Fast 9 Won’t be Shown in Theaters, Could’ve Just Killed Movie Theaters Forever

Some movie theaters seem to have hit full panic mode on the heels of some Fast 9 news. The powers behind the latest Fast and Furious film have had to change their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally, the film was delayed until next year.

From there, they decided that the film would still hit theaters but have a home release as well. This was a model that supposedly had great success when considering the Trolls World Tour film.

However, both AMC and Regal, two of the biggest movie theater outlets in the country were completely against it. In fact, the theaters decided to push back by not showing any movies from Universal including Fast 9. Therefore, Fast 9 will head straight to streaming services. We haven’t confirmed which services yet. It seems like that will be up to whoever is willing to pay for the movie.

As we know, every year, the Fast franchise has basically proven to be a license to print money. There have been some who have been vocal about things going too far. From the business side of things, though, it would be downright moronic to even consider canceling the franchise. This would lead us to believe that fans would pay to see the movie no matter what platform it’s on.

When considering the move, it seems like there is even more money to be made for studios going straight to on-demand. Most importantly, studios end up with about 50% of revenues when movies hit theaters. If a movie goes straight to on-demand, they’ll make about 80%. Even if the sales numbers are impacted, they can still make the same amount of money by selling fewer movies.

In a world where convenience is king, it seems like just about everyone has some sort of streaming platform. Now that studios are having their hand forced to going straight to on-demand in the days of COVID-19, they may just be gathering some valuable data.

Lastly, it would seem as if there is one argument left for theaters. Of course, you’re going to want to see an action movie like Fast 9 on the big screen, right? As of today, we think there’s still an argument for theaters having a purpose, even if theatergoers are spending $30 on popcorn. On the other hand, though, home theater technology is moving at such a pace that watching films at home may soon be of higher quality at a more affordable price. Will this move be the first domino in a series that leads to the death of the movie theater?

Below, Craig Lieberman gives us the full breakdown of what has been happening. It’ll be interesting to see how all of this will pan out.