AMC Theaters Will No Longer Show Universal Films After The Success of ”Trolls World Tour” Digital Release

AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, says they will no longer show any of Universal Pictures films after comments made by NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, who praised the streaming success of Trolls World Tour, which was placed on on-demand platforms after the coronavirus outbreak forced many theaters to close.

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

Universal also revealed the numbers that the Trolls World Tour brought in during its first three weeks. The animated film made nearly $100 million in premium video-on-demand rentals. The original’ Trolls’ grossed $116 million within its first three weeks in theaters in 2016, eventually grossing $153.7 million in the U.S. and Canada and almost $347 million globally.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Apparently, this revelation about utilizing VOD did not sit well with AMC Theatres, who has been hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak, especially due to the mounting debt that they already had going into the pandemic. Wall Street analysts predicted that the company would possibly be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of theater closures in March. AMC’s chair-CEO Adam Aron, who is among the corporate staff furloughed because of the closures, expressed his disdain in a sternly written letter to Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langleyworded on Tuesday.

“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,” Aron wrote. He continued, “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. 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.”

Aron did add that AMC would be willing to have a sit down to resolve the matter. However, he made it very clear that the company was willing to walk away from the long-standing relationship.

“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,” he said.

Universal fired back, issuing an evening statement soon after, claiming that Shell’s comments were misinterpreted. They also claimed that AMC was only trying to “confuse” the matter.

“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. The statement also added, “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.”