Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix have re-teamed to produce "Napoleon," a two-and-a-half-hour historical epic about the legendary French emperor. The duo had previously teamed up for "Gladiator," in which Phoenix played the despicable Roman emperor Commodus, and both director and actor enjoyed great success. [The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus noted that while the film is excellent, it fails to maintain its best moments throughout the film and lacks historical accuracy. Audiences have also criticized the film harshly since its release on November 22, 2023. Its audience score of 59% "fresh" is as bad as the critics' rating

, but the film is being produced in part by Apple, which means that "Napoleon" will be coming to Apple TV Plus at some point in the future. For those who don't want to see it in theaters, here's when it will be available for streaming at home.

The streaming date for "Napoleon" on Apple TV Plus is still unofficial, but we do have an update. As we predicted, "Napoleon" will be released on paid video-on-demand on January 9 (h/t When to Stream).

Now, I predicted "January 6," but Apple for some reason doesn't seem to want it to be that date.

While we still don't know the official air date for Apple TV Plus, there is historical precedent that we can use to guess when it will appear on Apple TV Plus, since Apple Studios financed and produced "Napoleon". This is because the tech giant is treating the film like a traditional theatrical release, like "The Flower Moon Killer," rather than sending it straight to streaming, as it did with the Oscar-winning "CODA."

As with "Killer in the Flower Moon," Apple partnered with a traditional studio, in this case Sony Pictures. Under the terms of these agreements, as reported by The New York Times, as well as the agreement for the upcoming comedy spy film "Argyle," the film cannot be streamed on Apple TV for at least 45 days after its theatrical release.

Now that we know that Scott's film, like Scorsese's epic, will go to a paid video-on-demand streaming service after that 45-day window, we can use "Killers of the Flower Moon" as a benchmark for Apple TV Plus date "

We initially anticipated that "Napoleon" would likely be released on Apple TV Plus in mid-February 2024. Napoleon" will likely be released on the Apple TV Plus on February 16, 2024.