The hope for NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell in the studio’s unprecedented new 17-day theatrical window collapse PVOD deal with AMC Theaters is to make more money on diminishing post-theater windows in recent years.
“Films are our lifeblood,” said NBCUniversal pro-PVOD executive, “In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to generate the same returns in the first windows.” We believe that the new model in the United States will restore some of those economic aspects, it will probably not make more movies, but it will keep production levels the same as in the past. “
“In the long term, we have always believed that there is a growing segment of the population that does not go to theaters. This structure with AMC allows us to take advantage of people who go to theaters, at least 17 days of exclusivity for theaters, but very soon in the same marketing window, we can take advantage of that large audience that does not go to theaters, but only going to SVOD to watch movies. And that is within the marketing window of the giant marketing that we spend going to the theater. Therefore, we believe this structure allows us to take advantage of this incremental revenue stream, allowing AMC to share a little, and other exhibitors, while preserving that theatrical window that is so critical to the film business. “
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But let’s not forget the pandemic, that’s the other reason why Universal and AMC resolved this agreement. If large movie theaters are to open slowly in the pandemic, the box office revenue will be smaller, at least that’s what industry sources assume.
“In the short term, we are stuck in a goose buck situation in the theater business,” Shell explained today, “We believe this model will really allow movies to return to theaters much faster than they would in theaters.” . current environment. “
Shell emphasized that the 17-day theatrical window was not a one-size-fits-all approach to film distribution. That is only the minimum time.
“I anticipate that the films will remain in theaters for more than 17 days. Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island it’s a perfect type of film that could thrive on this type of model … It would be a normal 17 day time … we can toggle that according to the type of film. “
That being said, while Universal has released such films in theater and PVOD simultaneously during COVID-19, such as Trolls World Tour and focus functions’ Irresistible, and The High Note, The King of Staten Island It was removed from drive-ins in the last minute days before its release, the filmmakers reportedly wanted the film to be kept strictly on PVOD. No official income figures have been reported on Staten Island King or Trolls World Tour, but the latter by sources earned close to $ 100 million in his first month on PVOD. Some study bosses have doubts about whether PVOD is a powerful and even profitable future money stream, especially when the home crowd is already spending money on streaming services.
On top of today’s Q2 earnings call, Shell said PVOD in the Uni-AMC deal was a “snap rather than a replacement for a robust theatrical release.” She praised AMC chief Adam Aron “for her vision that together we can build a new and more attractive business model for both of us.”
The city has really been divided by the ramifications and severity of the Universal and AMC deal. Simply put, we will just have to wait until theaters reopen, and the business gets going to see if this becomes a widespread studio display standard and if it affects the initial theatrical window for large tents. Remember, Paramount’s previous short window PVOD contract with AMC in 2015 failed with two non-stellar films: Blumhouse’s Paranormal Activity: The Phantom Dimension and Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, it will never be repeated with other titles. Paramount prefers to sell those titles with less theatrical potential to streamers like Netflix. Yesterday, Deadline exclusively reported that the world’s number 2 exhibitor, Cineworld, which owns the United States’ Regal network, found no “business sense” in what Universal and AMC were doing. Other studios like Warner Bros, given their streaming fever with the release of HBO Max, are looking forward to working on a similar deal with AMC.
The interesting thing here was that a few months ago, AMC chief Aron would not have such a business with a studio that was releasing movies on a theatrical day and date level and PVOD, but then changed his tune recently, possibly because participation in The revenue dealing with Uni was good enough (we hear it’s north of 20% PVOD for a title, with an additional 2% theatrical rent on the chain side).
