Odeon cinemas ban Universal's movies

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In a war of words that is likely to escalate, AMC, the owners of Odeon cinemas around the world, has announced that it will no longer show Universal Studios’ movie releases.
This story has an update.

The move comes after a statement from NBCUniversal indicated that it would be releasing future films simultaneously in movie theatres and via home distribution. This was met with a no-nonsense rebuttal from AMC CEO Adam Aron who stated the Studio 'could not have its cake and eat it'.

The situation comes on the back of the performance of Universal’s Trolls World Tour film which was due for a theatrical release and instead was made available as a Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) option for 48 hours in the face of the Covid-19 imposed lock-down. The resulting home rental income was reportedly in the region of $100 million. 

This prompted NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell to comment to the Wall Street Journal that once cinemas re-open, “we expect to release movies on both formats.” This has been taken to mean that the Studio will no longer abide by the 90-day theatrical window that is in place for movies to run unhindered in a cinema venue.

After Shell’s comments to the WSJ, Aron was quick to respond and in a letter from AMC to NBCUniversal’s chair Donna Langley, he said, "AMC believes that with this proposed action to go to the home and theaters simultaneously, Universal is breaking the business model and dealings between our two companies." He added, "Going forward, AMC will not license any Universal movies in any of our 1,000 theatres globally on these terms."