THE WEDNESDAY CHARTS: THE NEW STUDIO THEATRICAL WINDOWS | AMAZON'S and LIONSGATE'S WINDOWS

THE WEDNESDAY CHARTS: THE NEW STUDIO THEATRICAL WINDOWS | AMAZON MGM'S and LIONSGATE'S WINDOWS | April 22, 2026 1) The new studio windows - We want to follow up on the two important announcements that received a lot of industry attention during the last 6 weeks: In mid-March, Universal announced that effective immediately, they are extending the window of time that a movie plays exclusively in theaters from 3 weekends/17 days, to 5 weekends/31 days. And starting next year, it will be 7 weekends/45 days; And last week, Paramount announced that starting immediately their movies will play exclusively in theaters for 7 weekends/45 days. - With those changes, here is an updated windows chart with the recent 1st quarter releases: Disney continues to play their movies in theaters the longest. For Disney, a healthy theatrical run improves everything that follows: digital rental and sales, streaming, television, merchandise and theme parks. Disney is the #2 streamer, and this is their strategy; Universal's recent announcement is extremely important. Since the pandemic, Universal has been the most antagonistic to theater owners, in spite of their success with them. This is a key shift and endorsement; Warner Bros. hasn't made any changes to their strategy. Their theatrical windows are variable - sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. We don't know what will happen after they are owned by Paramount. For now, no changes. Paramount's announcement last week, lengthening their windows to 7 weekends/45 days, was a second important endorsement. SONY has been a vocal supporter of longer theatrical windows. Last week at the annual CinemaCon convention where the studios and theater owners get together and talk upcoming business, Sony said that theater owners should, "Enforce longer windows. Yes, even if that means you cannot play every film." Over at Sony Pictures Studio, their theatrical windows are now the shortest in the business. Measuring from a movie's release date in theaters to the first date it's available for rental or purchase, Sony is the shortest. - For your reference, here are the studios' windows last year (2025): 2) Amazon MGM's theatrical windows - Amazon's emergence as a studio-level producer and distributor is a major gain for the industry. Their lineup of movies in 2026 is on its way to contributing a billion dollars to the worldwide box office. So far this year, Amazon's movies are playing for healthy runs in theaters. Here's what we see so far: Mercy played for 5 weekends/31 days in theaters before going to premium rental and sales, and later to streaming; Melania played for 6 weekends/38 days in theaters and then went to streaming and rental/sales; Crime 101 played for 7 weekends/45 days in theaters and then went to streaming and rental/sales; Project Hail Mary is still playing in theaters. With its enormous success, it's going to have a long run before going to rental, sales and streaming - dates are still TBD. - This is a big improvement compared with last year (please see below). What Amazon is doing that is not helping moviegoing, is for some titles they are going directly from theaters to a combination of streaming and digital rental and sales, without a separate rental/purchase window before streaming. That provides a cheap and tempting way to see a movie on TV as soon as it finishes in theaters, which ultimately hurts moviegoing. FYI, here are Amazon's windows prior to this year: 3) Lionsgate's theatrical windows - Lionsgate's windows are variable: Greenland 2 played for 2 weekends/10 days in theaters before going to premium rental and sales, and later to streaming; The Strangers: Chapter 3 played for 5 weekends/31 days in theaters before going to premium rental and sales, and later streaming; I Can Only Imagine 2 played for 5 weekends/31 days in theaters before going to premium rental and sales, and later streaming. - We anticipate that a hit like Michael, opening this weekend, will have a long exclusive run in theaters before going to rental and sales - again, TBD. Overall - What's happening in the business is extremely positive. The industry has been hurting itself in the long run by cutting into its theatrical business with early home viewing options. "Should we see this movie in a theater?" That's a fair question, and the studios do a lot of work to answer it with each marketing campaign; But if the first thing a moviegoer thinks when they learn about a new film is "How long until this is available at home?," then the studios and theater owners start at a disadvantage, and many times it's impossible to overcome; Shifting the long-term mindset is what this is about. - Two major studios just lengthened their theatrical windows significantly, and it's going to help the business. It's taken time - 5 years - but it's happening, it's excellent for the industry, and there's room for more improvement. Our last two posts were: THE MUMMY | NORMAL openings | Where we are now | April 17 to 19, 2026 weekend here YOU, ME & TUSCANY | FACES OF DEATH openings | Where we are now | April 10 to 12, 2026 weekend here To see all of our work, be sure to upgrade: Upgrade Source: https://franchisere.substack.com/p/the-wednesday-charts-the-new-studio-theatrical-windows-and-what-they-mean-for-the-movie-industry