NBCUniversal Will Make THE HUNT, THE INVISIBLE MAN, EMMA, and TROLLS WORLD TOUR Available for On Demand Viewing
NBC Universal has announced that they will make some of the movies from the Universal Pictures stable currently in theaters available to rent and watch On Demand. That includes The Hunt and The Invisible Man, as well as Focus Features' Emma. They will also be releasing the upcoming family movie Trolls World Tour On Demand as well.
With movie theaters shutting down across the world, Los Angeles and New York City recently ordered to shut them down, and the theaters that remain open that are limiting the auditorium capacity to only 50%, it makes sense that the studio would make a move like this to try and make up for the box office loss that they’ll see during the coronavirus pandemic.
THR reports that the movies “will be made available on a wide variety of on-demand services 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.” They go on to report that this “isn't a blanket policy for the studio's entire 2020 calendar, and that decisions regarding other titles and the duration of the policy haven't been made yet.”
DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls World Tour is set to be released on April 10th in North America, and the movies that are currently in theaters will be made available on-demand starting as early as Friday, March 20th.
The press release says:
"Given the rapidly evolving and unprecedented changes to consumers’ daily lives during this difficult time, the company felt that now was the right time to provide this option in the home as well as in theaters. NBCUniversal will continue to evaluate the environment as conditions evolve and will determine the best distribution strategy in each market when the current unique situation changes.”
NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell offered the following statement:
“Universal Pictures has a broad and diverse range of movies with 2020 being no exception. Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable. We hope and believe that people will still go to the movies in theaters where available, but we understand that for people in different areas of the world that is increasingly becoming less possible.”
This is a smart move, and I imagine some other studios may follow suit. It’ll be interesting to see how well these VOD releases do. If they do well, this could end up being standard practice for some other studio movies.
The world is shifting and adapting to how the coronavirus is changing things, and this is just one of those ways to try and keep things afloat and keep people entertained during these crazy times.