Following what was reported to be the worst weekend of the last 20 years for the US domestic film business, NBCUniversal/Comcast has decided to (finally) make movies available for rental the day of their theatrical release. This new policy debuts with the upcoming DreamWorks Animation film Trolls World Tour on April 10th, but on-demand releases for flicks currently in theaters, including The Invisible Man and Emma, will begin as soon as March 20th — this upcoming Friday.
Details for this new “Day-and-Date” release system aren’t entirely fixed, but these rentals will be available “on a wide variety of the most popular on-demand services” including Comcast and Sky with 48-hour rental periods and a suggested price of $20 per rental in the US (and the equivalent to that in other markets).
“Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home,” NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said of the announcement. “We hope and believe that people will still go to the movies in theaters where available, but we understand that for people in different areas of the world that is increasingly becoming less possible.”
With coronavirus disrupting every aspect of our lives right now and forcing many of us to stay at home, at least we’ll be able to watch some new flicks in some semblance of normalcy.
