The Fall Guy is Now Available on VOD Despite Still Playing Theaters

Before the pandemic began, a three-month exclusive theatrical window was pretty much standard operating procedure for most big movies. If you wanted to see something when it was still new, you had to see it in a theater. In the pandemic era, even 45 days now feels like a gift for some films. Universal, dating back to “Trolls: World Tour” in 2020, has been at the forefront of relying increasingly on VOD to help its films make money. Other studios have followed suit. Now, generally speaking, only movies that are seeing continued success are kept in theaters exclusively.

The box office numbers for “The Fall Guy,” I would argue, provide evidence that things should be handled differently for the long-term health of the industry. We’re talking about a movie that is, as it stands, a straight-up flop. No two ways about it. That being said, Universal has every motivation to try and make back as much money as possible. So sure, in some way trying to dovetail off of the theatrical release marketing to help the VOD release makes sense. Universal has argued heavily in favor of VOD in recent years, after all. But let’s not forget the most important thing; people are still going to see this movie in theaters.

“Fall Guy” dropped less than 40% on its third weekend. There is audience retention happening and, if moviegoers weren’t trained to understand that a movie will almost always be available at home in two or three weeks, they might be more inclined to see it in a theater. The studio could keep it in theaters and soak up every dollar they can get and demonstrate to audiences that this is a big movie that we made for theaters, so you should see it in a theater.

Universal has, instead, opted to continue to shorten that exclusive theatrical window, which was one of the main motivations many people still had to see a movie in theaters. This is wrong-headed and shortsighted, to my eyes.