Incidentally, this policy is not aimed solely at Universal out of pique or to be punitive in any way, it also extends to any movie maker who unilaterally abandons current windowing practices absent good faith negotiations between us, so that they as distributor and we as exhibitor both benefit and neither are hurt from such changes. "This policy affects any and all Universal movies per se, goes into effect today and as our theaters reopen, and is not some hollow or ill-considered threat. AMC's letter, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, went on to state: Universal, like Disney, is heavily dependent on both movies and amusement parks for business so they are pivoting to streaming options for revenue during this time of crisis. AMC is flirting with bankruptcy, while a new Reuters poll indicates that only 40 percent of Americans are open to attending movies, concerts, amusement parks, or sporting events until a vaccine can be found. Therefore, effectively immediately AMC will no longer play any Universal movies in any of our theaters in the United States, Europe or the Middle East." The theater chain may be playing a game of chicken with Universal seeing as how the coronavirus is being mulled by many observers as a possible death knell for the theatrical experience. While Universal isn't expected to employ this digital model for huge franchise releases such as a Fast & Furious title because of how much money those movies do typically rake in theatrically, the studio is already embracing it for smaller movies, such as Judd Apatow's comedy The King of Staten Island, which is now going straight to VOD.ĥ3 Images In a letter sent Tuesday from AMC Theatres chair-CEO Adam Aron to Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langley, AMC said "Universal’s unilateral actions and intentions have left us with no choice. As it turned out, Universal made more revenue from Trolls World Tour after three weeks in digital release than they did from five months of the original Trolls in theaters.
What makes digital releases even more appealing to studios is that they retain 80 percent of the profits from a VOD release, which is significantly higher than the 50 percent of profits they take home from box office receipts with theatrical releases. It was a big gamble for Universal, as theater owners fumed over the studio's decision to ditch cinemas, but it reportedly paid off big time for the studio.
With movie theaters shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic - including AMC, which closed down in mid-March - Universal opted to release their Trolls sequel digitally this month rather than wait to release it in cinemas later in the year or next year. Play The major theater chain blasted Universal following a report touting how well Trolls World Tour had done on VOD and the studio saying it sees this as a roadmap for other possible releases.
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