Trolls World Tour earns nearly $100 million in first 3 weeks on VOD

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Universal Pictures rolled the dice on releasing TROLLS WORLD TOUR exclusively on VOD after the COVID-19 pandemic forced theater closures worldwide. They first announced that the film shattered debut VOD numbers and now they're releasing more figures to suggest that their gamble may have paid off. 

The studio announced that TROLLS WORLD TOUR has scored nearly 5 million rentals since its April 10 debut and earned close to $100 million in digital rental fees. While speaking with the Wall Street Journal, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said "the results for ‘Trolls World Tour’ have exceeded our expectations and demonstrated the viability of PVOD. As soon as theaters reopen, we expect to release movies on both formats."

The big new here is that, according to Universal, the sequel has already pulled in $77 million in revenue, more than the original 2016 animated movie did for the studio. TROLLS carried a budget of $125 million and grossed $153.7 million domestically and $346.9 million worldwide. The budget on TROLLS WORLD TOUR comes in at $90 million and additional revenue is coming in from music sales thanks to the soundtrack driven nature of the film and other merchandising aimed squarely at kids. TROLLS WORLD TOUR finds the Queen of the Hard Rock Trolls trying to take over all the Troll kingdoms which leads to Queen Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and her friends trying different ways to save all the Trolls. The film features the vocal talent of Justin Timberlake, Rachel Bloom, James Corden, Kelly Clarkson, Sam Rockwell, Mary J. Blige & Kenan Thompson.

The VOD model seems to work well for family films since Pixar's ONWARD also saw significant gains when it hit VOD early and this could be why Warner Bros. is opting for this release format with their upcoming animated film SCOOB. Families are stuck at home and looking for new things to watch so they're willing to pay the premium rental fee of $19.99 to cater to their kids. While I don't believe the theatrical release model is dead by any means, despite COVID-19, I do think studios will explore the VOD format more often now than they would have in the past.

Have YOU checked out TROLLS WORLD TOUR on VOD? Do YOU see more studios following suit with this release format?