Universal Pictures to Make THE INVISIBLE MAN, EMMA, & THE HUNT Available In Homes This Friday

NBCUniversal's Universal Pictures has announced that it will make its current films in theaters available in homes as early as this Friday for on-demand 48-hour rental at the suggested price of $19.99 each, according to Deadline. This includes three films: Blumhouse's The Invisible Man and The Hunt, and Focus Features' Emma. This announcement goes for both domestic and offshore markets where the titles are in release.

Universal/DreamWorks Animation's Trolls World Tour will also go day-and-date in homes and on the big screen. The film was scheduled to be released in theaters on Easter weekend April 10.

"NBCUniversal will continue to evaluate the environment as conditions evolve and will determine the best distribution strategy in each market when the current unique situation changes," read a statement this morning.

The current theatrical window is 90 days. Those titles that don't obey that window aren't booked by the nationwide circuits like AMC, Cinemark and Regal. Netflix has tried to crunch the window in regards to their releases with major chains, but they've never found a common meeting ground, hence, big $200 million productions like Martin Scorsese's lauded The Irishman played in limited theatrical release before finding their way on the streaming service a month later.

At this point in time, the theatrical-VOD day-and-date release policy seen here isn't one set in stone for future titles beyond Trolls World Tour. Decisions on titles and duration have not been made yet.

Jeff Shell, CEO of NBCUniversal, said, "Universal Pictures has a broad and diverse range of movies with 2020 being no exception. Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable. We hope and believe that people will still go to THE MOVIES in theaters where available, but we understand that for people in different areas of the world that is increasingly becoming less possible."

The domestic weekend box office saw a 22-year low of $55.3 million this past weekend, with 109 cinemas closed throughout the country.

Read the original article on Deadline.

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