Universal says PVOD movies like Trolls World Tour will complement theatrical releases in the future, not replace them. When the coronavirus pandemic led to theaters shutting down in early March, it left studios in a precarious situation. The vast majority of films scheduled to open between then and mid-July have since been delayed, in some cases by as much as a year. However, as its original April 10 release date was just around the corner, Universal decided it would instead experiment by sending Trolls World Tour directly to PVOD (a strategy it’s been wanting to try since 2011).
With so many people (especially, families with kids) stuck at home looking for entertainment options, Trolls World Tour has performed exceptionally well, grossing $100 million in PVOD rentals after three weeks. Because of this, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell announced the studio is planning to release more films straight to PVOD in the future, even after the pandemic has abated. AMC promptly responded by announcing it will no longer show Universal’s movies in its theaters after they reopen for business. In a followup response, Universal assured that its intention is to continue releasing films to theaters in the future, saying it will only send movies to PVOD “when that distribution outlet makes sense.”
Speaking during Comcast’s earnings call on Thursday, April 30, Shell offered further clarification on the subject, saying “[PVOD movies are] not gonna be a replacement, but it’s gonna be a complementary element and we’re just gonna have to see how long that takes and where that takes us.” He also provided some frank food for thought about how people watch movies these days, making it clear Universal will only continue to adjust its plans accordingly down the line:
There’s no question that theatrical will some day be a central element to our business and film business, it’s how people make their movies and how they expect their movies to be seen. But the flip side is the majority of our movies, whether we like it or not, are being consumed at home, it’s not realistic to assume that we’re not going to change, that this part of the business isn’t going to change like all parts of the business are going to change.
He’s not wrong about that. The way people watch movies has rapidly changed in recent years thanks to the rise of streaming services. Increasingly, mid-budget films like rom-coms are being released as Netflix streaming originals or developed as limited cable series rather than released in theaters, with costly tentpoles dominating the big screen. Even the select indie and/or non-American films that get a wide release these days (like Emma and Parasite) often do better on streaming and on-demand than in theaters. This was already happening well before the coronavirus pandemic and it’s unreasonable to think PVOD and streaming releases are suddenly going to go away in the future. If anything, the coronavirus will cause the movie industry to evolve even faster than it already was prior to the outbreak.
At the same time, tensions are naturally running high right now for theaters. AMC will likely have to file for bankruptcy if their outlets don’t reopen in July, and there’s no guarantee that’s going to happen. In other words, Universal’s announcement about Trolls World Tour and its plans to send more films to PVOD in the future (beginning with The King of Staten Island in June) was probably ill-timed at best. Of course, with so much potential revenue on the line, the studio and AMC will undoubtedly work things out, presumably well before No Time to Die (which Universal is distributing internationally) and big Universal titles like Halloween Kills arrive in the fall. By that point, this whole Trolls World Tour controversy could amount to little more than one of many strange footnotes to life in the year 2020.
