AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC) has announced that it will no longer screen films produced by Universal Studios (Parent company Comcast, (NASDAQ: CMCSA), claiming that the studio "broke the business model" followed by studios and theater chains.
AMC announced its ban in an open letter to Universal Studios Chairman Donna Langley, which claimed that the ban was in reaction for Universal's decision to stray from the traditional model of releasing movies directly to theaters and only releasing them for rental or purchase at a later date.
Universal has announced its intent to depart from this formula after the success of the direct-to-rental release of "Trolls World Tour." The success of the movie took Universal by surprise, with the film making $100 million in digital sales with five million copies sold. The success has convinced Universal to follow a similar formula even once the status quo returns to pre-pandemic norms. Rather than releasing exclusively to theaters before making films available for rental and purchase, Universal would both screen movies in theaters and make them available through digital retailers.
In his strongly worded letter, AMC CEO Adam Aron made it clear that "..effectively immediately AMC will no longer play any Universal movies in any of our theatres in the United States, Europe or the Middle East." Aron continued, not mincing words and making apparent AMC's stance on Universal's decision. "This policy affects any and all Universal movies per se, goes into effect today and as our theatres reopen, and is not some hollow or ill-considered threat. Incidentally, this policy is not aimed solely at Universal out of pique or to be punitive in any way, it also extends to any movie maker who unilaterally abandons current windowing practices absent good faith negotiations between us, so that they as distributor and we as exhibitor both benefit and neither are hurt from such changes."
Warner Media (Parent company Charter Communications Inc, (NASDAQ: CHTR) and Disney (NYSE: DIS) have similarly released recent films "Artemis Fowl" and "Scoob!" to digital platforms for exclusive release, they had not announced similar plans to do so past the Coronavirus and were not hit with similar bans. Both companies have, however, made comments about potentially re-evaluating distribution methods.