AMC Entertainment CEO Says Three Of Six Major Studios Agree 45-Day Window Needed – CinemaCon

deadline.com:

Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Entertainment, said there’s more agreement around extending exclusive theatrical windows than one might think given the tensions bubbling among the exhibitor community and pretty much exploding at CinemaCon this year. “I have at least three of the six major studios who are completely in agreement that we need to bring back the 45-day window,” he told Deadline as the biggest annual event for theater owners and studios kicks into high gear in Vegas. “And that’s a good start.” AMC is the largest theater chain in the U.S and globally. “Now, if you look at every studio except for Disney, the window is 18 to 36 days.

For Disney, the window is 60 days. Good for Disney … and Disney’s been a very successful studio. So we shall see. But the largest exhibitor in the United States is in serious dialog with studio after studio after studio [because] we as an industry are leaving money on the table by not living up to the 45- day window.” “We have started conversations with almost every major studio so far — we haven’t gotten to everybody yet — that as an industry, collectively, we need to fix this, and we need to bring back at least a 45-day window, and then we can talk about, should it be more than 45 days?

But it can’t be 25 days. It can’t be 28 days, right? It can’t be 32 days, because it’s robbing movie theaters, of moviegoers.” He wouldn’t say which three are on board and which still need convincing.

He hasn’t yet spoken to all of them. “This is still fresh … I’m having dialogue with studios, one after another, after another.