Stranger Things season 5 will not hit the waves this year, as all signs point to it. Although the series is currently in production, even if it wraps up filming this year, it would still require a lengthy post-production schedule to bring the show to its full potential. Nevertheless, for all those fans who are on the edge of their seats for the final showdown to unfold on their small screens, a new player in the Stranger Things universe is about to offer a similar experience to them beyond Netflix. 

The new purchaser of the Netflix show is set to conjure the same horror and eeriness for fans through a very special annual event. 

Six Flags, an American entertainment and amusement park corporation, has recently acquired the rights to Stranger Things for its annual Halloween-oriented haunt event. The event, known as Fright Fest, will feature haunted house mazes at all Six Flags theme parks, including Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles. Fans will be able to enjoy this adventure starting September 7 of this year and immerse themselves in the Upside Down world.

In addition to Stranger Things, franchises like The Conjuring, Army of the Dead, Saw, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre will also grace the spooky summer fun. This is not the first time Netflix has collaborated with such events to provide fans with immersive Stranger Things experiences. The Duffer Brothers' show has become the core franchise around which the streaming giant has built its recent strategy of leaning into merchandising and experiences to drive fan engagement.

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While this certainly draws more attention to Netflix’s offerings, this approach is not entirely a positive sign for the OTT platform.

Netflix has made conscious efforts to increase engagement on its platform. This need arose after subscriber growth for the streaming giant began to slow down due to several new measures it implemented. Brad Jashinsky, director analyst at research firm Gartner's marketing practice, stated in a statement that Netflix's DTC merchandising strategies and brand collaborations have earned it 337,000 monthly visits from January 2022 to March 2023, which it began implementing after the success of Stranger Things in 2021.

Following the release of Stranger Things season 4, its traffic saw a further increase to 900,000 monthly visits. Encouraged by this strategy's success, Netflix now appears eager to secure as many collaborations as possible as it is not an everyday occurrence to build an iconic franchise like Stranger Things. Especially with the franchise nearing its end in the upcoming season, the pressure on the streaming giant to create a similar engagement that Stranger Things did is particularly high.

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 What do you think about this new brand collaboration between Netflix's Stranger Things and Six Flags? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!