*Sigh*. Well, I guess I won't be going back to theaters for a while once they reopen. Cineworld, which owns Regal, has joined AMC in banning Universal films at their theaters.Their statement reads as such:
"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. Mooky Greidinger, Cineworld’s CEO approached Brian Roberts, the Chairman of Comcast, back in 19th of March (after Universal announced that Trolls 2 would be released in breach of the window) and told him among other things that: 'Nice words from your team are worthless if we cannot trust you as a partner. The message that the media has portrayed is: “Hollywood breaks the window” – well, this is not true! All our partners called us in timely manner and told us that in the current situation they want to shorten window for movies that were already released as cinemas are closing, most importantly, they all reassured us that there will be no change to their window policy once the cinema business returned. Unfortunately I missed similar message in Universal’s announcement… not only did Universal provide no commitment for the future window – but Universal was the only studio that tried to take advantage of the current crisis and provide a ‘day-and-date’ release of a movie that was not yet released'...Today we make it clear again that we will not be showing movies that fail to respect the windows as it does not make any economic sense for us."
So, it looks like I'll be boycotting AMC and Regal once they re-open. This sucks!
1st UPDATE
And the war continues: NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) has made a statement as well about Universal: "Universal does not have reason to use unusual circumstances in an unprecedented environment as a springboard to bypass true theatrical releases." Universal didn't approve of their comments, and accused NATO and AMC of being in cahoots. A spokesperson for Universal had this to say: "Our desire has always been to efficiently deliver entertainment to as wide an audience as possible...We 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 theatres, as well as on PVOD when that distribution outlet makes sense. 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."
NATO responded to Universal's claims, saying : "Indeed, AMC had no comment on NATO’s draft statement when sent to NATO’s Board of Directors, nor did AMC participate in the Board deliberations regarding that statement. Regarding AMC’s reported letter to Universal, NATO had no involvement with nor knowledge of that letter before reading about it in the press....Unfortunately Universal has a destructive tendency to both announce decisions affecting their exhibitor partners without actually consulting with those partners, and now of making unfounded accusations without consulting with their partners." It hasn't taken long, but things have gotten quite ugly in the world of movie theaters. As one exhibition insider put it: "This is war — I haven’t seen it this bad since Disney hiked rental terms up before they started releasing the Avengers movies.”
I will continue to post updates as they occur. The original story is below.
This decade has been off to a rocky start, with COVID19 causing a global pandemic and potentially forever altering social etiquette and changing the face of the entertainment industry as we know it. With theaters shuttered for the time being, Video On Demand (or VOD) has become the new theatrical experience for the time being.
Universal's Trolls World Tour was slated for a theatrical release on April 10, 2020. Due to COVID19 sweeping the globe and people being quarantined in their homes in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus, theaters across the globe shut down. Numerous titles were pushed back months to years. Unfortunately for Universal, their marketing campaign for Trolls World Tour was already in full swing and they were faced with a tough choice. They could significantly delay TWT and pay all over again for a new marketing campaign once theaters re-open, or they could try something new: save costs and release the film directly to PVOD, accepting that the film wouldn't make as much as it would in theaters. They chose to go for the latter option, and TWT would go on to gross nearly $100 M in revenue.
This potentially marked a new era for films, PVOD had just become a viable release option for theatrical films in the future. During an interview with The Wall Street Journal, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell went on record 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". This would mean their films could potentially be released both in theaters and on PVOD, or some films would go to theaters and others directly to PVOD. Naturally, this didn't sit well with AMC, the largest movie retail chain in the world.
AMC co-chairman Adam Aron fired back, releasing a lengthy statement to Chairman of Universal Studios, Donna Langley: "Universal is breaking the business model and dealings between our two companies. It assumes that we will meekly accept a reshaped view of how studios and exhibitors should interact, with zero concern on Universal’s part as to how its actions affect us. It also presumes that Universal in fact can have its cake and eat it too, that Universal film product can be released to the home and theatres at the same time, without modification to the current economic arrangements between us.It is disappointing to us, but Jeff's comments as to Universal's unilateral actions and intentions have left us with no choice. Therefore, effective immediately AMC will no longer play any Universal movies in any of our theaters in the United States, Europe or the Middle East....[This] is not some hollow or ill-considered threat."
AMC is not exactly in the place to be making such ill-fated decisions. They are currently $4.9 B in debt, and are on the verge of filing for bankruptcy. Universal will certainly lose money over this decision (AMC IS the largest theater chain in the world), but it's likely AMC that has the most to lose. Universal currently has Candyman, Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends, Jurassic World: Dominion, The Forever Purge/The Purge 5, Sing 2, Fast And Furious 9, The Boss Baby 2, and Minions: Rise of Gru as upcoming releases (as well as many other films). A good deal of those films are guaranteed to bring in quite a pretty penny. If audiences can't see these movies at AMC, they will just go elsewhere (What, does AMC think guests would just opt not to see them instead?). The decision will end up hurting both parties, but AMC will likely come out worse-for-wear as compared to Universal.
AMC, frankly, is not in a position to walk away from that kind of money without potentially sinking their entire chain. It's understandable that they would be upset and fearful about the future of the film entertainment industry and the future of movie theaters, but now is not the time to be a petty bitch about things. By reacting so harshly, AMC may have just dealt themselves a fatal blow. Let's hope they backpedal before it's too late.
*all credit for my info goes to Deadline.
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