In what’s been seen as a big win for exhibitors, Universal Pictures has announced that it is keeping films in cinemas longer, starting with next month’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”.
Since the pandemic, the studio has adopted the shortest period between theatrical and PVOD releases of all the major studios – 17 days (three weekends) for films that opened below $50 million or 31 days (five weekends) for those that opened above it.
Now, The New York Times reports that the studio will guarantee theatres a minimum of five weekends of exclusive play for all new movies for this year, and then shift to a guaranteed minimum of 45 days (seven weekends) from January next year.
The shift will bring Universal in line with the 45 day window adopted by Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures for many of their releases. The biggest studio, Disney, opts more for 60 day windows.
The shift is also part of a wider effort by Universal to update its ‘windows’ as many consumers consider films on streaming services (SVOD) being essentially ‘free’ as they’ve already paid a monthly subscription fee. Thus longer windows could inspire more buys both at the cinemas and on digital.
The shift aims to maximise value by releasing movies first in cinemas, then digital rental (PVOD & VOD) and then later streaming services (SVOD) like Peacock or Netflix. While Universal had the shortest theatrical windows, its SVOD windows are already the longest of the major studios.
