News: Bloodshot Available On Digital March 24

Vin Diesel's super soldier movie, Bloodshot, which had the unfortunate luck of opening the weekend before all movie theaters shut down, is being released on digital on March 24 for $19.99.  This would be an electronic sell-through, meaning that viewers will now own the movie that was just released in theaters.  This is a different arrangement than Universal's idea of having premium, 24-hour rentals for $20 and seems like a more realistic way to tempt moviegoers, although I applaud Universal for being the first to announce this groundbreaking idea in light of Coronavirus.

This move occurs as Columbia Pictures looks to recoup some of the $45M budget.  Bloodshot had a poor weekend, only picking up $9.1M as many moviegoers social distanced themselves from the theaters as Coronavirus fears in the US escalated.  This latest move is an interesting one but it seems unlikely that a lot of movies will take this route.  It seems more likely that companies are delaying the openings rather than going direct to home, with Universal's Trolls: World Tour the major exception.  But all of this is very fluid so that could change if Bloodshot does well amid quarantined viewers!