Universal Pictures is slowing down the arrival of new movies in homes, an acknowledgment that keeping films exclusive to theaters is still Hollywood’s most reliable way to bolster ticket sales.
Universal said on Thursday that it would immediately begin guaranteeing theaters a minimum of five weekends of exclusive play for new movies, ending a pandemic-era policy that guaranteed only three. Starting in January, Universal will move to a minimum of seven weekends of guaranteed exclusivity.
AMC Entertainment, the country’s largest theater operator, called Universal’s shift in strategy “extraordinarily beneficial” in a statement, adding that it “strengthens the entire theatrical ecosystem.”
The change is part of a wider effort by Universal to update its “windows,” Hollywood shorthand for the system of maximizing value by releasing movies first in theaters, then for digital rental and later on subscription streaming services. Universal, for instance, has already gradually moved to later and later streaming availability for its movies (later than any competitor).
Many consumers consider films on streaming services to be “free,” since they have already paid a monthly subscription fee, various studies have found.
“Our windowing strategy has always been designed to evolve with the marketplace, but we firmly believe in the primacy of theatrical exclusivity and working closely with our exhibition partners to support a healthy, sustainable theatrical ecosystem,” Donna Langley, the chairwoman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, said in an email.
One important wrinkle: Universal’s corporate sibling, Focus Features, which makes smaller-budget specialty films like “Hamnet” and “Bugonia,” will not change its theatrical exclusivity policy. Three weekends, or about 17 days, is all that Focus will continue to promise.
NBCUniversal said specialty films — one of the most challenged genres at the box office — required special handling. For some of these movies, a theatrical release has become valuable mostly as a marketing tool for what Hollywood calls “premium video on demand,” the sales window that immediately follows theatrical exclusivity. Focus’s movies also tend to open in a handful of theaters at first, expanding gradually to more markets as word-of-mouth demand builds.
“Hamnet,” for instance, arrived in 119 theaters on Nov. 26. It slowly expanded to 1,996 theaters over 10 weekends of exclusive play before arriving on premium video on demand on Feb. 3. “Hamnet” is still playing in more than 600 theaters. Domestic ticket sales total about $24 million.
“Universal remains a theatrical-first studio,” Ms. Langley said. “That’s proven by the breadth of our slate, our commitment to our filmmakers and the ongoing investments we make in the creative community.”
Over the past year, theatrical exclusivity — how long the window should be — has become a renewed topic of debate in Hollywood. The subject became superheated last month when Netflix and Paramount Skydance were fighting to acquire the Warner Bros. movie studio. Both Netflix and Paramount Skydance vowed to give theaters 45-day windows of exclusivity, which translates to seven weekends.
Thomas E. Rothman, Sony’s movie chairman, recently appeared on “The Town,” a podcast focused on the entertainment industry, and went on a tear about Hollywood’s needing to work harder to bolster the box office. “Protect the exclusivity — protect the exclusivity, period!” he said.
Behind the agita: Yearly ticket sales in the United States and Canada remain roughly 22 percent below totals for prepandemic years. Foot traffic is down even more because theaters have raised ticket prices considerably since then.
As a result, some theater chains have been hanging on by a thread. For 2025, AMC reported a net loss of $632 million. (It has more than $4 billion in debt.) “We will continue to take actions to close theaters, to reduce leases as we go forward,” Sean Goodman, AMC’s chief financial officer, told investors on a conference call last month.
The iPic theater chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 25, blaming the increased popularity of streaming services for “fundamentally” altering the movie exhibition business.
Universal last updated its theatrical exclusivity policy in 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead of giving theaters a window of about 70 days — then the industry standard — Universal began making its movies available for premium video on demand after as little as 17 days, or three weekends.
Other studios followed in scattershot fashion, creating a jumble of distribution policies for customers to navigate.
Last year, Paramount allowed a “Mission: Impossible” movie to play exclusively in theaters for 88 days, while limiting six films to 31 days and two others to 24 days, according to David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes an influential Hollywood newsletter. Warner Bros. swung to windows lasting between 17 and 52 days for its movies, while Sony Pictures moved to a range of 24 to 45 days.
Universal mostly offered 17 days. At the other extreme, Disney mostly gave theaters 60 days or more (sometimes much more).
The result? Confused customers. Studio research has indicated that people are sure about only one thing anymore — that most movies will arrive in their homes quite soon.
“It hurts the box office,” Mr. Gross said. “More uniformity from studios would help, as would going back to a longer exclusive window for theaters.”
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