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Cineworld and Odeon escalate Universal row


It is already known that Cineworld has responded negatively to Universal’s decision to release the Trolls World Tour sequel directly into homes rather than delay its release until after the lockdown has been lifted..

“Our policy with respect to the window is clear, well known in the industry and is part of our commercial deal with our movie suppliers. We invest heavily in our cinemas across the globe and this allows the movie studios to provide customers all around the world to watch the movies in the best experience. There is no argument that the big screen is the best way to watch a movie. Today we make it clear again that we will not be showing movies that fail to respect the windows as it does not make any economic sense for us. We have full confidence in the industry’s current business model. No one should forget that the theatrical side of this industry generated an all-time record income of $42b last year and the movie distributors’ share of this was about $20b. Universal unilaterally chose to break our understanding and did so at the height of the Covid-19 crisis when our business is closed, more than 35,000 employees are at home and when we do not yet have a clear date for the reopening of our cinemas.”

Now that Universal is actively looking to direct to home releases becoming part of the new mix when the lockdown begins to ease and cinemas open their doors again.

NBCUniveral CEO Jeff Shell

“The question is, when we come out of this, what is going to be the model? I would expect that consumers will return to theatres and we will be part of that. I also would expect PVOD is going be part of that offering in some way. It’s not going to be a replacement, but it will be a complementary element and we’re just going to have to see how long that takes and where it takes us.”

many cinemagoers in the UK shouldn’t expect to be booking tickets to their local multiplexes to see a film from the Fast & Furious, Jurassic World or Halloween franchises any time soon.



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