Through all the chaos that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused on the film industry, including the delays of a large number of films that were scheduled to arrive in theaters over the next several months, one film kept its release date, albeit ditching the theatrical part of the equation and going straight to VOD— “Trolls World Tour.” And while box office analysts were debating whether or not Universal did the right thing with this strategy, apparently the numbers speak for themselves, as the ‘Trolls’ sequel has secured a record-breaking opening for the studio.
According to Deadline, Universal says that “Trolls World Tour,” which arrived on VOD Friday, earned its very best first-day numbers for a digital release of a film, surpassing the previous record of “Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom.” While the studio didn’t release exact numbers, it’s being reported that the ‘Trolls’ sequel beat the first-day sales of ‘Fallen Kingdom’ by more than 10x. And if that’s accurate, it appears that ‘World Tour’ earned somewhere north of $20 million on its first day, considering the report claims that ‘Fallen Kingdom’ scored between $2 million and $3 million in its first day of VOD.
Obviously, comparing the release of “Trolls World Tour” and ‘Fallen Kingdom’ isn’t a real apples-to-apples showdown. When ‘Fallen Kingdom’ hit VOD, it was after its billion-dollar run in theaters. “Trolls World Tour,” on the other hand, skipped theaters and made its world premiere on Digital platforms. That being said, the numbers really do speak for themselves, as a $20 million opening day would have likely been pretty great at the box office.
Now, taking Universal out of the equation, the next-best comparison is with “Avengers: Endgame,” which reportedly earned $30 million after its first week of digital availability. Obviously, with more than $20 million likely in the bank, already, it’s clear that “Trolls World Tour” will earn more than ‘Endgame’ over the course of one week. Again, comparing the first-run film to a film that already dominated the box office is skewed, but interesting nonetheless.
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Does this mean the theatrical sky is falling and the future is VOD? Obviously not. However, studios worried that a digital-first release might not earn big bucks can take this as the first example proving that theory wrong. Universal put a lot of effort behind marketing “Trolls World Tour” as a digital-first title, and it has paid off. Maybe, if the COVID-19 pandemic continues well into June, with theaters remaining closed, we could see other studios follow suit? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.