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[ManaByte]

WSJ News Exclusive | ‘Trolls World Tour’ Breaks Digital Records and Charts a New Path for Hollywood

In three weeks of digital release, the “Trolls” sequel has made more money for Universal Pictures than the original did during five months in theaters.

www.wsj.com

With nearly five million rentals, the digital release has in three weeks generated more revenue for Universal than the original “Trolls” did during its five-month theatrical run, according to a person familiar with the matter. Its performance has convinced Universal executives that digital releases can be a winning strategy, and may diminish the role of theaters even after the pandemic passes.

The National Association of Theatre Owners Mafia isn't going to like this, I'm sure they're sending threats out to the studios to not continue the practice.

 

[teezzy]

Its a general rule of the video media industry.

Convenience always wins.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Damn. I’m honestly kinda surprised. There will always be enough people who want a big screen experience for major releases to at least keep some theaters around, right?

edit

obviously not right now, talking about when things normalize

 

[ManaByte]

Damn. I’m honestly kinda surprised. There will always be enough people who want a big screen experience for major releases to at least keep some theaters around, right?

Do you want to sit next to some stranger in an enclosed room for 2 hours and risk getting sick?

 

[cryptoadam]

Really who is going to want to go to a theater until CV is pretty much gone?

And even if people go back, theaters are going to have probably cut their seating in half for social distancing.

With the info from the DHS, cold damp dark places like a cinema is the perfect place for the CV to live and spread. Add in people sharing pop corn/snacks/and drinks along with the arcade games and stuff and how about no.

Bring on our first run movies at home over lords, I have been ready and waiting.

All it will take is a Marvel movie to do it and the flood gates will be open. Come on Disney put out Black Widow on digital and watch it break even more records.

 

[Djau]

Some will stay around for the art form; but most of it is irrelevant in this day and age. They will need to re-invent self.

 

[cryptoadam]

Do you want to sit next to some stranger in an enclosed room for 2 hours and risk getting sick?

Its funny because the people who will answer yes and MUH theater, are probably the same people who want us to stay lock down forever until the magic vaccine falls of the sky.

(not the poster you are replying to he's good people of course).

If half the population is scared about beaches and protestors they aint going back to some small enclosed dark dirty movie theater.

 

[kunonabi]

Vary surprising. I adore the movie going experience but I'm not setting foot in a theater until a vaccine hits.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Do you want to sit next to some stranger in an enclosed room for 2 hours and risk getting sick?

Well, I wasn't talking about going out and seeing a movie today, but a year from now, or two years from now, wouldn't there be enough interest/demand to at least keep a few theaters going? Are we actually looking at a complete shutdown of all theaters forever?

Its funny because the people who will answer yes and MUH theater, are probably the same people who want us to stay lock down forever until the magic vaccine falls of the sky.

(not the poster you are replying to he's good people of course).

If half the population is scared about beaches and protestors they aint going back to some small enclosed dark dirty movie theater.

just want to make it clear, this isn't what I was saying

Ain't no way I want to go into a theater right now or anytime soon, was just asking about the long run

 

[jshackles]

Not too surprising, considering everyone is stuck at home. Those with small kids at home running around crazy, this was a huge win for the studio. The $20 price tag is a pittance compared with what it would cost to go to my local theater. Especially for a kids movie, where you'd have to otherwise buy two (or more) tickets.

Kind of irrelevant for me anyway, our local theater has already gone out of business and the building is for sale. We don't have any "chain theaters" here either. Even after stuff starts opening back up again, nobody in my town is going to want to drive an hour down the road to the nearest Regal cinemas and risk getting sick.

Bring on the digital theater releases, I'd rather stay home anyway.

 

[Nymphae]

Drive-ins to make a comeback hopefully.

I didn't like the theatre because of prices, inconsiderate movie-goers, and selection of movies mainly, but if they were open and there was something on I wanted to see, I'd go.

Anecdotally, I have never really gotten very sick, and I used to chew my fingernails all the time, chew my fingertips, rub and touch my eyes, touch absolutely everything, and as George Carlin once said, when going to the washroom, I typically only washed my hands when I shit on them. So what's the deal? I have had the flu like once or twice in my life and I never get all that sick. Luck? I don't buy it.

 

[Kagey K]

I wish they would have kept the trend going instead of just delaying everything. After that first rush of everything going straight to VOD it seems like not much else has come.

 

[GobbledeeGoo]

This is kind of a moot thing. It's a kids' movie and parents have nothing they can do with their kids outside of the house at the moment. Sell them on the idea of a movie night; make a bunch of snacks for them, sit them in front of the TV and you've got a babysitter for two hours. It would be a better test if the movie was released simultaneously in theatres and on VOD, but I don't see that happening. You also need to factor in the demographic of the movie. A big action flick is naturally going to be more enjoyable on a huge screen with booming sound.

