Yesterday came some of the biggest news in this field in weeks – U.S. theatrical chain AMC Theaters has come to an agreement with Universal Pictures that effectively shortens the long standing theatrical window between the release of a major film in a cinema and on home digital from 90 days to just 17 days.
After a film’s third weekend of release, Universal has the option to release it via premium video-on-demand services for rental, with more regular purchasing, cheaper rentals and discs still maintaining the 90 day window.
Today Cineworld, which runs the country’s second largest exhibition chain Regal, has made it clear they will not be following in AMC’s footsteps. CEO Mooky Greidinger tells Deadline:
“We do not see any business sense in this model. While we don’t know the full details and we are always analyzing any move in the industry, we will analyze it. People need to be aware that the first big movie from Universal is coming only in six months so there is no pressure here. But we clearly see this as a wrong move at the wrong time. Clearly we are not changing our policy with regards to showing only movies that are respecting the theatrical window.”
Greidinger made a similar statement back in April when AMC and Universal were fighting very publically over theatrical-PVOD following the decision to release “Trolls World Tour” directly to PVOD. Cineworld operates in ten countries and controls 9,500 screens – over 7,000 of which are in the United States.
Universal has offshore distribution on the Bond film “No Time to Die” in November along with global distribution of “Candyman” in October. The real test of this new deal, which is presently only set for the U.S. market, will be next Summer with the releases of “Fast 9,” “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “Minions: Rise of Gru”.
