AMC-Universal-Trolls World Tour Windows Battle

Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi weighed in this morning on all the noise that Universal and AMC stirred up last week with their plan to crunch the theatrical window to 17 days. “Consistent with our past practices, Cinemark does not comment on the actions of our competitors. That said we believe an exclusive theatrical window…

The hope for NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell in the studio’s new unprecedented 17-day theatrical window collapse-PVOD deal with AMC Theatres is to make more money in the post theatrical windows which have waned in recent years. “Movies are our lifeblood,” said the NBCUniversal pro-PVOD exec, “Over the last couple of…

EXCLUSIVE: Those in town assuming that one of the other big exhibition circuits will fall in line with AMC and seek their own 17-day theatrical window-PVOD deal with Universal will soon realize that it will be a cold day in hell. Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger, who oversees the world’s second largest chain…

After AMC CEO Adam Aron publicly threatened that he would never play Universal movies as along as the studio had a plan for simultaneous theatrical-PVOD releases like Trolls World Tour, the world’s No. 1 exhibitor and the Hollywood studio have broken bread with the following multi-year agreement: Universal and Focus…

Buried in AMC’s Q1 earnings release today on page 3 was the statement, “While we are in active dialogue with Universal, no movies made by Universal Studios are currently on our docket.” The note comes a little bit more than a month after AMC CEO and President Adam Aron alerted the studio in a public note to Universal…

Not to deflate the rousing round robin of mudslinging between AMC, Cineworld and Universal, but this whole OMG melee between exhibition and studios over PVOD, theatrical-window crunching and hurt feelings is poised to calm down soon. Some industry insiders believe the situation has already eased, and the statements…

Days after Jeff Shell’s statements in the Wall Street Journal spurred AMC boss Adam Aron to embargo the studio’s films, the NBCUniversal CEO acknowledged the company’s commitment to theatrical, but that Premium VOD will still be part of the equation. "The question is when we come out of this (pandemic), what is going…

EXCLUSIVE: Following yesterday’s flurry of dramatic exchanges involving AMC, the National Association of Theatre Owners and Universal, Regal Entertainment owner Cineworld Group has now added its voice to the chorus of windows controversy surrounding Trolls World Tour. The world’s second biggest circuit says its policy…

The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) has weighed in on the debate around Universal's decision to release Trolls World Tour digitally during the pandemic. Yesterday, Universal CEO Jeff Shell revealed that the PVOD release, which the studio pivoted to after cinemas were shuttered by coronavirus, had generated close…

2nd Update, 8:05PM: Following the National Association of Theatre Owners’ earlier statement today deflating NBCUniversal’s $95M PVOD victory with Trolls World Tour in the Wall Street Journal, the exhibition organization has issued another public statement tonight after Uni accused them of being in cahoots with AMC…

Universal has responded to AMC boss Adam Aron’s note tonight to Universal Studios Chairman Donna Langley in which he told the studio that the chain won’t be playing their titles at their global venues. Essentially Uni says they “absolutely believe in the theatrical experience and made no statement to the…

AMC boss Adam Aron has just fired off a letter to Universal Studios Chairman Donna Langley in response to NBC Universal CEO Jeff Shell’s statements in the Wall Street Journal this morning about the $95M PVOD success of Trolls World Tour.  As Aron explains to Langley in the letter (read it below), he initially got it…