 

[BlackOlivesMatter]

good

 

[cryptoadam]

Well, I wasn't talking about going out and seeing a movie today, but a year from now, or two years from now, wouldn't there be enough interest/demand to at least keep a few theaters going? Are we actually looking at a complete shutdown of all theaters forever?



just want to make it clear, this isn't what I was saying

Ain't no way I want to go into a theater right now or anytime soon, was just asking about the long run

Oh of course.

I think one day we will be back in the cinema's, but its going to be a while.

Just blast these movies to my home. If a DC/Marvel movie does it that will open the flood gates.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Yeah but the movie would have made 100 million in the theaters (under normal circumstances) and then another 100 million a few months later when it comes to BluRay/ digital. Nothing beats the theater for big budget movie spectacles! Right now there is a pandemic and ALL kids are home.....and bored. Of course it made good money right now.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I mean... movies generate a lot of revenue when they come out digitally a few months after release.

You'd have to add up the profit of both to really prove that skipping theaters makes sense.

And beyond that, this isn't a normal time to release digitally.. everyone is trapped at home. After the pandemic that won't be true.

 

[TwoDurans]

It makes sense. The model of pay $X to rent, then you can pay $X to own a couple of weeks later lets the studios control 100% of the money without having to cut the theaters in.

It's good for the studios since they'll be able to cash in twice at a higher rate than they bring in from theaters and home video, and it's also good for consumers because they can get access to more movies that might not be releasing in their markets. It only sucks because it basically kills theaters, and does bump the prices up a hair for watching movies alone. If I wanted to watch Trolls World Tour I could do so for $10, but renting it was $20. If I had a family of four it becomes very economical but if it's just me I'm paying double.

 

[finowns]

I don’t give a F if people are dropping like flies I’m watching Dune in the theater!!!

 

[jshackles]

It only sucks because it basically kills theaters

How long is it going to be before movie theaters are financially viable again anyway?

 

[ManaByte]

Yeah but the movie would have made 100 million in the theaters (under normal circumstances) and then another 100 million a few months later when it comes to BluRay/ digital. Nothing beats the theater for big budget movie spectacles! Right now there is a pandemic and ALL kids are home.....and bored. Of course it made good money right now.

The article explains that. The theater cut kills what a movie makes in theaters. The original made $144 million in theaters, but Universal only got $77 million of that. So if this sequel made $100 million in theaters, that would still be less than what it made digitally so far.

 

[haxan7]

No shit it broke home records. People can't go to movie theaters.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Industries crumbling and reforming before our very eyes.

 

[HarryKS]

The first Trolls movie was a very good surprise. It was charming.

 

[Mihos]

How much did the original make digitally?

 

[Fake]

No shit it broke home records. People can't go to movie theaters.

Yeah, I don't get the title neither. People are locked in home, what is suppose to happen? Theaters with full of clients? Super silly.
Lets wait things back to normal and see.

 

[TwoDurans]

How long is it going to be before movie theaters are financially viable again anyway?

I actually studied movie theater business for my thesis in Bschool so I can answer that!

It's going to be tough. Even places that are reopening can only do so at 25%. Even before COVID the margins on ticket sales are so tight that theaters stay afloat specifically on what's called percaps, or how much concessions they're able to sell on average for every ticket sold. Due to people sneaking stuff into theaters, or just not buying snacks, a good theater has a percap of $2, bad ones are around $0.50-$0.75. That means that one of two things will need to happen in the immediate - concession prices go up, or ticket prices go up. Neither of these will be regarded positively by theater goers which will lead to even more rejection meaning movie theaters are kind of stuck. The only relief I see is if studios lower the rental fees or take a smaller chunk of the BO, but there's honestly no way I see that happening now that they've seen how much money they can make by simply uploading their movies to iTunes. Remember this means they save on printing physical prints, or transferring digital to the projector drives, and shipping globally to theaters.

Of course none of this matters when you consider that there are currently no movies slated for theatrical release until the fall. Theaters might be open, but they're not going to be showing much.

All in all it's not going to be a smooth ride for movie theaters unless they crack some code that makes theater experiences unmissable. This has happened before with the advent of 3D, 4D (that thing where they just spray water in your face), drive-ins, and dine-ins. Anything that expands beyond, buy a ticket and sit down will help but unless they have that in their back pockets it's going to be a long time until we see anything like that.

 

[jshackles]

I actually studies movie theater business for my thesis in Bschool so I can answer that!

