THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 10 MARCH 26, 2020
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ES.Behind the HeadlinesThe Report
carry a heavy debt burden, like
ViacomCBS, Endeavor and theater
chain AMC Entertainment (see
page 18), or those that rely on
travel to theme parks and cruise
ships, like Disney. Cowen analyst
Doug Creutz has cut his earnings
estimates for all the entertain-
ment companies he tracks
through 2022, slashing his price
target for Disney from $159 to
$101 and for ViacomCBS from $
to $17. Widespread
layoffs are expected
in an industry that
had expanded to
meet the demands
of the streaming
content bubble, with agencies
including Endeavor and Paradigm
already cutting staff and with
UTA slashing employee salaries.
The question for many in enter-
tainment is how permanent
these changes will be — will
the industry rebound once the
pandemic has passed and come
to resemble its former self or will
this crisis cement a new normal
in Hollywood?
When Universal executives
called Blumhouse CEO Jason
Blum to discuss plans to make The
Invisible Man available for home
rental just three weeks into its
theatrical run, along with another
Blumhouse movie in theaters, The
Hunt, “I was supportive of their
decision,” Blum says. “It was a
very tough decision. In a time of
crisis ... you have to look forward.
You have to adapt.” Universal had
released Invisible Man wide in
theaters Feb. 28 and made it avail-
able to rent March 20 at a cost of
$19.99 in the U.S., narrowing the
theatrical window to just 21 days.
The $9 million movie, which had
grossed $123.6 million worldwide
before theaters closed, was the top
movie on Fandango’s VOD service
over the weekend of March 20-22.
Blum says Universal execs assured
him their strategy is a tempo-
rary response to the crisis while
making it clear that the Comcast-
owned studio will be using the
unplanned experiment as a way to
learn what consumers will toler-
ate. “Is the audience going to see itBlum6:25 P.M.
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Hollywood Boulevard6:29 P.M.
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Theatre at
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