Why Isn’t ‘The BFG’ on Netflix Yet?

Updated 03/22/2017: A new Netflix release date for The BFG is April 6, 2017.

The BFG was scheduled to release on Netflix in the United States on March 15th and now a day later, it’s still not on Netflix. What’s going on? We got in touch with Netflix and here’s what they said.

As part of a special relationship between Netflix Disney, the movie will be available on Netflix. The exclusive partnership brings new theatrical releases to Netflix approximately six months after its debut in cinemas.

This adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic novel tells the story about a giant friend and one girl's first encounter with him.

Here’s what we got back from Netflix customer support:

On our official release, it’s showing March 15th. However, I am seeing here that there was a bit of a complication with the licensing and we will release it on a later date.

Let’s break that down a little bit. This could lead to licensing problems for all kinds of items. With The BFG, because it’s source material is from Roald Dahl (all his work is currently owned by Penguin Books) it could be that they’re causing the holdup as we’re yet to have issues with any of the previous Disney releases. Content licensing can be complicated and time-consuming and may take some effort.

What date will the BFG be available on Netflix?

Netflix suggests that you keep an eye out for new releases on social media. Alternatively, for more of a complete picture, we recommend you keep an eye on our What’s New section where we post the daily new additions.

It’s rare that this happens, especially with titles already announced like The BFG was. Hopefully, we’ll learn of its new release date soon.

In the meantime, another Disney release came out during March in the form of Pete’s Dragon.