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Universal putting all current cinema movies on iTunes etc

OU812

https://www.macrumors.com/2020/03/17/universal-theatrical-movies-dod-itunes/

That’s the cinema industry changed forever.

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jface187

Jin luk wrote: »

The cinema was good when all we had at home was an auld 24 or 26" box tv with really bad quality.

Most people have at least a 39" or more in their houses nowadays with UHD.

I see this comment a lot "Most people have.." I don't know anyone that has massive T.V. or those expensive sounds systems. Of course people do, but I don't think it's to the level some people make it out to be.

Ironically the younger generations don't really care about fancy T.V.'s since they grew up watching everything on phones/tablets.

I think the comment about cinema suriving to be true. But of course, some will go out of business with everything going on and things will change.

CastorTroy

I like the cinema if it's like how you describe as no distractions and dark room. But more often than not these days it's got ones on their phones the whole time with the screens as bright as possible.

FluffPiece

I've always thought cinemas would do well if they could turn each cinema room into a faraday cage of some kind. Dunno how feasible it would be, probably impossible. But the idea of it would be good if it was possible to implement.

You could still get a signal in the foyer or bathrooms etc, just once you go into the screening itself, no signal of any kind... It would be nice.

ixoy

FluffPiece wrote: »

I've always thought cinemas would do well if they could turn each cinema room into a faraday cage of some kind. Dunno how feasible it would be, probably impossible. But the idea of it would be good if it was possible to implement.

Mobile phone blockers were quietly tried here and had to be switched off because it's illegal to block phone signals.

Nigel Fairservice

An interesting move by Universal but I'm not sure I'd pay $20 to watch a new release at home. I have a decent set up at home if I did want to watch movies but I love going to the cinema. I'd probably go twice a month, maybe 3 if there's a few interesting movies out. Anything I don't see in the cinema I'll pick up later on one of the streaming services and not for $20.

I walk past a cinema on my way home from work and there's nothing I like more on a Friday evening after work than going in and taking in a movie. It's a bit of peace and quiet for a few hours, no distractions. Some movies also benefit from a shared viewing experience which can be hard to replicate at home.

CastorTroy

AMC cinemas not impressed

AMC Theaters will no longer play Universal movies after Trolls World Tour’s on-demand success
https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/28/21240637/amc-theaters-universal-trolls-world-tour-disney-warnermedia-digital-streaming

OU812

Universal have a huge amount of product that’s appealing to the masses. If they can’t see it in odeon, they’ll go somewhere else. They might not come back.

AMC/Odeon shooting themselves in the foot with this.

Varik

Lets see if AMC ect can keep that resolve for Fast 9.

Wonder if that $100 million is total or just the studio cut, most platforms take 30% but that's still tiny compared to the even US domestic which is meant to be around 50% and even higher outside the US of box office.

Mitch Connor

OU812 wrote: »

Universal have a huge amount of product that’s appealing to the masses. If they can’t see it in odeon, they’ll go somewhere else. They might not come back.

AMC/Odeon shooting themselves in the foot with this.

AMC are the biggest US domestic chain. their power is huge.

Universal will make some form of non-apology in the end and say they ment they will look at putting movies out on either platform, but tent-pole titles like Fast9 will remain theatrical releases adhering to the agreed theatrical window.

Cinema's shouldn't be getting the criticism on this imo. The Universal statement (and their follow up to AMC's) is BS.

I don't understand why people are accepting of Universal saying they will do away with the agreed theatrical model, and thinking the Cinema's should just role over and accept it.

OU812

AMC is facing a mammoth issue. Getting people back in the door.

There will be people who will go back almost immediately, however, the bulk of people are going to stay away.

Who wants to sit in an enclosed space with a load of strangers?

Although their share price has surged 25% today (based presumably on the current events), it’s still way down.

Over 60% of their revenue comes from the ticket nut. So their logical move is to cut that by approximately 10%? Doesn’t make sense.

[Deleted User]

Varik wrote: »

Lets see if AMC ect can keep that resolve for Fast 9.

Wonder if that $100 million is total or just the studio cut, most platforms take 30% but that's still tiny compared to the even US domestic which is meant to be around 50% and even higher outside the US of box office.

20% take for movies online apparently so Universal keep 80%

podcast on the subject

https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journal/the-movie-that-might-change-hollywood-forever-istrolls/e1faa763-ae6c-421c-b510-3e3e3205b3d1

[Deleted User]

A decent article on the subject

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/29/21239703/trolls-world-tour-amc-digital-streaming-theaters-nbcuniversal-disney-warnerbros

AMC will back down

OU812

Was reading an article earlier stating that Disney are now considering adjusting how they release movies that they may go to online rental the day of cinema release & Disney+ Two weeks after cinema release.

