Fast and Furious fans just got terrible news

Unlike its plan with F9, Universal made the huge decision amid the coronavirus pandemic to ditch a theatrical release window for Trolls World Tour in favor of a premium video on demand debut. It was unclear how successful the gamble would be, but the animated sequel reportedly exceeded NBCUniversal’s expectations, earning an estimated $100 million in the first three weeks of its North American VOD launch (via The Wall Street Journal). “As soon as theaters reopen, we expect to release movies on both formats,” Shell told WSJ.

Neither AMC nor NATO, the National Association of Theatre Owners, responded well to Shell’s comment. After declaring that the policy announcement was “not some hollow or ill-considered threat,” Aron added that it would apply to anyone considering expanding into a premium video on demand (PVOD) model. “Incidentally, this policy is not aimed solely at Universal… it also extends to any movie maker who unilaterally abandons current windowing practices absent good faith negotiations between us,” he said in the statement.

A speedy and pointed response from Universal clarified that Shell’s comments on release window and platform plans had been misunderstood. According to the studio statement, theatrical releases were never off the table, with NBCUniversal only planning to do “PVOD when that distribution outlet makes sense.” The statement reads in part, “We look forward to having additional private conversations with our exhibition partners, but are disappointed by this seemingly coordinated attempt from AMC and NATO to confuse our position and our actions.”

AMC didn’t take sitting down with Universal “to discuss different windows strategies and different economic models” off the table between now and when theaters do reopen. But if an agreement can’t be met, fans may never get to see F9 race into theaters.