Video on demand success sparks dispute between cinemas and film studio

The historic model of cinemas releasing new movies in an exclusive period before they are released as Premium Video-on-Demand (PVOD) is being torn up by Hollywood studio NBC Universal.

When the cinema release of its new children's movie 'Trolls World Tour' was cancelled earlier this month due to the coronavirus shut-down, Universal opened the film online. This earned the studio nearly $100m in three weeks – more than its 2016 'Trolls' movie earned in a five-month cinema-exclusive period, when it took $154m at the box office, half of which went to cinema operators. Such has been the success of the streaming that Universal has said it will continue to release films simultaneously in cinemas and online after lockdown restrictions are lifted.

But US AMC Entertainment, the largest cinema chain in the US, is accusing Universal of breaking the business model they have been operating, and said it will retaliate by boycotting all of Universal's films in the US, Europe and Middle East with immediate effect.

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