Trolls World Tour is available now to rent on VOD platforms, but even fans of the first movie may balk at paying $20 for temporary access to the sequel. The steep price tag is the result of the film industry's efforts to adapt to the current circumstances, with theaters worldwide closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic and viewers stuck watching movies and TV at home.
Directed by Walt Dorhn, Trolls World Tour is an animated musical adventure in which Queen Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake) must stop the Queen of Hard Rock, Barb (Rachel Bloom), from conquering all of the different troll tribes. Trolls World Tour has received favorable reviews and would have been a fun trip to the movies for families with kids, with Universal Pictures originally planning a theatrical release for April 10. Though it stuck with that date, Trolls World Tour has instead released on VOD rental platforms like Fandango Now for the price of $19.99.
The cost of renting new movies like Trolls World Tour, which would have otherwise released wide in theaters, is justified as far as distributors are concerned by the fact that multiple people will usually be watching. Had audiences gone out to see the movie in a theater instead, $19.99 is around what they would expect to pay for two attendees (the average cost of a movie ticket in 2019 was $9.08), and with more viewers than that the rental cost could even be called a bargain. The major caveat, of course, is that watching a movie on a TV at home doesn't exactly match the experience of seeing it in a theater. If you do want to see Trolls World Tour on a big screen, the movie is also showing at 20 drive-in theaters across the United States - but even going to the drive-in is arguably an unnecessary risk during a pandemic.
Considering that $19.99 is more in line with the usual price of buying a home video movie release, viewers may be wondering why Trolls World Tour isn't available to buy as well as rent. The simple answer is that the straight-to-VOD model is not the same as a Digital HD release, which can still be expected in a few months along with the Blu-ray and DVD release of the movie. Studios are trying to reduce their losses as much as possible at this time, and there's no way that a movie with Trolls World Tour's estimated $100 million production budget could recoup its expenses through Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD sales alone.
Studios have taken different approaches to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdown. Major blockbusters like Fast 9, No Time To Die and Wonder Woman 1984 have had their release dates pushed back to times when distributors hope theaters will be open again. Other movies, such as Artemis Fowl, will go directly to streaming platforms like Disney+. With Trolls World Tour and other movies that have taken the VOD rental approach, studios may be using the current situation as an opportunity to test a new potential release model that could even continue after life returns to normal.
Whether this approach will be successful remains to be seen. Not only does making Trolls World Tour available digitally leave it vulnerable to piracy, many households are currently finding their budgets strained due to businesses closing down and laying off or furloughing employees. When every penny counts, $19.99 may prove too high a price to pay just to keep the kids quiet for a couple of hours.