Cinemark's Deal With Universal Is Better for Cinemark Than Universal

Perhaps taking a cue from rival movie theater chain AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK) has worked out a new movie exhibition agreement with Universal Studios, owned by Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA). Simply put, Cinemark will enjoy exclusive rights to show a film for the first three weekends following its premiere, and if it does well, it will get another two weekends of exclusivity before Universal can monetize that movie as a streaming pay-per-view.

It seems like business as usual within the video entertainment world, which is changing quickly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Universal altogether canceled the theatrical release of Trolls World Tour earlier this year, as movie houses were closed to curb the spread of the virus. Instead, it released the film directly to consumers as a premium video-on-demand title, breaking records in the process.

Walt Disney's Mulan was also kept out of theatrical loops and instead offered to existing Disney+ subscribers for an additional fee. Meanwhile, AT&T's Warner Brothers took a chance on releasing Tenet in theaters after they had mostly opened up by early September, and while it wasn't a flop, it clearly struggled. It's noteworthy that Warner recently decided to release Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters the same day it intends to offer it -- for free on Christmas day -- to HBO Max subscribers as a streaming title.

Source Fool.com