A general sentiment that’s easy to find online these days is that the 90-day theatrical exclusivity window is dead and likely won’t be returning even when the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
Speaking at a virtual investment conference hosted by Morgan Stanley this week, Disney CEO Bob Chapek seems to agree with that statement and indicates his company will likely shrink the exclusive period when its films play only in theaters.
“The consumer is probably more impatient than they’ve ever been before, particularly since now they’ve had the luxury of an entire year of getting titles at home pretty much when they want them.
So, I’m not sure there’s going back. But we certainly don’t want to do anything like cut the legs off a theatrical exhibition run. [Moviegoers will not] have much of a tolerance for a title, say, being out of theatrical for months just sort of sitting there, gathering dust.”
Chapek however did not specify what kind of window model his company intends to use in the future. He does say that the ‘Premier Access’ option they employed on both “Mulan” and this week’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” will remain a distribution option for the foreseeable future.
It’s expected 2019’s $11.4 billion overall domestic box office haul across all the studios won’t be equalled again until at least 2022 if not 2023 according to analysts.
Chapek also says the ‘four-quadrant appeal’ is key to the dynamic growth of the Disney+ service which is at almost 100 million subscribers in several dozen countries. Intriguingly he confirmed that around 50% of subscribers globally do not have kids and even they did not expect the non-family appeal.
Source: Deadline