After the announcement that Marvel Studios’ Black Widow will be released in theaters and at Disney + Premier Access on July 9, the owners of the theaters were upset by the decision and now the chief executive of AMC Theaters is speaking out.
Black WidowThe release of was postponed to July 2021 from May 2020 as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, making it one of the most anticipated films of the summer. The latest Marvel film will also be released at Disney + Premier Access for a one-time fee of $ 30 the same day it is released in theaters.
According to The Wall Street Journal, cinema owners want to guarantee better Disney conditions, such as a bigger share in the box office revenue or a chance to show Black Widow exclusively due to the release decision. However, the company’s ability to fight against the company may be hindered by the need to bring spectators back to the seats of the theater after long closings and limited capacities.
Some movie owners were already furious at Disney’s decision to release Raya and the Last Dragon in theaters and Disney + last month, and now the Black Widow decision adds more fuel to the fire.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Adam Aron spoke about the launch of Disney + Black Widow, “We made no threats [but] it is widely known that AMC threatened not to show films if we could not find terms of business that we found acceptable. ”
Aron is referring to when AMC theaters refused to show Universal movies after the on-demand release of Trolls: world tour last year, stating that “This policy is not only aimed at Universal out of resentment or to be punitive in any way, it also extends to any filmmaker who unilaterally abandons current windowing practices in the absence of good faith negotiations between us, to that they, as distributors and we, as exhibitors, both benefit and are not harmed by such changes. This led to a multiyear agreement between the two parties, including AMC cinemas receiving a percentage of the revenue from digital releases.
These tensions highlight the shift in dynamics between movie studios and cinemas as the COVID-19 pandemic drove some movie chains into bankruptcy and consumers and studios began to use streaming entertainment at home. Disney + has recently reached the 100 million subscriber mark, and the number will continue to grow as more content is added to the streaming platform.
Source: The Wall Street Journal