With Americans practicing social distancing and staying in, Hollywood is coming off the worst box office weekend in more than 20 years. Universal Pictures is making the unprecedented move of making theatrical, new release movies available to stream on demand on the same day they're released in theaters. According to Variety, the program will kick off with Dreamworks Animation's Trolls World Tour on April 10. The company will also make films that are currently in theaters available on-demand starting as early as this Friday, March 20. This first wave of titles will include The Hunt (released in theaters this past weekend), The Invisible Man (released February 28) , and Emma (released February 21). The movies will be available for a 48-hour rental period at a suggested retail price of $19.99.
This is a big deal for the movie business, and probably a huge blow to movie theaters. After last week's coronavirus-prompted delays for Fast and Furious 9, A Quiet Place 2, Mulan and No Time to Die, many speculated about a model like this to make up for lost box office revenue. Marvel's Black Widow is set to open May 1 and many people expect a delay or a move to some kind of on demand streaming release.
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