(UTV | Colombo) – The ‘theatrical war’ has opened up on a second front in the wake of the rather overdramatic exchanges between AMC, the National Association of Theater Owners (the ‘other’ NATO), and Universal Pictures over the past day or so.
Now, Regal Entertainment owner Cineworld Group, the second largest cinema business in the world (controlling 9,518 screens across eleven countries), has joined in and banned films from Universal Pictures in its theaters which include the chains Regal, Cineworld, Cinema City, Yes Planet and Picturehouse.
Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger says its policy with respect to the window “is clear, well known in the industry and is part of our commercial deal with our movie suppliers… We make it clear again that we will not be showing movies that fail to respect the windows as it does not make any economic sense for us.”
Cineworld also says Universal’s decision to opt for a premium VOD release on “Trolls World Tour” is “completely inappropriate [and] certainly has nothing to do with good faith business practice, partnership and transparency.”
The studio said in a statement earlier today they “absolutely believe in the theatrical experience and made no statement to the contrary, [but] as we stated earlier, going forward, we expect to release future films directly to theatres, as well as on PVOD when that distribution outlet makes sense.”