Regal Cinemas Join The AMC/Universal Movie Release Window Dispute

Trolls: World Tour managed to out-earn the first Trolls film by opting for a paid on-demand (POVD) release instead of delaying its theatrical debut. Despite how well that decision has gone for distributor Universal Pictures on a financial level, the company faced backlash from theater chain AMC, which yesterday announced it would no longer show Universal's movies in retaliation for the production giant "unilaterally [abandoning] current windowing practices." Now, as Deadline reports, Regal Cinemas are following AMC's example by promising to do the same.

The theater chain's owner, Cineworld Group, explained the reasoning behind this decision in a statement issued today. In it, the company calls Universal's Trolls: World Tour POVD release a "completely inappropriate" move that "certainly has nothing to do with good faith business practice, partnership, and transparency." Cineworld also condemns Universal for bypassing the theatrical release window during the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused the company to close theaters and leave "35,000 employees … at home" without work.

"We have full confidence in the industry's current business model," Cineworld writes after stating, strongly enough, that its theaters "will not be showing movies that fail to respect the windows." Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger is also quoted in the statement as having told Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts that "Universal was the only studio that tried to take advantage of the current crisis and provide a 'day-and-date' release of a movie that was not yet released."

Tensions are obviously running high throughout an industry scrambling to find ways to maintain business during the pandemic. Universal CEO Jeff Shell, for his part, said yesterday that "we expect to release future films directly to theaters, as well as on PVOD when that distribution outlet makes sense," though this message, which leaves the door open to varying release windows, doesn't seem to have appeased theater chains. Meanwhile, some people without stakes in either camp just find all of this drama between movie theaters very silly.

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