It's going to be tough. Even places that are reopening can only do so at 25%. Even before COVID the margins on ticket sales are so tight that theaters stay afloat specifically on what's called percaps, or how much concessions they're able to sell on average for every ticket sold. Due to people sneaking stuff into theaters, or just not buying snacks, a good theater has a percap of $2, bad ones are around $0.50-$0.75. That means that one of two things will need to happen in the immediate - concession prices go up, or ticket prices go up. Neither of these will be regarded positively by theater goers which will lead to even more rejection meaning movie theaters are kind of stuck. The only relief I see is if studios lower the rental fees or take a smaller chunk of the BO, but there's honestly no way I see that happening now that they've seen how much money they can make by simply uploading their movies to iTunes. Remember this means they save on printing physical prints, or transferring digital to the projector drives, and shipping.

Of course none of this matters when you consider that there are currently no movies slated for theatrical release until the fall. Theaters might be open, but they're not going to be showing much.

All in all it's not going to be a smooth ride for movie theaters unless they crack some code that makes theater experiences unmissable. This has happened before with the advent of 3D, 4D (that thing where they just spray water in your face), drive-ins, and dine-ins. Anything that expands beyond, buy a ticket and sit down will help but unless they have that in their back pockets it's going to be a long time until we see anything like that.

Excellent and well articulated reply, thank you for that! It probably explains why my local theaters have already closed - I imagine the larger chain theaters are probably able to negotiate with studios for better deals / lower cuts. Our theaters were probably already operating on a pretty tight margin already, with ticket prices at nearly $15 each and (for example) a large popcorn and soda being $20. Minimum wage here is pretty high comparatively, so a huge amount of their revenue was probably going to payroll anyway. Without any new films scheduled to be released until this fall at the earliest, I imagine they knew right away that without any money coming in for several months they wouldn't be able to keep paying rent on the buildings they're in. Honestly the places were dumps anyway, my wife and I stopped going a few years ago (after MoviePass folded) because they're disgusting and reek of meth. We went to see Rise of Skywalker last year and afterwards said to each other "let's never come here again".

So in the case of our local economy, the seemingly inevitable decline of movie theaters is simply accelerated. A big chain isn't going to swoop in and rent a small 5 screen place that hasn't been updated since 1980, and they're also unlikely to invest in constructing a new building if the medium as a whole is nosediving. Studios can make 70% of the take just renting their films through iTunes, and consumers appear to be happy to pay $20 for digital rentals (this wasn't the case this time last year).

I feel like all of this will inevitably lead to movie theaters going the way of shopping malls - once massively popular and now are almost entirely abandoned or condemned. There are still a few malls out there though, and they seem to cater specifically to the 80s and 90s nostalgia. So in 20 years there will still inevitably be a few movie theaters but they'll be relegated to curiosities of the past rather than mainstream distribution methods.

 

[cryptoadam]

How much more lock down can they survive?

AMC Is $4.9 Billion in Debt. Is Bankruptcy Next?

The giant theater chain is struggling in the wake of the pandemic, but its parent company is brushing away concerns.

www.vanityfair.com

 

[Tesseract]

let the movie theaters burn, their time has ended

 

[Guy_who_thinks_hes_cool]

as what everyone here said, its the convenience and your own popcorn!

 

[Deleted member 17706]

It was a novel move and got a ton of buzz at a time when everyone was stuck at home. Hard to say what the effect would be if it becomes the norm (no free press) and people are no longer locked up at home.

 

[VGEsoterica]

It was a novel move and got a ton of buzz at a time when everyone was stuck at home. Hard to say what the effect would be if it becomes the norm (no free press) and people are no longer locked up at home.

Exactly. Every parent everywhere was thinking "will this shut you up for two hours" and rented it. Half those parents would have brought their kids to a theater I'd assume

 

[GobbledeeGoo]

Exactly. Every parent everywhere was thinking "will this shut you up for two hours" and rented it. Half those parents would have brought their kids to a theater I'd assume

Possibly. I could see a percentage of parents taking their kids to see it and making a big deal of it, kids love going out, its an event to them. Then I could see some parents who normally don't do those types of things just renting it and putting their kids in front of the TV because of the ease and convenience of it who wouldn't have taken them to the theatre because of the hassle. A per title model with a possible VOD and theatre release seems like the best option. Not all films are the same.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

im happy for this.

theaters have such a massive footprint, id love for that business to decline. it would make theater going a much more unique and awesome experience, kinda like the old days of a drive in.

 

[MaestroMike]

Hope not. I love theaters nothing like seeing a movie on the big screen with other folks. It's a good energy. If they kill theaters then they have to kill concerts too and sports events which they won't.

