In light of theaters cutting their max occupancy and governments asking people to stay indoors to help curb the spread of coronavirus, Universal Pictures has announced several movies currently in theaters will soon be available on demand.
Current theatrical releases The Invisible Man, Emma (hit the links for our reviews) and The Hunt will be released on demand this Friday, and priced at $19.99 per movie.
In addition, Trolls World Tour will be released on demand the same day it hits theaters, April 10.
The decision is a major break away from the traditional theatrical release window — and for good reason. Movies are poised to seriously underperform in theaters in the weeks and months ahead.
It’ll be interesting to see if other studios, like Disney, decide on a similar move. While a few of their movies have had their release dates postponed, their next Marvel film Black Widow is still slated for a theatrical release at the end of April.
The Mouse would have to decide whether they should release it on their Disney+ platform, or only on demand. The latter would probably drive more revenue, unless releasing brand new movies on Disney+ would cause a surge in new subscriptions.
Over the weekend, Disney released Frozen 2 on Disney+ three months earlier than scheduled, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released for digital purchase a few days early.
Last week, studios started postponing many movies as the realities of the world battling a pandemic began to set in.
We’ll keep you posted as other studios decide the fate of their movies.