Per AMC Theatres chair-CEO Adam Aron, Minnesota AMC Theatres will no longer show any Universal movie.

Following an unprecedented on-demand debut three weeks ago, Universal just announced that Trolls World Tour has raked in nearly $100 million!

Originally, the film was supposed to go straight to theaters. But as the coronavirus shut theaters down, instead of postponing its release Universal decided to send it straight to on-demand for viewers to watch at home. At $19.99 a download and some 5 million downloads, Trolls World Tour has had the largest digital debut for a film of all time, according to Universal. The original Trolls movie, in contrast, grossed $116 million in its first three weeks -- only $16 million more.

Not everyone's so thrilled by the film's success, though. In fact, AMC Theatres is so upset that they've vowed not to show any Universal movies moving forward!

"It is disappointing to us, but [ NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell's] comments as to Universal’s unilateral actions and intentions have left us with no choice," AMC Theatres chair-CEO Adam Aron said. "Therefore, effectively immediately AMC will no longer play any Universal movies in any of our theaters in the United States, Europe or the Middle East."

That includes all seven AMC Theatres in Minnesota. And the threats aren't aimed at Universal alone.

Incidentally, this policy is not aimed solely at Universal out of pique or to be punitive in any way, it also extends to any movie maker who unilaterally abandons current windowing practices absent good faith negotiations between us, so that they as distributor and we as exhibitor both benefit and neither are hurt from such changes.

Yikes! Who's being the troll now? While AMC Theatre's decision doesn't as yet affect other Minnesota movie theaters, the success of Trolls World Tour does raise some good questions -- is the way we watch movies changing and will Minnesota movie theaters return to normal after all this coronavirus passes?

Only time will tell, but until then don't plan a trip to the Cities (or at least an AMC Theatre!) to see your next family movie!

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