MAVERICK FLIES LATE AS TROLLS SOW DOUBT ON SAME-DAY HOME MOVIES
The closure of cinemas during COVID-19 restrictions has led movie companies to experiment with sending new movies straight to video-on-demand streaming services, instead of sticking with the usual cinema-exclusive model. Home cinema fans would welcome more of this, especially since the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Apple et al investing heavily in their own content has already brought into question the traditional model of a cinema run followed by video release. Now cinemas risk being removed from the distribution chain altogether.
One great VOD success during the shutdown was ‘Trolls World Tour’. The Wall Street Journal reported that this movie had made US$77 million from VOD domestic sales in the three weeks to the end of April. Because Universal Pictures will get about 80% of the streaming royalties compared with 50% of box office, the picture company has made more in three weeks of home release than the original Trolls movie made in theatres over five months.
Not surprisingly, Universal quickly moved to expand the home release model, but AMC, the world’s largest cinema chain, immediately announced that if the exclusivity model was abandoned, no more Universal movies would ever play in its theatres. Cineworld/Regal, the world’s second largest cinema chain, soon followed suit and, not pulling its punches, said that “Universal unilaterally chose to break our understanding and did so at the height of the COVID-19 crisis when our business is closed, more than 35,000 employees are at home and when we do not yet have a clear date for the reopening of our cinemas... Universal’s move is completely inappropriate and certainly has nothing to do with good faith business practice, partnership and transparency.”
Most other studios are playing a waiting game, delaying release: ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ has moved from June to December release, Pixar’s ‘Soul’ (with its Trent Reznor soundtrack, see p80) from June to November. Not only will this create a bottleneck of releases whenever US theatres reopen, but confusion will come from countries like Australia, where Event Cinemas are reopening on June 17, and Hoyts is sending subscribers emails saying “We’re so close to reopening!” But what movies will they show?