AMC Theatres on Tuesday delivered a blistering message to Universal Pictures...

>AMC Theatres on Tuesday delivered a blistering message to Universal Pictures, saying the world's largest cinema chain will no longer play any of the studio's films in the wake of comments made by NBCUniversal.

>Earlier in the day, Universal revealed that Trolls World Tour racked up an estimated $100 million in premium VOD rentals in its first three weeks in North America, more than enough to put the film on the road to profitability. That's not far behind the $116 million grossed by the original Trolls in its first three weeks at the 2016 domestic box office.

>"The results for Trolls World Tour have exceeded our expectations and demonstrated the viability of PVOD," Shell told The Wall Street Journal, "As soon as theaters reopen, we expect to release movies on both formats."

>In a strongly worded letter, AMC CEO Adam Aron said Shell's comments were unacceptable.

>"It is disappointing to us, but Jeff’s comments as to Universal’s unilateral actions and intentions have left us with no choice. Therefore, effectively immediately AMC will no longer play any Universal movies in any of our theaters in the United States, Europe or the Middle East,"

>"This policy affects any and all Universal movies per se, goes into effect today and as our theaters reopen, and is not some hollow or ill-considered threat," he continued. "Incidentally, this policy is not aimed solely at Universal out of pique or to be punitive in any way, it also extends to any movie maker who unilaterally abandons current windowing practices absent good faith negotiations between us, so that they as distributor and we as exhibitor both benefit and neither are hurt from such changes. Currently, with the press comment today, Universal is the only studio contemplating a wholesale change to the status quo. Hence, this immediate communication in response."

And so the cinema wars begins

What team are you?

/teamamc/ or /teamtrolls/?

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Brainlet here, what's the issue, AMC are annoyed that Universal have put a film that AMC were going to show in their cinemas on another platform first?

Not first, at the same time.

>Theatres
Is that some sort of virus trading roulette space?

>It didn't take long for Universal to respond. The studio issued an evening statement saying it remains dedicated to moviegoing, and that Shell's comments were misconstrued. (The statement also took a dig at AMC and the National Association of Theatre Owners for trying to "confuse" matters.)

>“We absolutely believe in the theatrical experience and have made no statement to the contrary. As we stated earlier, going forward, we expect to release future films directly to theaters, as well as on PVOD when that distribution outlet makes sense. We look forward to having additional private conversations with our exhibition partners but are disappointed by this seemingly coordinated attempt from AMC and NATO to confuse our position and our actions," Universal said.

>"Our goal in releasing Trolls: World Tour on PVOD was to deliver entertainment to people who are sheltering at home, while movie theatres and other forms of outside entertainment are unavailable. Based on the enthusiastic response to the film, we believe we made the right move," the statement added.

>AMC has been particularly hard hit because of its debt load heading into the pandemic. Following the closure of all AMC locations in the latter half of March, Wall Street analysts predicted that the circuit would be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but grew more bullish after the company issued a $500 million debt offering earlier this month (Aron himself is among the corporate staff furloughed because of the closures).

>Added Aron in his letter to Langley: "Universal’s unilateral pronouncements on this issue are unpalatable to us, as has always been the case, AMC is willing to sit down with Universal to discuss different windows strategies and different economic models between your company and ours. However, in the absence of such discussions, and an acceptable conclusion thereto, our decades of incredibly successful business activity together has sadly come to an end."

>Aron's letter capped an afternoon of high drama regarding Shell's remarks. NATO weighed in first, saying that while Universal may be pleased with the PVOD results of Trolls World Tour, this outcome should not be interpreted as a sign of a "new normal" for Hollywood.

>"Universal does not have reason to use unusual circumstances in an unprecedented environment as a springboard to bypass true theatrical releases," said NATO president and CEO John Fithian. "Theaters provide a beloved immersive, shared experience that cannot be replicated — an experience that many of the VOD viewers of this film would have participated in had the world not been sequestered at home, desperate for something new to watch with their families. We are confident that when theaters reopen, studios will continue to benefit from the global theatrical box office, followed by traditional home release."

>In a later statement responding to Universal, NATO vice president and CCO Patrick Corcoran added "unfortunately Universal has a destructive tendency to both announce decisions affecting their exhibitor partners without actually consulting with those partners, and now of making unfounded accusations without consulting with their partners."

>For the most part, Universal — like the other major Hollywood studios — has delayed its event films so that they can have a theatrical release, including 59 and the next Minions.

>Trolls World Tour, along with Warner Bros.' Scoob! and Disney's Artemis Fowl, are exceptions.

>Cinema owners have said they understand why some movies may need to go straight to home entertainment, but Shell's comments struck a nerve. "Universal has taken the first step toward changing the paradigm," says a studio executive at another company, noting that film distributors have have wanted to test early PVOD for years.

Finally, AMC won't have a monopoly over theatrical releases. Looking forward to returning to the kino local theater days.

As long as an unlimited movie pass still exists I'm down with letting movie theaters die. A bigger screen and sometimes better audio is just not worth it.

>reddit spacing

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Fuck AMC, I hope they go bankrupt and die. This whole theater-first model is less and less viable as the years pass. It's a fucking monopoly and these assholes are having a tantrum because their stranglehold is threatened.

tl;dr
Can you explain for a non-american what's going on?

