Will ‘Trolls World Tour’ Profit Off Universal’s Experimental VOD (& Drive-In Theater) Model?

With theaters largely closed due to COVID-19 nationwide (except for a handful of drive-ins), there are many things that make sense financially for major studios when it comes to the distribution of their movies right now.

It made sense that current theatrical releases such as Bloodshot, The Invisible Man, The Hunt, Onward, etc. would quickly go into homes via VOD, EST purchase or streaming.

It also makes sense for some low- and mid-budget movies that might have struggled in a normal theatrical marketplace — i.e. Paramount/MRC’s comedy The Lovebirds, STX’s family action pic My Spy and Disney’s Artemis Fowl — to skip cinemas and head straight into homes. Given how they’re non-events on paper, a home release could be the best destination for such titles, forgoing potential marketing costs and losses.

However, when Universal decided that its $90M DreamWorks Animation sequel TrollsWorld Tour would go both theatrical and VOD rental (48 hours for $19.99) over Easter weekend, instead of being re-scheduled like a bulk of their other future theatrical releases, the decision not only raised eyebrows but received a big grumble from theater owners. That said, exhibitors are not in the position to argue with Universal at this moment; their greatest worry being whether they open in early June or not.

According to Deadline sources, the Trolls franchise (in lifetime consumer products, global TV licenses, home entertainment ancillaries etc.) is estimated to be around $700M ever since the first movie, made under the administration of then-DWA boss Jeffrey Katzenberg, was released in November 2016 and ultimately grossed $346.8M at the global box office. Finance sources say that movie, which carried a $125M pricetag and $105M in global P&A, netted a profit after all ancillaries (not including consumer products) of $19M. Worldwide home entertainment and TV revenues — and remember this was off the cascading of theatrical grosses — were estimated to be around $170M. The hype for Trolls was teed off at the Cannes Film Festival that year with the debut of Justin Timberlake’s single “Can’t Stop the Feeling” which ultimately went quadruple-platinum with close to 8M copies sold and scored an Oscar nom. Dolls, a 52-episode run of spinoff series Trolls: The Beat Goes On on Netflix and an NBC Christmas special followed, among many other tchotchkes.

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