How ‘Trolls World Tour’ Tests the Future of Studio Movies With On-Demand Release

Birds of Prey was initially $20 VOD, but dropped to $7. A lot more views!

https://www.thewrap.com/trolls-world-tour-on-demand-release-future/

While there are no publicly available means of tracking VOD performance, it’s highly unlikely that “World Tour” could make that much in rental sales. Depending on where a family of four lives, they could pay as much as $64 for four tickets at a theater. Since Universal is making “World Tour” available starting Friday for a 48-hour rental at a suggested price of $20, that would mean that “Trolls World Tour” would have to sell just over 2.3 million rentals this weekend to match the theatrical opening weekend of its predecessor in digital sales.

But even if this home release isn’t as profitable as a theatrical opening would have been, “Trolls World Tour” could be an important barometer in how customer viewing habits are changing — perhaps even permanently — as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. Already, Universal has had some success with films that were forced into home release early by the pandemic. During the last week of March, Fandango reported that Universal/Blumhouse’s “The Invisible Man,” which had grossed over $100 million in theaters, was the top-selling film on Fandango’s VOD service FandangoNOW, which was experiencing record usage due to widespread quarantines.