COVID-19 has movie studio taking chances
Universal Pictures is betting a movie about a serial killer who hunts down teens is the antidote to real-life dread at the U. S. box office.
The horror film, a collaboration with Blumhouse Productions starring Vince Vaughn, came out Friday. ‘Freaky’ is one of the few movies that’s hit cinemas since the start of the pandemic. It’s also one of the first movies Universal is releasing as part of a new distribution strategy, in which it plays its new movies in the cinemas for about three weeks before selling them online.
The box office will take all the help it can get.
Practically every big blockbuster this year has been pushed back until 2021 or later, with studios refusing to release major new features before audiences can once again gather en masse.
That’s led to unusual arrangements between studios and theaters, which are normally sticklers about their right to show new movies exclusively for two or three months.
Running out of cash, racking up debt, and keen to promote any film to draw in more customers, exhibitors have become increasingly flexible throughout the pandemic.
Universal now can put its films online 17 days after they debut in the largest U. S. theater chain, AMC. In exchange for shortening the so- called exclusive window, AMC gets a cut of Universal’s online movie sales.
Warner Bros. is also said to be discussing a hybrid release strategy with theater chains in which it would move “Wonder Woman 1984,” starring Gal Gadot, onto its HBO Max streaming platform shortly after it comes out in cinemas on Christmas.
AMC Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron has said that the new model with Universal helped keep his theaters open.
In September, Universal released a crime comedy, “Kajillionaire,” in theaters before moving it online, and cutting AMC in on some of the sales.
Aron said that netted the company more cash than a normal release would have.
AMC’s largest competitor, Regal Theatres, has closed all of its U. S. locations, saying a lack of new movies makes it too expensive to stay open.
The No. 3 chain Cinemark is mostly open and plans to show “Freaky,” though doesn’t have a special arrangement with Universal that gives it a cut of sales.