Yesterday’s announcement that Universal was VOD-ing “The King of Staten Island,” after they VOD-ed “Trolls World Tour” just a month ago, has theater chains completely spooked and threatening to boycott Universal movies for the foreseeable future.
AMC, the world’s largest theater chain, and the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) released dual statements (via Deadline). The most scathing one came from AMC, who showed their displeasure by literally threatening Universal if they continued down the VOD path with their other upcoming titles.
“Going forward, AMC will not license any Universal movies in any of our 1,000 theatres globally on these terms.”
Will Universal listen to the threats and abide? “Trolls World Tour” has now grossed $100 million in digital rentals. While Judd Apatow’s “The King of Staten Island” has a different demographic (millennials, adults), it’s not far-fetched to think that it will do very well on VOD, especially if it has no other VOD competition come its June 12th release date.
Regardless, Universal right now is reaping the benefit of being the lone game in town. There are no other titles for ‘Trolls’ and ‘Staten Island’ to compete against and, unsurprisingly, the demand for new movies is very high as people continue to self-isolate. That’s why I’m predicting that, unless a domino effect happens and other major studios follow Universal’s lead, Apatow’s movie will wind up being seen by a bigger audience, and making more money, than it would have in theaters.
We all knew it was coming, that the theatrical experience would eventually end up being in danger due to streaming, but we didn’t expect it to happen this soon. What the Coronavirus pandemic has done, much as it has with almost every other industry in the country, is fast-tracked the inevitable. Movie theaters, but, more specifically AMC, were already in dire straits before the pandemic, but now all the problems have just been hyper-realized. There’s no going back. Taking a cue from a Kubrick classic, it’s time to stop worrying and love streaming.
Remember when, back in August, we learned “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” would be playing in only around 350 U.S. theaters, "maybe fewer"? Well, it's fewer. A lot fewer.