“Argentina 1985” It came with controversies in the audiovisual industry. international chains Cinemark Hoyts, Cinépolis and Showcase wanted the film to be presented exclusively in theaters for 45 days before it opens in Amazon Prime Video, which produced it. The option was rejected by the platform and the giants decided not to project it. The conflict added a new chapter in a fight that exceeds the limits of Argentina.
The networks’ decision did not prevent the film reaches billboards across the country. In fact, since September 29 the film can be seen in 280 theaters that have accepted that the “window time” between the theatrical release and the streaming release is 22 days.
The Digicine distributor She was in charge of those conversations. “We offered the film to all theaters with the conditions and requirements of Amazon. Those who did not agree, did not subscribe,” she told NEWS Eric McCrea Steele, director of the company.
The topic generated a stir in the environment and the Argentine Chamber of the Film Industry (CAIC)) issued a statement to repudiate the decision of the chains: “We regret that a dispute over exhibition windows prevents many Argentines from accessing the largest number of movie theaters throughout the country to fill them and re-contact in person with our cinema and our history”, maintained the text.
What happened has to do with a fight in the background. Before the pandemic, the “window time” that separated the theatrical release from releases in other formats was not much of an issue. Streaming was just beginning to explode and the only competition was cable channels, nothing that worried the industry too much. In fact, there was a tacit agreement that this period would always be three months.
However, the proliferation of platforms changed the business and in the film world they identify a key precedent that changed the rules of the game. In September 2020, “Mulan” was released simultaneously in theaters and Disney Plus, the platform that produced it.
Disney, in addition, informed theaters that from that moment on, this was going to be the path of the highest-grossing films. The response of the international networks was not to show their films for six months. Some time later they sat down to negotiate and agreed that the window would be 45 days.
Hence the new rudeness of the chains, now with “Argentina 1985”. For them, Amazon is again changing the rules of the game without warning. Time will tell who wins in this fight.
