Rental Family Digital Release Date: What We Know And When To Expect It
Fresh off its TIFF debut and opening in cinemas November 21, Hikari’s comedy-drama Rental Family, starring Brendan Fraser as Phillip Vandarploeug, has fans asking the obvious: when does it hit digital and streaming?
Brendan Fraser is front and center in Hikari's new comedy-drama 'Rental Family,' which just hit theaters. If you're already plotting the couch version of this, here's how the at-home rollout is likely to shake out, based on Searchlight's recent habits.
So what is this thing?
Directed by Hikari, 'Rental Family' follows Fraser as Phillip Vandarploeug, an American in Tokyo who signs on with a Japanese 'family rental' agency and starts playing stand-in roles for strangers. Think hired brother, husband, dad, whatever someone needs for a day. The premise leans quirky, but the movie steers it into genuine-connection territory.
One funny wrinkle: some descriptions call Phillip a tutor, while the official logline says he is an actor. Either way, the gig is the same: he gets paid to be the person people are missing, and that starts messing with his sense of what is performance and what is real life.
Key dates and where this is headed
- Festival premiere: Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025
- US theaters: November 21, 2025 (Searchlight Pictures)
- International rollout: January 2026
- Likely digital rental/purchase (PVOD): around late January 2026, roughly two months after theatrical. Searchlight has been doing a tight two-month window lately: 'The Roses' hit theaters August 29, 2025 and went PVOD October 21, 2025; 'The Complete Unknown' opened December 25, 2024 and arrived digitally February 25, 2025. That points to about January 20, 2026 for 'Rental Family.'
- Likely streaming (Hulu in the US): late February 2026, on a Thursday. Recent comps: 'The Roses' started streaming November 20, 2025; 'The Complete Unknown' landed March 27, 2025. Following that pattern, expect something like February 26, 2026 for 'Rental Family.'
To be clear, Searchlight can nudge these dates based on box office or platform needs, but if you're penciling this in, late January to rent and late February to stream is the smart bet.
The official synopsis
'An American actor in Tokyo struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese "rental family" agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients' worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality.'
Bottom line: it's in US theaters now, international hits in January, and if Searchlight keeps doing what it's been doing, you'll be able to rent it at home around January 20 and stream it on Hulu about a month later.