On March 2, Sean Baker made history when he picked up four Oscars for Anora, including the marquee best picture — the most any filmmaker has received for one film. It may also be remembered as the night when the long détente over theatrical windows ended. In his acceptance speech for winning best director, Baker issued a call to arms over the touchy subject of how long a title plays exclusively in theaters before going to homes.
“Distributors, please focus first and foremost on the theatrical releases of your films,” he pleaded in a bid to return to a 90-day window. “Let’s get it back to the way it used to be.”
Several days before the Oscars, AMC Entertainment’s Adam Aron — the maverick and controversial CEO of the world’s largest theater circuit — told investors during a Feb. 25 earnings call that the relaxation of theatrical windows needs to be revisited in the post-COVID era as attendance levels remain notably offkilter.
“I sure hope we can introduce longer windows because I think the current industry experiment has failed,” Aron said when reminding that, before the pandemic, most films in the U.S. weren’t available in the home until at least 74 to 90 days after their initial theatrical release.
What Aron didn’t mention was that it was actually AMC that first struck a landmark deal with Universal in summer 2020 collapsing the window to 17 days for a movie opening to $50 million or less and 31 days for a title opening to more. Universal, owned by Comcast, had long wanted to experiment with a new premium video-on-demand window whereby a title is offered for rental at a price of $20 or more. The pact became the new norm in large measure, although most studios hold out for more than 40 days (it all depends on how a film is performing).
In particular, Disney, save for a few titles, has remained committed to an exclusive 60-day window. Aron declared on the earnings call that a 45-day window should be “sacrosanct” and that “17 days and 30 days are too short.” He added that he’d next like to consider 60 days or more.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter the AMC chief has met with at least three of the five major studios, but many aren’t eager to return to past practices. “That ship has sailed,” says one studio exec.
Aron, who intends to continue these meetings, isn’t convinced. “These conversations are live right now between studios and theaters,” since he believes both would generate more money if there were at least a 45-day window, he told investors.
Mega-circuit Cinemark hasn’t made any pronouncements regarding whether windows should be longer — the company carries far less debt than AMC — but CEO Sean Gamble did suggest at a March 4 Morgan Stanley conference that shortened windows could be creating confusion.
“On the plus side, we haven’t seen a steeper decay of a film’s trajectory through its life cycle after it’s released into theaters,” the exec said. “That’s held pretty consistent with pre-pandemic patterns. And even when it enters the home on a PVOD service, we haven’t seen a steeper decline at that point, so that’s encouraging. But as consumers become more aware of these short windows, does that ultimately lead to some form of reduction in attendance overall? I think that’s something that’s still to be determined over time.”