Universal’s ‘Trolls’ Sing to Record Digital Opening

With numbers still coming in, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is seeing record weekend and opening day numbers for the digital rental debut of DreamWorks Animation sequel Trolls World Tour. Released Friday, the colorful, musical adventure reportedly took in 10 times UPHE’s previous top digital title, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which made $2-3 million domestically on its first day. The animated outing is also expected to soar past Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, which had a first week total of $30M.

FandangoNOW reported Monday afternoon that Trolls World Tour took a long lead in the service’s most popular streaming titles, helping it attain its best weekend in the VOD platform’s history. The title is officially FandangoNOW’s most pre-ordered title of all time, best-selling opening day film and best-selling film during its first three days of digital release.

The service’s top 10 list Mon.-Sun. runs:

1. Trolls World Tour
2. Bad Boys for Life
3. Sonic the Hedgehog
4. Birds of Prey
5. The Invisible Man
6. Dolittle
7. The Call of the Wild
8. Like a Boss
9. Bloodshot
10. Jumanji: The Next Level

“Following weeks of anticipation for its home premiere, Trolls World Tour is now FandangoNOW’s streaming debut champ, with the best preorders, first day and opening weekend sales we’ve ever seen,” commented FandangoNOW Head Cameron Douglas. “We’re pleased that families looking for a much-needed entertainment break are enjoying DreamWorks Animation’s latest movie on our service.”

Trolls World Tour is currently the No. 1 title across all major VOD platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, DirecTV, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Vudu, Xfinity and YouTube. (Find out where to catch the flick at WatchTrolls.com.)

The Walt Dohrn-directed sequel (which you can read all about here) was on the verge of its theatrical release when COVID-19 precautions started shutting down cinemas around the world, with marketing in full swing as well as promotional partnerships, celebrity engagements for Troll voicers Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, etc., and merchandising, which influenced the studio to go all-in on a VOD launch rather than push back a big screen release.

While digital/video revenue figures are not monitored in real-time by a central system like theatrical box office — instead relying on individual platform’s weekly reports directly to studios — the”new normal” of blockbuster digital-first opens may harken in a new era of transparency.

[Source: Deadline]