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How Universal Doubled Down on Big Movies and Came Out on Top
With 'Twisters' and 'Wicked' on its slate, Universal shows it can navigate rocky times and still put out box office hits.
Exclusive distribution deals with content engines like family-content producers Illumination (who made last year’s raging hit “Super Mario Bros.”) and DreamWorks Animation (“Kung Fu Panda 4”), along with genre shop Blumhouse Prods. The studio also has more exclusive and first-look arrangements with filmmakers than any current competitor in the business — names like Jordan Peele, Amy Pascal, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert) and LeBron James all have bungalows on the lot. Distribution in movie theaters and beyond is also key to Universal in unlocking earnings power and gaining the confidence to make bold choices, especially at a time when Disney’s Marvel and Lucasfilm have returned to the drawing board after a string of creative misfires.
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