Team trolls. Why should the studio not make money on something they made when theaters are no longer an option?

Fuck off ESL

From what I can tell, Universal want to release their movies on VOD services at the same time as in theatres. AMC obviously don't like this because it means less people will go to their theatres.

>>Earlier in the day, Universal revealed that Trolls World Tour racked up an estimated $100 million in premium VOD rentals in its first three weeks in North America, more than enough to put the film on the road to profitability. That's not far behind the $116 million grossed by the original Trolls in its first three weeks at the 2016 domestic box office.
Keep in mind that the studio only get 50-60% of the box office but they 80% of the VOD sales.

I felt the same when the video rental store started stocking dvd's alongside tapes, fucking vultures.

>NATO

This is the WWF all over again

AMC which also owns Odeon cinemas are having a shitfit that Universal are bragging about the great performance of their movies when released as paid video on demand. When initially all of these movies were supposed to be released in theatres, thus removing the revenue stream for AMC as the majority of the audience have already watched it at home.

So to combat this AMC have no banned any Universal movie across their entire chain, in which they are the largest.

Universal said its theatre first and will only do PVOD when it makes sense, and this release was done due to the current landscape and the majority of their films are delayed for the theatres.

But it has an end quote saying that the studios were always looking a release like this and the pandemic gave them the perfect opportunity to test PVOD.

Is this is even a question to consider
AMC has
>You paying for snacks at a 2000% markup
>Driving to theatres
>Watching 45 mins of ads so you leave 1-1.5 hrs later than you planned because the movie started late
>Girls screaming/ kids kicking your seat/ blacks hollering during the theatre

Video on demand would allow you sit with your family and watch a movie in a safer, more comfortable environment and eat/drink whatever you want, maybe even pause the movie for a bathroom break

AMC is also pissed because they weren't consulted in good faith. Universal is basically spitting in their face and now AMC is swinging back.

Who gives a flying fuck what a bad thread

>safer
only an American would be feel unsafe in a movie theatre lmao

>we're gonna fuck movie fans over because we think someone made us lose money
>so we're gonna send money to other theater chains
>because we're so smart
That's the gayest thing I've ever read. Fuck this world.

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yeah all those asians always bringing machetes to American theaters is a real issue

You should. This could potentially change the entire way movies are produced and consumed.

After covid hit, places started doing quarantine, which cut short some theatrical runs, some of which were only a week or two in. Due to this, some companies said fuck it and started putting those movies up earlier on their own subscription streaming sites or on digital marketplaces like iTunes/Google Play/Amazon to rent/buy them. Universal took the first stab at making a movie available both on digital marketplaces and theaters (there's some open in certain countries around the world) a few weeks ago with Trolls World Tour. It was a huge fucking success for them, and I think it wass mentioned that it was the biggest digital movie release ever. We don't know for sure if Universal is for sure doing simultaneous VOD and theater releases going forward when quarantines lift completely, or it's just a temporary thing, AMC is saying one thing and Universal is saying another. But the big thing is that AMC is trying to throw its weight to try and get Universal to shut down any consideration of it by saying they won't screen any more Universal movies, which is laughable because AMC is on the verge of going bankrupt, and might not exist as-is by the time quarantine lifts.

It’s not about shootings
You’re rolling the dice with sick kids, drunk drivers, and food poisoning when you go out
I don’t worry about any of that myself, but for the goyim terrified of all things regarding mortality because of coronavirus it’s probably a legit consideration

pls nö bülly

Its a thread about the movie industry you daft bollocks

pretty ballsy move banning a company right after they proved their movie can make about the same amount of money on VOD. Especially in these times

The weirdest thing about this is the whole AMC behaviour, they are acting as if they weren't on the brink of disaster and as if Universal just didn't prove that they wouldn't need them.
Also why the fuck is that schizo sperging on social media? Don't they have contracts to address? I doubt they can just go and say fuck you to Universal like that.

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It's an actual on topic thread for once.

>AMC is on the verge of going bankrupt, and might not exist as-is by the time quarantine lifts.
They secured enough funding to survive. They'll be around. Cinemark too.

Assuming anyone bothered to contact their lawyer before said sperg out, it might be a violation of some small paragraph's wording on Universals end

Netflix, Amazon Prime and Google Tube are going to fucking crush these out of date Jewlords.

Fuck them. Fuck Universal for making Troll movies.

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>Keep in mind that the studio only get 50-60% of the box office but they 80% of the VOD sales.
Really high IQ move by AMC

You’re obsessed

Yeah it's not like there's a global pandemic or anything that might make people feel unsafe in large crowded theatres filled with sick people.

As much as I like being able to go to theatres as an option for the “traditional film experience”, Universal being able to make almost as much money on VOD as a traditional release probably greatly limits the amount of influence any theatre or group or theatre can ever have again on distribution. It’s been trending away from them for awhile, but this will only step on the accelerator even harder than before.

PVOD is the future, and it has AMC scared. They know Universal and other major movie studios no longer need them. With the money families will save they can invest in better home equipment to enhance their viewing pleasure.