The Invisible Man, Emma and other movies to stream early as cinemas close
As Covid-19 continues to gut the entertainment industry, shutting down theaters across the world to prevent community transmission of the virus, Universal Pictures announced that three theatrical releases – The Invisible Man, The Hunt and Emma – will shift from theaters to at-home release this week.
The films will be available ondemand as early as Friday in the US and in international markets where they were previously released for 48-hour rentals at a suggested price of $19.99.
“Universal Pictures has a broad and diverse range of movies with 2020 being no exception. Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable,” said Jeff Shell, the CEO of NBCUniversal, in a press conference Monday morning.
“We hope and believe that people will still go to the movies in theaters where available, but we understand that for people in different areas of the world that is increasingly becoming less possible.”
Additionally, Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s Trolls World Tour, originally scheduled to be the studio’s first post-coronavirus shutdown theatrical release on 10 April, will now be available for in-home viewing on the same date.
The announcements follow a 22year box office low of $55.3m this past weekend, as cinemas closed through the country. New York and Los Angeles, the two largest grossing cities in the US, both mandated full closure of theaters on Sunday. According to Deadline, New York City, currently facing the secondworst coronavirus outbreak in the US, saw a box office drop of 64% from the previous weekend; Los Angeles’s was 55%.