EXCLUSIVE: Those in town assuming one of the other big show circuits will line up with AMC and seek their own 17-day theatrical window PVOD deal with Universal will soon realize it will be a cold day in hell.
Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger, who oversees the world’s second-largest network, tells Deadline exclusively that “We don’t see any business sense in this model” when it comes to the Universal and AMC deal for a 17-day theatrical window for movies, with an option to go on PVOD thereafter.
“While we don’t know all the details and we are always analyzing any movement in the industry, we will analyze it. People need to be aware that the first great Universal movie will come in just six months, so there is no pressure here, “said Greidinger. “But clearly we see this as a wrong move at the wrong time. Clearly, we are not changing our policy regarding showing only movies that respect the theatrical window. “
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Cineworld’s response shouldn’t be surprising since it’s the same message Greidinger made loud and clear in April, when AMC was publicly fighting Universal for theatrical PVOD. Greidinger then said, “We made it clear again that we will not be showing movies that don’t respect windows.”
Cineworld’s Regal is the second-largest chain in the United States with 7,155 screens in 542 theaters in 42 states. Overall, Cineworld operates in 10 countries with 787 sites, counting 9,500 screens.
Universal has offshore distribution in MGM’s Bond movie No time to die in November with the release of the following films for the rest of the year: MGM’s The candy man on October 16, DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods 2 in Decemer 23, and the characteristic of the Tom Hanks historical period World News December 23th. Her great films are not until 2021 with F9, Jurassic World: Dominion and Minions: The Rise of Gru, Therefore, it remains a long way to see if this agreement has any kind of impact on the industry in general. Theaters try to reopen with Warner Bros Beginning And we don’t know what business will be like until then.
Furthermore, I also understand that this AMC-Universal agreement is an experiment in the United States, and that the terms for determining whether this agreement falls into foreign markets have not yet been decided. Three-quarters of the world exposure is international, and sources say that it will be difficult for Universal to reach international agreements.
Also, many in distribution and display question the notion of how long AMC and Universal last in “multiple years.” Is it two years? Because that is not really a threat. If it’s four or five years old, then it will be interesting.
Meanwhile, Cinemark, when it arrived on Tuesday, was not available for comment. The assumption of several movie executives yesterday is that the Plano, Texas-based network would not be quick to seek a deal similar to the one AMC and Universal have in the works. This despite the fact that Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi mentioned in a recent earnings call in June, “We are open to talking to study partners about alternatives we can consider.”
However, Zoradi exposed Deadline that same month saying that “Great movies, the ones that really count, these movies from a financial point of view have to go to the movies. It is a business of more than $ 40 billion. In fact, in 2019, it was $ 42 billion worldwide. And in some cases, half, or more than half, of the revenue stream in great theatrical films comes from movie theaters around the world. You can’t just cut that and think that the economy is going to work. And honestly, the studios recognize it. Disney clearly does, Warners does, and I think Universal does it in its great movies. And that’s why movies like F9, Jurassic World: Dominion and Minions: The Rise of Gru, everyone is getting theatrical because they want the high per capita income they get from theaters. “
In addition, NATO did not issue a response to the AMC-Universal agreement yesterday, despite criticizing the latter in April for its decision to go to the day and date of the theatrical PVOD on Trolls World Tour.
He cried Deadline, a buyer of a medium-sized exhibition film, about NATO and his silence about the AMC-Universal deal yesterday: “Didn’t we have NATO standing up and representing us? What’s going on in NATO? You are the voice for us. You are the reason we cannot collude.
The last time AMC went this route exclusively with Paramount in 2015 for a truncated theatrical release of Scout Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse and Blumhouse Paranormal Activity: The Phantom Dimension, It ended up being a disaster, with both movies dying at the box office, respectively, with $ 3.7M domestic and $ 18.3M domestic. Rival exhibitors were angered by Paramount’s exclusive agreement with AMC and declined to participate in the study’s experiment despite being hired to receive a portion of the photos’ early home entertainment revenue.
By the way, talk to some independent exhibitors who participated in that Paramount-AMC experiment, and you’ll learn that they weren’t exactly rolling in the dough.
