Battle begins over when and where you can see movies

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While superheroes, monsters and aliens battle on the big screen, a real-life fight is raging behind the scenes that will determine what moviegoers will see at their local cinemas.

The off-screen skirmish centers around the theatrical "window," the time a movie plays exclusively in U.S. theaters before it can be released on DVD or digital, has a period of around 90 days. But upheaval across the media business is fueling debate on whether that should shrink.

At stake is the future of movie theaters and small-screen entertainment as new technology giants upend decades of Hollywood tradition.

Netflix Inc has streamed original movies at the same time, or just a few weeks after, their debut in cinemas. Competitor Amazon Studios has said it would like some of its films to play for only two to eight weeks in theaters before hitting the Amazon Prime Video streaming service.

Many theater owners object, citing potential damage to their business. The group that awards the Oscars is weighing whether to respond, and A-list celebrities are taking sides.

The Netflix logo on their office building in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 16, 2018. /Reuters Photo‍

Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Entertainment Holdings, the world's largest theater operator, said his company would "consider any and all alternatives" but any changes to the current industry standard "would have to be beneficial to us or neutral to us."

Even the king of the multiplex – Walt Disney Co – is getting into streaming, and is set to unveil details on Thursday of its strategy. That has stoked concern that it, too, might want movies in living rooms sooner.

Disney executives insist they remain rock-solid behind existing windows for big event films. Disney's franchise fare such as "Black Panther" and "Avengers: Infinity War" generated a total of 7.3 billion U.S.dollars at global box offices in 2018.

At a recent CinemaCon convention for theater owners in Las Vegas, Disney and other studios stressed the special experience of watching a film in a darkened theater.

"A lot more people have had their first kiss in a movie theater than their parents' living room," said Toby Emmerich, a senior executive at Warner Bros., part of AT&T Inc's WarnerMedia, which also plans a streaming push.

Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren was more forthright. "I love Netflix, but fuck Netflix!" she said to cheers and applause. "There's nothing like sitting in the cinema and the lights go down."

Netflix is in talks to buy the Egyptian Theatre, a historic movie house in the heart of Hollywood, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Netflix would host premieres and other industry events at the theater, which opened in 1922, the source said.

Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke, meanwhile, declared the company "committed to the theatrical experience." In June, it is slated to release comedy "Late Night" in theaters, with a traditional window.

Shorter windows would keep some customers at home, said Greg Marcus, chief executive of The Marcus Corporation, owner of the fourth-largest U.S. theater chain.

"If you damage the business and take away 10 percent of our customers, we won't be able to reinvest in the theatrical experience," Marcus said. "That would ultimately hurt content providers."

Others said consumers are happy with the current system. Ticket sales in 2018 reached a record 41 billion U.S. dollars globally and 12 billion U.S.dollars in the United States and Canada, even as Netflix released about 90 movies for streaming.

"We're not talking about something that's broken," Vue International cinemas CEO Tim Richards said in an interview.