If you’re out of the loop here, I’ll offer a quick summary of what’s going on. In short, when studios release movies into theaters, it is for a period of time known as the “theatrical window.” That’s basically an exclusive period in which the movie runs in theaters and is not available to rent or watch at home. Because of recent theater closures, Universal released Trolls 2 directly to consumers, or via PVOD.
Theater chains weren’t happy about the decision as they hoped it would be a title that could screen after reopenings, but from Universal’s perspective, the movie was “ready to go” and executives didn’t want to wait. The drama had mostly died down until Shell gave an interview in which he seemed to imply he wanted to release movies in the future both in theaters and via OnDemand. Those statements caused both AMC and Regal to release aggressive responses saying they either won’t play Universal movies or won’t play ones that break the theatrical window.