu has partnered with a major studio in a multi-series commitment to debut original kids & family content.

Beginning later this quarter, Hulu will begin offering dynamically inserted advertising within its Hulu With Live TV product. This capability will be introduced across select cable networks and roll out onto additional live content over the coming months.

Hulu said it plans to offer a downloadable content experience with opportunities for advertisers. The new feature will allow subscribers to access their favorite shows and movies on the go, with no internet connection required, and give advertisers the opportunity to reach their target audiences.