 

[iconmaster]

We'd need a lot more examples of this in order to start drawing any conclusions. I agree with those saying it simply got a major pandemic boost in a market starved for new releases. Or maybe this model works for cartoon films but not for adult dramas. No way to tell.

 

[Tesseract]

Hope not. I love theaters nothing like seeing a movie on the big screen with other folks. It's a good energy. If they kill theaters then they have to kill concerts too and sports events which they won't.

 

[The Scrivener]

kill concerts too and sports events

Not the same thing lol?

How can being at a Formula 1 race or being at a Tool rock concert be like watching Daddy Day Care 2 in a sweaty shopping centre?

But I hope cinemas survive anyway btw.

 

[triplestation]

well thats not exactly fair

wait until society is running normally again and then do the same experiment

the only avenue now for entertainment is home entertainment due to covid19

people like going out together

 

[#Phonepunk#]

Drive-ins to make a comeback hopefully.

there is a drive in near my dad and whenever i go to visit usually we see movies there. saw Guardians 2 and Endgame there. funny enough i see more movies a year at that drive in than in a theater. most drive in nights are a double feature.

last time i visited they were closed down for a month but i just checked their site and they are back up and showing Trolls 2 lol. the common areas are off limits but everything else sounds good to go. i imagine drive ins are now the most desired theater experience.

 

[Nymphae]

there is a drive in near my dad and whenever i go to visit usually we see movies there. saw Guardians 2 and Endgame there. funny enough i see more movies a year at that drive in than in a theater. most drive in nights are a double feature.

last time i visited they were closed down for a month but i just checked their site and they are back up and showing Trolls 2 lol. the common areas are off limits but everything else sounds good to go. i imagine drive ins are now the most desired theater experience.

We still have one near where I live, I'm not super fond of going to see movies these days so I don't go very often but it is a better experience I think. You still feel like you're out doing stuff in the community but you get to isolate, bring your own food and consume drugs.

 

[Arimer]

Doesn't Surprise me. I would gladly pay 20 bucks to not have to take my kids to a theater. Though there are movies that as an adult i still want to have the theater experience for.

 

[iconmaster]

How can being at a Formula 1 race or being at a Tool rock concert be like watching Daddy Day Care 2 in a sweaty shopping centre?

Oh man, I just flashed back to my Daddy Day Care days. Crazy times. I don't know how we never got arrested.

 

[ManaByte]

California's Batman Villain just said theaters won't reopen in the state for MONTHS:

Movie Theaters Could Take “Months, Not Weeks” to Reopen, California Gov. Gavin Newsom Says

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday offered some more clarity on how his state is planning to reopen its nonessential businesses, noting especially that movie theaters fall into a category that will take "months" to reopen.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Phase three will see higher-risk workplaces like movie theaters, gyms, hair salons, nail salons, in-person religious services and sports without live audiences reopen. Newsom emphasized that phase three is "months, not weeks" away. The final and fourth phase will entail the reopening of concert venues, conventions, sports stadiums and larger entertainment venues, which he said will "take some time" to reopen.

 

[pixelation]

Here's to hoping other studios follow suit and release their movies on demand (instead of waiting a year or more for things to get "better").

 

[cryptoadam]

This is hollywoods only choice.

That sweet sweet international money is going to dry up. China opened and closed their cinemas in a matter of days. You know how many movies rely on China and world wide box office?

Forget cinemas its an up hill battle just to convince people to let their kids go to school or to go to a barber shop. Not sure how much longer movie studios can hold out on releasing their films.

No new movies except for straight to DVD crap for 12-24 months.

 

[eddie4]

I don't give a shit about movie theaters, I watch the movies at home anyway, what I'm mad about is the concerts being canceled, can't elbow people in a moshpit until further notice.

 

[Roronoa Zoro]

This is hollywoods only choice.

That sweet sweet international money is going to dry up. China opened and closed their cinemas in a matter of days. You know how many movies rely on China and world wide box office?

Forget cinemas its an up hill battle just to convince people to let their kids go to school or to go to a barber shop. Not sure how much longer movie studios can hold out on releasing their films.

No new movies except for straight to DVD crap for 12-24 months.

How the hell did 12-18 months as of months ago turn into 12-24 months today?

 

[cryptoadam]

How the hell did 12-18 months as of months ago turn into 12-24 months today?

Its a moving target to keep us waiting for magic vaccine.

We can be optimistic that in 18 months a vaccine will fall from the sky and everyone will get inoculated.

Im keeping my sceptisim hat on, even if Oxford scientist are 80% sure they will have one by September. But I hope I am wrong and it does come.