Trolls World Tour's Huge VOD Success Could Mean Bad News for Cinemas

Universal Pictures' decision to forego a theatrical release for Trolls World Tour in favor of a straight to premium VOD debut appears to have been very successful -- and could mean bad news for cinemas once the coronavirus pandemic passes. With movie theaters shut down due to COVID-19, Universal opted to release their Trolls sequel digitally rather than wait to release it in cinemas later. It was a big gamble, as theater owners fumed over the studio's decision to ditch them entirely and industry observers wondered whether Trolls World Tour could possibly earn back enough money from a VOD debut than the studio could have made from a wide theatrical release. According to the Wall Street Journal, Universal's bet has paid off big time. “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," the paper reports, citing a source familiar with the research. "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.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/20/trolls-world-tour-trailer-1"] What makes digital releases even more appealing to studios is, as the paper points out, that they retain 80% of the profits from a VOD release than they do with theatrical, where they only take home 50% of box office receipts. In the case of Trolls World Tour, that means Universal made $77 million in revenue from $95 million in rental fees. By comparison, Universal also made $77 million from the first Trolls film, but that movie made $153.7 million at the domestic box office, meaning theaters (exhibitors) kept the difference. While Universal isn't expected to employ this digital model for huge franchise releases such as Fast & Furious because of how much money those movies rake in theatrically, the studio is already embracing it for smaller titles, such as Judd Apatow's comedy The King of Staten Island, which is now going straight to VOD. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=new-movies-coming-to-vod-early&captions=true"] Universal's not the only studio embracing digital releases due to the pandemic. Warner Bros. recently opted to release Scoob! on digital on May 15. Universal was also among the first studios to pivot their theatrical releases to early digital debuts when the shutdown began.

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