AMC Theaters and Universal have announced a new agreement that shortens the time it takes for a theatrical movie release to come to streaming services from the typical 70-90 days to just 17 days. This means that some newly released movies will be available to stream after just 3 weekends in theaters. The deal does stipulate that only “premium rentals” at about $20 are allowed to come to streaming, while regular $3-6 rentals still have to wait 90 days.
While this deal is only between AMC Theaters and Universal films, it’s expected to set precedent for other major studios to negotiate similar deals. While we can probably expect big blockbuster films to continue to have long theatrical runs, when theaters reopen, that is, smaller films should become available to stream a lot sooner.
This was necessary…AMC knows “the end is nigh”. I don’t know ANYONE that will sit in a movie theatre for 2 hours for at least the next year or more.
(I mean let’s face it, they WERE kind of already dirty BEFORE). The AMC near me is allowed to open BUT has decided not to until at least the end of August. My guess: they did the math and concluded it would cost them more to remain open than any revenue they could hope to bring in.