By Erich Schwartzel April 28, 2020 | LOS ANGELES—Last month, as the nation’s movie theaters were days from closing down, executives at Comcast Corp. ’s Universal Pictures moved on a decision that would soon pay off handsomely. A massive marketing campaign was already under way for the studio’s April 10 release, “Trolls World Tour,” an animated sequel to the 2016 hit. The studio decided not...
By Natalie Jarvey April 20, 2020 | The deal will allow the NBCUniversal-owned movie ticketing company to bolster its 4-year-old digital movie marketplace, FandangoNow. NBCUniversal-owned movie ticketing company Fandango has agreed to buy streaming video service Vudu from Walmart. The deal will allow Fandango to bolster its 4-year-old digital movie marketplace, FandangoNow. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the...
WB's 'Contagion' is the industry's top catalog title this year. By Stephanie Prange April 16, 2020 | The growth in the home entertainment and games businesses have been “one of the few bright spots” in the COVID-19 pandemic, said Jim Wuthrich, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Games. He presented numbers from Warner research showing the growth in home entertainment spending after...
By Natalie Jarvey April 14, 2020 | Starting Wednesday, millions of Comcast customers sheltering at home will gain access to a trove of 15,000 hours of TV shows and movies. The telecom giant’s NBCUniversal division is previewing its new streaming service, Peacock, three months ahead of its national rollout in what will be the first true test of how the coronavirus...
By Pamela McClintock April 13, 2020 | While there are no numbers being made available, Universal said Monday morning that Trolls World Tour scored the biggest digital debut of all time over Easter weekend. The studio decided to break theatrical windows and make the DreamWorks Animation title available to rent on premium VOD for 48 hours for $19.99 after virtually all theaters closed across the...
March 25, 2020 | With theaters closed in the U.S. and other markets globally, and people hunkered down at home in an effort to control the spread of the novel coronavirus, the major studios moved quickly in the past two weeks to accelerate the home releases of some titles. Strategies range from the simultaneous theatrical and premium VOD release being...
By Kelly Gilblom March 23, 2020 | Over the weekend, Universal Pictures’ “The Invisible Man” and Walt Disney Co.’s “Onward” were the two most popular movies to buy or rent on FandangoNow, an online service. Both were supposed to be exclusively in theaters for the next several weeks, but those plans were upended when most of the 40,000 U.S. theaters closed due...
March 23, 2020 | “We are running into the global arena faster than anybody,” Jeff Hirsch, Starz COO declared at a June 2019 conference. He was referring to the fact that the Starz digital platform will soon serve over 50 territories throughout the world. Starz is not alone in focusing on global growth; Roku reported, in its recent fourth quarter earnings...
Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s Trolls World Tour, which was scheduled to be the first theatrical comeback title down the road in the midst of the coronavirus climate on Easter weekend April 10, will now go day-and-date in homes and on the big-screen. By Anthony D'Alessandro March 16, 2020 | In an unprecedented crunch of the theatrical window as several markets across the U.S. close down in...
(Above) Britbox's MI-5. By Ben Munson March 5, 2020 | BritBox, a North American subscription streaming video service from BBC Studios and ITV, said it now has one million subscribers, double what it had in January 2019. The company cited some Parks Associates research suggesting it’s the fastest growing targeted stand-alone SVOD service since its launch in March 2017. The service, which offers access...