AMC had just made headlines when they announced that they would no longer be screening films from Universal, and it looks like more cinemas are following suit.
According to Indiewire, Regal Entertainment's owner, Cineworld Group, which runs the second-largest theater circuit, has sided with AMC on their choice to boycott Universal films. Their statement reads, "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."
With Trolls World Tour managing to out-earn the first film in the span of weeks, Universal had announced that they would be considering releasing films for home release at the same time they release in theaters; which kind of sucks for the theaters, seeing that they depend on the exclusivity of films screening in theaters only.
Universal had released this statement after AMC's move:
"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 theatres, 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."
Granted, the success of Trolls World Tour could be attributed to the ongoing pandemic, and I imagine the numbers would be different if theaters were open now. Then again, AMC and Regal also stand to lose a lot with the boycott, seeing as Universal films coming out next year include Fast and Furious 9, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Jurassic World Dominion.
We don't know how all of this will turn out, but hopefully Universal and these theater chains come to an understanding.
Read Also: AMC Theaters Will No Longer Show Any Universal Movies on Their Theaters
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