Universal's Trolls World Tour has reportedly produced more revenue than the original movie did on VOD. In the weeks since the coronavirus pandemic took a turn for the worse in mid-March, the majority of studios have pulled their films off the release calendar on thru to July. Universal was one of the few exceptions, announcing early on it would forgo delaying its Trolls sequel and make it available to rent on-demand on its previous theatrical release date in April, instead. It's something they've wanted to try since Tower Heist in 2011, but the ongoing health crisis gave them an unexpected reason to do so.
With so many people staying home and turning to streaming and VOD for entertainment, Trolls World Tour has unsurprisingly done pretty well by itself. After scoring the biggest debut for a digital movie release on Friday, April 10, it went on to make (supposedly) $50 million in VOD rentals over its opening weekend. The film has only continued to perform strongly in the weeks since then, even in comparison to the first Trolls.
According to TWSJ, Trolls World Tour has not only made $100 million in VOD rentals so far, it's actually generated more revenue than the original Trolls did after five months of theatrical release. That's largely because Universal is retaining approximately 80% of digital rental fees (which are higher than usual for Trolls World Tour, at $19.99), as opposed to earning 50% of box office sales. For comparison's sake, the original Trolls generated $347 million at the global box office (including, $154 million domestically).
The success of Trolls World Tour has already spurred Warner Bros. to announce an identical VOD release for its animated Scooby-Doo reboot SCOOB! on its original theatrical release date in May. Universal has similarly decided to send Judd Apatow and Pete Davidson's comedy The King of Staten Island straight to streaming on June 12, a week earlier than its was previously scheduled to premiere on the big screen. Still, it's worth emphasizing just how unprecedented the current situation is, between theaters being closed worldwide and people self-quarantining to prevent further spread of COVID-19. Indeed, the National Association of Theater Owners has issued a statement assuring the majority of movies delayed because of the coronavirus are still expected to get a theatrical rollout at a later date, as opposed to releasing early via VOD or a streaming service like these movies are doing.
Another thing to keep in mind is Trolls World Tour and SCOOB! are different from other delayed 2020 tentpoles. In addition to costing a lot less (more than half as much, in some cases), they also had a merchandising element which would've made postponing them less cost-efficient than releasing them early on-demand. Likewise, The King of Staten Island is a mid-budget film and doesn't need to break the bank to turn a profit, making a VOD rollout more viable from a financial perspective. Really, the primary thing to take-away from Trolls World Tour's success so far is it's shown this type of VOD release can work, given the right circumstances. That alone could have a long-lasting impact on Hollywood and how it operates in the years to come.
Source: TWSJ