Salas De Cine General
The historical agreement between Universal and the network of AMC theaters to shorten the theatrical window of launches to 17 days of exclusiveness in movie theaters, to then pass on to PVOD, has raised controversy. What had been a trend until now has accelerated with the pandemic, in which the exhibition business entered a sort of loophole, due to the impossibility of opening movie theaters.
The arrangement both companies made, after fighting over the digital launch of Trolls World Tour at the start of the quarantine, poses a new way to monetize the investment made in advertising for releases in a new income window and capitalizing on blockbusters that have been repressed.
The small film networks, with small muscle to negotiate with big studios and distribution companies, have resented the agreement. Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld, the second movie theater network in the US, recently said that he saw no sense in this business model. “We see this as the wrong move in the wrong moment. We are not going to change our policy of just showing films that respect the theatrical window.”
Without an end on the horizon for the pandemic, the pact between Universal and AMC poses a new dilemma that will also depend on viewers. It remains to be seen if someone will want to watch a movie in a movie theater, a place that poses such a high infection risk, which in two weeks they will be able to rent on demand.
