The COVID-19 pandemic brought enormous disruption to the movie industry, closing theaters indefinitely by mid-March 2020, halting television and film production, and throwing theatrical release schedules into disarray. Shell had assumed the CEO position at NBCUniversal just months before the beginning of the pandemic and now had several important decisions to make. One immediate decision he faced was how to handle the release of Trolls: World Tour, the highly anticipated sequel to a successful animated film, which had been scheduled to premiere in theaters nationwide in early April. Jeff's decision regarding the Trolls distribution strategy would not only impact the sequel's performance but would also likely have a far-reaching impact on the entire film industry, which had seen studios and theaters battle over the length of the theatrical window for decades. With the pandemic weakening the theater industry's bargaining power, had the opportunity finally arrived for film studios to significantly shorten, or even eradicate, the theatrical window?

Flagship Pioneering, located in Cambridge, MA, was founded in 2000 to create ventures focused on solving unprecedented problems in the life sciences. While the company used a venture capital model to raise capital and fund ventures, it was not a venture capital company in the traditional sense. Flagship Pioneering produced and funded its own ventures.

Founded in 2004, Redfin envisioned a light-touch model in which clients self-served using the digitized platform in exchange for a significantly lower fee than traditional agents. Realizing the narrow appeal of its initial model, Redfin had made significant changes to its strategy while maintaining some key distinctive choices. As of 2016, Redfin served in more than 80 markets throughout the U.S., employed over 700 full-time agents, and had grown over 40% annually since 2014. With additional capital raised through an IPO, Kelman faced decisions on how to allocate these resources in order to grow. Should Redfin adjust its advertising strategy? Should it reconsider the policy of hiring lead agents only as full-time employees? Should Redfin purchase homes and hold inventories?

UFO Moviez is an Indian technology services provider that enables low-cost, digital delivery of films to cinemas. UFO's satellite-based technology enables a significantly wider release of films compared to traditional analog prints and standard, higher-resolution digital prints that must be transported physically. By 2015, 54% of all cinemas in India were using UFO's digital cinema system. UFO has achieved this without upsetting the industry's value chain of producer-traditional distributor-cinema-owner. The company earns revenue through three main streams: fees charged to the producer/distributor for converting films to digital format and distributing them over satellite, fees charged to the cinema owner for leasing the projection systems, and advertising revenue from ads shown during the screening of films. With cinemas in India mostly digitized, however, UFO faces challenges to continual growth. Should UFO focus on increasing its advertising revenue, leveraging UFO's core technology in other areas, or entering the business of film distribution?