This would enable them to drive subscribers while still tending to those who like the cinema environment.

pixelburp

Think everyone was surprised by the $100 million taken by Trolls: World Tour, but it's hard to know how much of that was an aberration, and how much an indicator of future trends. CoVid resulted in a sudden influx of households with kids stuck indoors - kids who ordinarily should have been in school, on play dates, or just generally out & about. Based on my own social circle, there were a lot of panicking, frustrated parents trying to keep everyone from totally climbing the walls. The prospect of a family-friendly movie would have been enticing.

Can't imagine that financial success automatically maps onto something like Fast & Furious 9 - which apart from anything else, will have a much higher projection of success than Trolls: World Tour (checking boxofficemojo, the first film pulled ~$350 from cinemas so hardly on a par with the F&F franchise - number 8 was a $1 billion success).

OU812

pixelburp wrote: »

Think everyone was surprised by the $100 million taken by Trolls: World Tour, but it's hard to know how much of that was an aberration, and how much an indicator of future trends. CoVid resulted in a sudden influx of households with kids stuck indoors - kids who ordinarily should have been in school, on play dates, or just generally out & about. Based on my own social circle, there were a lot of panicking, frustrated parents trying to keep everyone from totally climbing the walls. The prospect of a family-friendly movie would have been enticing.

Can't imagine that financial success automatically maps onto something like Fast & Furious 9 - which apart from anything else, will have a much higher projection of success than Trolls: World Tour (checking boxofficemojo, the first film pulled ~$350 from cinemas so hardly on a par with the F&F franchise - number 8 was a $1 billion success).

I agree with this analysis, however, F&F8 was also an aberration as Paul Walker died before production ended & there was a lot of sentiment about it as well as interest in them using CGI to finish his scenes.

Big "BUT" though is now the mould has been broken & the distributors are going to want to adjust how things happen in the future.

titan18

OU812 wrote: »

I agree with this analysis, however, F&F8 was also an aberration as Paul Walker died before production ended & there was a lot of sentiment about it as well as interest in them using CGI to finish his scenes.

Big "BUT" though is now the mould has been broken & the distributors are going to want to adjust how things happen in the future.

That was 7 when Walker died and that did 1.5 bn. 8 did 1.2 bn. F9 will be missing The Rock as a flag bearer so likely will do less but could still break the 1bn depending on if it's good and what else releases at the same time.

You can't really put that on digital only like Trolls. Universal only really has Jurassic Park, Minions/Despicable Me and Fast and Furious franchises that they can hold over cinemas. if this was Disney, it'd be a huge blow, but cinemas hold more power over Universal imo.

JohnFalstaff

This is all part of a larger seismic shift that is currently changing the entertainment industry in general, and Hollywood in particular. The days of the mega agencies like WME being able to offer 360 packaging deals to studios look to be over.

The new centres of power lie with the distributors, which includes the streamers, who will most likely soon be allowed to own cinema chains in the US. The Paramount Decree passed back in 1948 changed the cinema industry, and it looks like it's going to be terminated.

AMC could well be bought out by the likes of Disney, Amazon, or Netflix in the next 12 months.

OU812

titan18 wrote: »

That was 7 when Walker died and that did 1.5 bn. 8 did 1.2 bn. F9 will be missing The Rock as a flag bearer so likely will do less but could still break the 1bn depending on if it's good and what else releases at the same time.

You can't really put that on digital only like Trolls. Universal only really has Jurassic Park, Minions/Despicable Me and Fast and Furious franchises that they can hold over cinemas. if this was Disney, it'd be a huge blow, but cinemas hold more power over Universal imo.

Correct on FF7. Apologies.

I’d put a large portion of the the billion dollar box office of 8 on curiosity of how they continue without him and people who just got into the series because of 7.

Hard to believe the first movie was about a bunch of DVD robbers.

One of the most successful franchises in universals history.

johnny_ultimate

Little bit closer to home, a few of you might be aware Curzon / Artifical Eye (which is both a distributor and an exhibitor in the UK) has for the last few years run a premium-priced on demand service for new releases. Basically they've put up all their new releases day-and-date on their home video service at cinema-ticket prices. This has meant the other bigger UK arthouse chain Picturehouse had effectively blocked Curzon releases from screening in their cinemas. Curzon did make a once-off shift to their own policy for Parasite, though, so it could screen widely (a wise decision given those record box office numbers!)

Anyway, seems Curzon were way ahead of the curve here. They've put a bunch of new releases up on VoD only in the past few weeks, and they've had their best ever weekend now.

