With Coronavirus Concerns Growing, Movie Studios Should Seize The Opportunity To Experiment With “Day-and-Date” VOD Releases

As concerns surrounding the coronavirus continue to mount, the film industry is responding in kind. Last week, MGM and Universal announced the next James Bond film, No Time To Die, was being delayed from its initial April release to a November release. This week, more films followed suit, including the ninth Fast and Furious film, which Universal Studios pushed a full year to release in April 2021; Peter Rabbit 2, which Sony pushed to August; and A Quiet Place Part II, which was delayed from its March release date and does not yet have a new release date from Paramount. None of the canceled movies have opted for a digital release, or a simultaneous “day-and-date release”—a term that means a film is available in theaters, on DVD, and on VOD all on the same day—yet. But should they?

Movie theaters in countries hit hard by COVID-19—which was officially classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on Wednesday—are shutting down. According to Variety, nearly every theater in Italy, South Korea, and China has shut down, and some theaters in Poland, the Middle East, and India have as well. Whether or not movie theaters in the U.S. will shut down remains to be seen—some are calling for it—but with so many key overseas markets out of reach, the delayed release of major blockbusters are undoubtedly a financial decision for the studios, as well as a matter of public health… The delays will no doubt cost the studios millions in lost marketing dollars.

The only studios likely not agonizing over such decisions are the streamers like Netflix, which doesn’t have to worry about the movie theater box office for its revenue. If Netflix has proved anything, it’s that movie-lovers are willing—more than willing, really—to watch a blockbuster film its opening weekend in the comfort of their own homes. While Netflix notoriously doesn’t release its viewing data, one can only imagine that numbers are up, as more and more plans get canceled and more and more people recede into self-quarantine.  With these cancellations, should traditional studios like Universal and Paramount opt for a straight-to-digital release or a simultaneous digital and theatrical release?

While day-and-date releases are rare for major studio films, it is not without precedent, and it might even be possible for studios to make a decent chunk of change with VOD sales. The Interview, Seth Rogen and James Franco’s scathing parody of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, made $31 million in just over one week when Sony made the last-minute decision to release the film on VOD and in limited theaters, after initially scrapping the release following threats from the North Korean government. With a $41 million production budget, it wasn’t quite a financial success, and the National Association of Theater Owners claimed Sony lost at least $30 million when piracy and the marketing budget were taken into account. Regardless, the direct-to-VOD release allowed them to recoup a more significant amount of the film’s budget than the $0 it would have made if the movie was scrapped entirely.

Theater owners understandably hate day-to-date releases; it’s bad for their business. Still, if theaters in the U.S. shut down indefinitely, there may not be a lot of options for mid-level budget films. For major blockbusters like James Bond and Fast & Furious, a delayed theatrical release makes sense—those movies are undoubtedly going to make a lot of money at the box office when they get released, and to release them now on VOD would surely mean lost money. But what about smaller movies, like A Quiet Place Part II, which, before its cancellation, had been tracking to make roughly $55 million its opening weekend? Or what about The Hunt, the controversial Blumhouse film about a group of elite liberal hunters who hunt working-class conservatives, which was delayed following mass-shootings and outcries from Donald Trump supporters, and is finally headed to theaters today?

People are more willing than ever to buy and rent films on VOD, and a highly-anticipated sequel like A Quiet Place, or a controversial film like The Hunt, may just be alluring enough to lead to the kind of VOD sales success that The Interview found. When one of these films does opt for the digital release during this pandemic, it’s sure to get a lot of press for doing so; this “earned media” would pare nicely with the eight-figure investments that Paramount and Universal, respectively, have already spent marketing these movies to audiences across TV, print, digital, and outdoor. Plus, not for nothing, but a VOD-release of A Quiet Place Part II or even The Hunt might even raise morale in these trying times of social-distancing and self-isolation. It feels like every fun event under the sun, from Broadway shows to Coachella Music Festival, has been canceled or delayed. It might be nice to have something entertaining that we can all participate in together, separately.

Where to watch The Interview