The future of the theatrical experience is very much up in the air. With Skydance buying Paramount and now Warner Bros., who knows what moviegoing will look like in just a few years. Will the majority of movies have a theatrical window of merely a week or two? According to Deadline, at least Universal Pictures will remain committed to having a healthy theatrical window going forward. Universal will be extending the exclusive theatrical window for its 2027 movie releases to 45 days, or seven weekends. This theatrical window will not extend to their Focus Features titles, which will remain in theaters only for 17 days.
Here’s what NBC/Universal chairman Donna Langley said to The New York Times about this decision:
Our windowing strategy has always been designed to evolve with the marketplace, but we firmly believe in the primacy of theatrical exclusivity and working closely with our exhibition partners to support a healthy, sustainable theatrical ecosystem.
After the Covid pandemic hit in 2020, Universal remained committed to only 17 days in theaters for films that opened to less than $50 million before going to Premium VOD. And they committed to 30 days for movies opening north of $50M before heading to PVOD. But these rules stuck long after the pandemic had subsided, and the theatrical suffered. More and more audience members simply waited to see the latest hit movie in the comfort of their homes.
In Hollywood, many rules implemented during Covid have stuck around much longer than needed. As a result, filmgoing as a communal experience has been massively hurt by this. Pixar’s Covid-era straight-to-streaming strategy hurt their theatrical releases for several years after, creating the notion in viewers’ minds that Pixar was no longer a theatrical event. It’s good to see that at least one of the major studios understands how important theatrical is to entertainment. Let’s hope their strategy pays off in the long run.