WENN‘Top voice stars’ of the ‘Trolls’ sequel were reportedly not told beforehand that the animated movie would be skipping theaters and premiering straight on VOD.
- May 7, 2020
AceShowbiz – Theater owners were apparently not the only ones shocked by NBCUniversal’s decision to release “Trolls World Tour” straight on demand. Words are the movie’s “top voice actors,” including Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick, were caught off guard with the animated flick’s on-demand release.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cast was not informed ahead of the March 16 announcement that the film would be skipping theaters and premiering straight on VOD. The movie was made available for rent for $19.99 on VOD on April 10, the same day it was slated to hit theaters.
Now, the stars are reportedly demanding to be paid the bonuses they would have received had the movie opened theatrically. Generally, the actors would earn bonuses once the film makes $350 million at the global box office.
As Universal has bragged about the impressive $100 million gross the movie has earned since its release, the stars are still looking for the compensation they agreed on when they signed on for the film years back. However, unlike “relatively transparent box office numbers,” studios aren’t obligated to share the on-demand numbers.
Meanwhile, industry veterans think that the movie may never make a dime, considering the on-demand release doesn’t cater to fans in countries where on-demand is not yet a big business. “They probably overhyped it,” says Hal Vogel of Vogel Capital Management. “But like most people in the business, they haven’t had a lot of success in the past two or three months, so any ray of sunshine helps.”
Prior to this, NBCUniversal enraged AMC Theaters after its CEO Jeff Shell said that “as soon as theaters reopen, we expect to release movies on both formats.” This prompted AMC Theaters to ban future all Universal movies if the studio goes ahead with this model.
Source: Movies - aceshowbiz.com