Good news for a couple of small films that might otherwise have gotten lost (I know I signed up for the first time to watch Moffie after hearing really good things about it). Potentially another challenge for independent cinemas in the long-term, though.

pixelburp

titan18 wrote: »

That was 7 when Walker died and that did 1.5 bn. 8 did 1.2 bn. F9 will be missing The Rock as a flag bearer so likely will do less but could still break the 1bn depending on if it's good and what else releases at the same time.

You can't really put that on digital only like Trolls. Universal only really has Jurassic Park, Minions/Despicable Me and Fast and Furious franchises that they can hold over cinemas. if this was Disney, it'd be a huge blow, but cinemas hold more power over Universal imo.

JohnFalstaff wrote: »

This is all part of a larger seismic shift that is currently changing the entertainment industry in general, and Hollywood in particular. The days of the mega agencies like WME being able to offer 360 packaging deals to studios look to be over.

The new centres of power lie with the distributors, which includes the streamers, who will most likely soon be allowed to own cinema chains in the US. The Paramount Decree passed back in 1948 changed the cinema industry, and it looks like it's going to be terminated.

AMC could well be bought out by the likes of Disney, Amazon, or Netflix in the next 12 months.

Thing is, even though I'm totally guilty of also trying to read the same tea leaves & predicting the future, there's really no way of being sure of what the outcome is going to be. Pick any walk of life and we're into true uncharted territory for the coming months and years. I don't believe we'll be back to 100% normalcy, even a year hence.

Someone will make away like bandits, that much is certain 'cos there ain't no crisis capitalism can't create profit from; but given Hollywood's generally cautious business logic (after all, it is the industry where everyone's in a race to be second), maybe no studio will want to be the one to take the leap into an untested field.

Tails142

Paid 18 quid for the trolls movie, couldn't get the kids to sit down and watch it. They saw the first ten minutes and then they were gone, nice experiment but won't be trying it again for a kids movie should there be future releases, unless they are begging me.

mikhail

titan18 wrote: »

That was 7 when Walker died and that did 1.5 bn. 8 did 1.2 bn. F9 will be missing The Rock as a flag bearer so likely will do less but could still break the 1bn depending on if it's good and what else releases at the same time.

I would honestly be surprised if The Rock had that much affect on ticket sales. FF is its own behemoth these days.

Agent Coulson

Talk today that Amazon are looking to buyout AMC which would include the Odeon chain here.

OU812

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Talk today that Amazon are looking to buyout AMC which would include the Odeon chain here.

Heard that before. Also that Netflix were after them.

It may be that the European theatre chains get sold to someone else entirely & amazon/Netflix only take the US ones.

CastorTroy

Universal and AMC have come to a deal
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amc-theatres-universal-collapsing-theatrical-window-17-days-unprecedented-pact-1304759

OU812

CastorTroy wrote: »

Universal and AMC have come to a deal
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amc-theatres-universal-collapsing-theatrical-window-17-days-unprecedented-pact-1304759

Just saw that.

the 90 day window down to just 17 to include three weekends, then onto VOD.

Streaming rental I presume first, rather than outright sale.

The pirate market will explode by the end of the year. That's going to absolutely kill secondary markets.

This agreement is for US only but they are negotiating international - I'd expect them to release day & date internationally to combat the piracy issue.

Worth noting that only Universal have signed up for it so far, but others are expected to make similar arrangements.

Universal's big one toward the end of the year (Nov 12) is 007 which means it should hit the pirate bay by Xmas. There's also an untitled Amblin Movie scheduled for Nov 20, but no idea what that is. They've three other lesser titles. In 2021 they have 17 titles, some pushed back from this year, but have quite a busy slate.

Agent Coulson

Universal are going to lose a fortune through piracy with that agreement as soon as there film hit VOD they will torrented.

saintsaltynuts

I'd pay 25 euro to watch Tenet or Top Gun 2 right now.

godtabh

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Universal are going to lose a fortune through piracy with that agreement as soon as there film hit VOD they will torrented.

The article said that Trolls made $100m from VOD. Is that enough of a return to keep them going (assuming there was significant pirating of that?)

OU812

Trolls was most likely a financial loss, but is regarded as a win for VOD.

We're going to see much lower budget films being made (hopefully with better storytelling).

The problem with the current method of VOD for studios without their own platform is there's no subscription model. You pay $20 to rent it, it downloads the file to your device & pirated can take the DRM off from there.

Netflix works (even with $100m+ titles) because their subscription base is so big.

Like SaltySaltyNuts above, I'd pay about €25 to watch the tentpole movies (rather than torrent them), because I have the equipment to enjoy them.