Would you rather see the Rick Grimes movies at home or in theaters?

With so many home releases, so how do you want to see the Rick Grimes movies?

The effects of novel coronavirus continue to wreak havoc on the television and movie industry as studios scramble to get back to work to prevent further production delays. While the pandemic might have given AMC a chance to fine-tune the Rick Grimes movie script, it might end up impacting how the movie is made, when the movie is made and how it arrives to fans. This begs the question: How do you want to watch the Rick Grimes movie?

(Full disclosure: At this point there is no telling whether there is one Rick Grimes movie or a trilogy, so this article will go back and forth between the singular and plural)

When Scott M. Gimple first announced plans for Rick Grimes’ story to continue in a cinematic format, the plan was for the movie to appear as a television special on AMC. Given the network’s desire to grow their streaming service, it makes perfect sense to use the movie to build an audience.

Then, several months after the announcement, another announcement came during San Diego Comic-Con 2019: Universal had optioned the movie and was going to release it in theaters. This was major news, of course, but it came with its own set of challenges.

As soon as the deal between AMC and Universal Pictures was announced, the scripts needed to be tweaked so that the movies would appeal to fans and newcomers who might never have experienced the movies, and that could explain the delays in filming.

Now, though, studios are looking at the theater landscape and realizing that there’s a direct market option that can allow them to provide theatrical releases to consumers directly. With all of the uncertainties of what the next 12-18 months hold for COVID-19 and its impact on entertainment, AMC might consider returning to its original plan.

(And Universal might not mind that option at all given the success of the Trolls World Tour movie on home release and the subsequent rift between the studio and theaters)

The major differences between having a movie premiere in theaters versus a home release stem from things like scope, visuals and sound quality and overall experience. The Walking Dead fans generally experience the show on their televisions, laptops or tablets, with the exception of a few episodes that have debuted in theaters. (But those events are few and very far between)

For the time being, it looks like AMC and Universal will continue to move forward together to bring the Rick Grimes movie to life, but there is no way of knowing what the release will look like when the movie finally arrives. (At this point we’re looking at late 2021 at the very earliest, and 2022 as the likely target date)

When the moment finally arrives, how would you rather see the movie? Are you particular to one a theatrical release or small screen premiere, or is having Rick’s story enough for you? (I know I’m in the latter category!) Let us know in the comments!