The full financial terms of Universal and Cinemark’s deal have not been disclosed. Cinema operators will still be able to play them on the big screen, should they want to. Universal movies that debut early on-demand won’t be promptly yanked from theaters. Anything shorter could cannibalize ticket sales. But blockbuster hopefuls, hailing from franchises like “Jurassic Park” or “Fast & Furious,” are expected to still have lengthy theatrical runs. However, it gives Universal the opportunity to recoup potential losses should a movie underperform in theaters. Neither agreement says that new releases will definitively move to premium video-on-demand after three weekends. Universal likely wouldn’t opt to shorten the theatrical window - industry parlance for the amount of time a movie plays exclusively in theaters - for commercial hits, or the kind of movie that would gross more than $50 million in a single weekend, anyway.
Still though, it feels difficult to care about such matters when there's still so much visceral, ground-level work to be done regarding the pandemic.According to insiders, those new terms will also extend to AMC.
Perhaps these companies are optimistic for a near-future world where we all want to cram into an indoor theater, and perhaps they're looking out for their own interests in a populace that's gotten used to watching new stuff at home, quickly. I dunno about you, but I do not plan on going to any Cinemark movie theater soon to see any Universal or Focus-released film, given the whole "global pandemic with cases rising across the country of it all." And maybe these giant companies are just looking ahead 2021 has titles like No Time to Die and F9 from Universal, and Last Night in Soho and Blue Bayou from Focus, all ostensibly to be released in theaters. But it all seems a little, or a lot, like putting the cart before the horse. Of this deal, Mark Zoradi, Cinemark CEO, said that, "we believe a more dynamic theatrical window, whereby movie theaters continue to provide an event-sized launching platform for films that maximize box office and bolsters the success of subsequent distribution channels, is in the shared best interests of studios, exhibitors and, most importantly, moviegoers." And Donna Langley, Chairman of UFEG, said that the deal gives them "confidence to release our movies in the marketplace, keep the content pipeline moving, and provide consumers with the optionality that they are looking for."Īll of this is, in theory, well and good, I guess.
However, if any title opens to $50 million or more in its opening weekend, the window of Cinemark exclusivity opens to five full weekends (31 days) before it can move to PVOD as well. For all Cinemark theatrical exhibitions of Universal Pictures and Focus Features films, there must be at least three full weekends (17 days) before the studios consider moving to PVOD services as well.
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