Post by speeders on Mar 16, 2020 20:50:02 GMT
After years of discussions about the possibility of shrinking the theatrical window, NBCUniversal is going to obliterate it altogether. According to a new report, the company is going to release at least some of Universal Pictures’ theatrical offerings on demand at the same time that they hit theaters. When a book is written about this period in history, this may be a crucial turning point in the way the entire industry operates.
An Unprecedented Decision
According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBCUniversal is taking the unprecedented step of making “its current movies from the Universal Pictures stable — including the upcoming event family movie Trolls World Tour — will be made available on-demand at the same time they hit those theaters that remain open during the coronavirus pandemic.” Starting as early as Friday, March 20, 2020, theatrical films including Universal’s The Hunt and The Invisible Man and Focus Features’ Emma. will be available to stream on a variety of on demand platforms. (Trolls World Tour will hit theaters and on demand on April 10, 2020.) The movies will be available for “a 48-hour rental period at a suggested retail price of $19.99 in the U.S. and the price equivalent in international markets.”
For the better part of the last decade, there have been conversations in Hollywood about shortening the theatrical window – in other words, minimizing the length of time between a film’s theatrical release and when it is available for home viewing. Theaters have been fighting tooth and nail to preserve an extended window, with the fear being that as home entertainment systems continue to improve, people may bypass the theatrical experience altogether if they don’t have to wait very long to rent highly-anticipated movies and watch them at home. Companies like Time Warner Cable and Napster founder Sean Parker’s The Screening Room tried to introduce options where people could pay as much as $50 to watch recent theatrically-released movies at home, but they never took off. Now, the coronavirus (aka COVID-19) has forced the studios’ hand, and NBCUniversal is the first to jump into the deep end and embrace a new way of doing things.
An Unprecedented Decision
According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBCUniversal is taking the unprecedented step of making “its current movies from the Universal Pictures stable — including the upcoming event family movie Trolls World Tour — will be made available on-demand at the same time they hit those theaters that remain open during the coronavirus pandemic.” Starting as early as Friday, March 20, 2020, theatrical films including Universal’s The Hunt and The Invisible Man and Focus Features’ Emma. will be available to stream on a variety of on demand platforms. (Trolls World Tour will hit theaters and on demand on April 10, 2020.) The movies will be available for “a 48-hour rental period at a suggested retail price of $19.99 in the U.S. and the price equivalent in international markets.”
For the better part of the last decade, there have been conversations in Hollywood about shortening the theatrical window – in other words, minimizing the length of time between a film’s theatrical release and when it is available for home viewing. Theaters have been fighting tooth and nail to preserve an extended window, with the fear being that as home entertainment systems continue to improve, people may bypass the theatrical experience altogether if they don’t have to wait very long to rent highly-anticipated movies and watch them at home. Companies like Time Warner Cable and Napster founder Sean Parker’s The Screening Room tried to introduce options where people could pay as much as $50 to watch recent theatrically-released movies at home, but they never took off. Now, the coronavirus (aka COVID-19) has forced the studios’ hand, and NBCUniversal is the first to jump into the deep end and embrace a new way of doing things.
Can't wait to see Invisible Man and Emma this week!
Can't help but feel this will hurt them and other studios in the long run as people will just pirate or illegally stream them rather than going to see them in movie theaters.
