Universal Studios completely changes its premiere strategy for its films to face off against the coronavirus.
In an unprecedented move, Universal Studios will begin selling digitally and Blu-Ray versions of movies currently available in theaters, and those released on Friday, too.
Movies such as The Invisible Man, Trolls World Tour, The Hunt and Emma will be on several platforms for sale and digital rent in iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime and FandangoNow. In the United States, they will also be available through Comcast, OnDemand and on Sky in Europe.
The film industry always waits 90 days between the film’s release and its availability on media to watch at home, be it DVD, Blu-Ray— or digital. The waiting time is formulated to help theaters make the most revenue and capture the widest possible audience.
But with the coronavirus declared as a pandemic and its rapid spread worldwide, cinemas have been abandoned or closed and studios are looking for a creative new solutions to avoid losing money.
For example: the box office within the United States over the weekend was the lowest in more than 20 years, with sales falling by 45%.
Some studios have chosen to delay the release of some of their blockbusters, as was the case with the latest installment of James Bond, Fast and the Furious 9 – which is postponed for almost a year – or Mulán.
Universal’s decision has no forerunners because this plan is twofold: take home movies that are already in theaters and also those that are scheduled to be released this Friday. That said, Disney announced a day earlier, last Sunday, that it would immediately offer Frozen 2 on its streaming platform, Disney +, and they did.
