The early months of the pandemic saw Universal Pictures bobbing and weaving like much of the industry, moving big franchises (Fast & Furious), restarting large productions (Jurassic World) and sending movies to PVOD (Trolls World Tour) — not to mention, shortening the theatrical window for titles to as little as 17 days.
During a conversation at SXSW, Universal Pictures chair Donna Langley was asked if there was anything that she would have done differently as Hollywood grappled with the COVID-19 shutdown. “To not drink copious amount of rosé,” she joked. As for the studio? “No, really not.”
In the pandemic, Universal did catch flak from the exhibition community when moving Trolls World Tour to on-demand. But with nearly two years’ worth of hindsight, Langley stands by her decision. “As we look back on it now, it was a good idea and relatively quaint compared to what Warner Bros. ended up doing,” said the chief, referencing the Burbank studio’s decision to release the entirety of its 2021 slate day-and-date in theaters and on streaming service HBO Max. It was a move that upset one of Warner Bros.’ top filmmaking talents: Christopher Nolan.
“Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service,” Nolan said in a statement at the time the release-date changes were announced.
Langley would land Nolan’s next movie, Oppenheimer, for Universal. “I have known Chris and Emma [Thomas, Nolan’s producing partner and wife] for a long time, and I have been very consistent in vocalizing how much we would like to work with them,” explained Langley, who traveled to Nolan’s office and read the script there, which she describes as “phenomenal.”
“He makes films that are undeniably theatrical,” said Langley of Nolan’s work. While at the Austin-based fest, the exec talked about Universal being filmmaker-friendly, minimizing the “friction and noise” that can come with making a film in the studio system. Along with Nolan, Universal’s slate includes entries from Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) and Jordan Peele (Nope), along with franchise fare like Jurassic World Dominion. After Langley’s talk, a three-minute clip from Domino screened and saw Chris Pratt on a motorbike while being stalked by velociraptors and narrowly escaping onto the back of a cargo plane.
The other thing that Universal has on offer? An “excellent distribution and marketing campaign,” noted Langley. THR previously reported that as a part of Nolan’s deal with Universal for Oppenheimer, the studio would commit to a hefty marketing spend. “A theatrical marketing campaign — that big global marketing campaign behind any movie — is what makes a movie matter,” said Langley.
The chief points to marketing as a reason why streaming titles, even big-budgeted ones, fail to stay in the zeitgeist. “We haven’t seen movies break through in streaming yet when they’re just solely streamed,” she said. “The global audience hasn’t been told by a big giant marketing campaign that something is coming or that something is here to stay.”
Source: Hollywood
