Trolls 2 triumphs in its digital home premiere, and this annoys theaters
Due to the coronavirus and the closure of cinemas, the movie Trolls 2 has been released directly in digital format. This has led to Universal taking on the AMC theater chain.
A film's life cycle typically begins with a theatrical release to sell tickets and generate box office revenue, followed a few months later by its release on video platforms. We've gone from VHS to DVD, then to Blu-ray , and now to digital releases. Trolls 2 is one of the most recent films to break this trend, and it has angered AMC, the largest theater chain in the United States.
[amazon box="B084CTY1K7"]Universal vs. AMC theaters for digital home premiere
The trend of releasing major films directly to digital home viewing seems likely to become the norm. However, cinemas wield significant pressure. Chains like AMC oppose Universal's approach with Trolls 2, which had to release the children's film digitally since cinemas worldwide are closed as a preventative measure against the coronavirus.
How was the experiment of bringing one of the most anticipated family movies directly to your home? Well, very good because Trolls 2 has entered about 100 million dollars only in the United States, and without having to distribute that money with the movie theaters. While the first Trolls movie grossed $ 130 million in that same three-week period, at least half of that money goes to theaters.
The CEO of Universal commented that the success of this strategy for the premiere of Trolls 2 makes him think that they could take this as a standard and do hard releases in theaters and digital when theaters reopen. But the chain of cinemas AMC, the largest in the United States has directly threatened not to put Universal movies in any of its theaters if they really follow this idea. That would mean that in America, many cinemas would not have F9, the next Minion, the sequel to Sing !, or Jurassic World: Dominion.
The Universal CEO's response to this threat was to declare that the Trolls 2 case is an exceptional case, because they wanted to bring the film to families who are in confinement or quarantine. They still want to work with theaters like AMC, and that they would only do dual premieres if they see fit. They will continue to wait about 90 days for the films to be removed from theaters in order to release them in digital format.
Source: Variety
