With many of us stuck inside, streaming and video on demand services have continued to succeed where a lot of businesses have been forced to shutter temporarily. Companies with big movie studios like Disney and NBCUniversal have taken to throwing their latest releases on platforms such as Disney+ or digital stores early or even in place of a theatrical run.
Universal’s recent release of Trolls World Tours on demand (forgoing a previously planned theatrical release) has proved to be a big hit for the studio, raking in an estimated $100 million in video on demand rentals. This prompted NBCUniversal’s CEO to make some comments regarding future viability of the market — comments that were not taken well by AMC Theatres.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, AMC Theatres is now refusing to play any future Universal Pictures films after Universal CEO Jeff Shell made his comments. Shell was reported as saying, “The results for Trolls World Tour have exceeded our expectations and demonstrated the viability of PVOD. As soon as theaters reopen, we expect to release movies on both formats.”
AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron sent a letter to Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langley expressing the theater chain’s frustrations with the comments. “It is disappointing to us, but Jeff’s comments as to Universal’s unilateral actions and intentions have left us with no choice. 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,” Aron said in his letter.
Aron went on to say that Universal’s statement “abandons current windowing practices absent good faith negotiations”. Universal quickly responded with a statement of their own, saying that, “[Universal] absolutely believe in the theatrical experience and have made no statement to the contrary. As we stated earlier, going forward, we expect to release future films directly to theaters, as well as on PVOD when that distribution outlet makes sense.”
Universal also stated, “We look forward to having additional private conversations with our exhibition partners but are disappointed by this seemingly coordinated attempt from AMC and NATO to confuse our position and our actions.”
While Universal may want to discuss the issue, AMC’s comments make it clear that this threat was not invoked lightly. Most major studio films have already been delayed until later in the year, but only time will tell if Universal and AMC can come to some sort of negotiation. Currently, AMC Theaters remain closed, with no plans to reopen until major theatrical releases begin, which as of now is planned for July.
What do you think of AMC’s decision? Let us know in the comments below!
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I don’t know, but does this strike you as “cutting your nose off despite your face” decision?
I would definitely agree with you on that. Perhaps AMC should have given it some time before cutting ties so quickly.
Perhaps Universal should have discussed this with AMC and other theater groups before deciding to throw 70 or 80 percent of their potential revenue to Amazon and Netflix. They probably have an agreement if not a binding contract about this kind of thing.