Open Forum Friday: Should Blockbusters Be Released All Year Round?
There’s an interesting discussion that cropped up this week in a recent interview with John Fithian, CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, and Mike Campbell, chairman and CEO of Regal Entertainment. While talking about the potential for this summer’s movies to make even more money than last summer, they pointed out one of the problems with crowding all of the big films into a few months of the year:
“There are only so many blockbusters you can tolerate in the year, but in summer when they are so close together we are losing money. With those huge titles last May, we lost— in my estimation —$50 million-$100 million because we had them all in one month. If one of those had been in April, I think we would have made a lot more money.”
They seem to be pushing for the summer release window to be extended by a month or two. The main justification usually given for big movies to be released in the summer is usually because kids are not in school, which expands the potential audience. There’s also a belief that people respond best to carefree, mindless entertainment throughout the summer months. However, I think these guys might be onto something here. Not only do the competing blockbusters all start to bite into each other’s profit margins, but moviegoers start to burn out on them by August.
Personally, I’d love to see a good balance of big budget action spectacles and smaller indie dramas peppered throughout the year. It makes good business sense, and it gives audiences more variety to choose from. What do you think… would you rather see the major studio releases more spaced out during the year? Would you pay to see the occasional low budget film in the middle of July or August? Or is there just something about hot weather and big explosions that make for an irresistible combination? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (10)
I’d be totally on board for blockbusters all year around. I never understood why they had to all be in the summer anyway. It would be nice to get some good action movies in during Feb/Mar/Oct months. While on the other hand it would also be good to see films that will contend for awards during the summer months too.
I wonder what films that guy Mike Campbell was talking about losing money when because of the time they were released? I thought Speed Racer lost lots of money because it was crap.
Posted by Stephen on June 6th, 2008I think one in particular they might have been talking about is Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. He has a good point though… in the good ol’ days, popular movies would run for an entire year. Nowadays, even a really popular movie is out of theatres within a month or two.
Posted by Sean on June 6th, 2008Being all stacked together sucks. I waited 10 days after Indy was released to see it and wound up having to see it in a tiny screen theatre. Sex and the City and THe Strangers forced it out of the larger screen.
Posted by Wes on June 6th, 2008If I want to see a big summer-type blockbuster, I’ll see it regardless of what time of the year it comes out. I can’t speak for anyone else, but that’s my feeling on the matter. It doesn’t have to be the three care-free summer months to get me into a theater.
Posted by Rian on June 6th, 2008It’s the logistics of this argument that’s the problem. The point is that all studios want their big mindless productions to open during the peak movie months. But how do you tell some movie studios that there movie cannot be released in July because it is overcrowded? It is not as if there is one LORD OF THE MOVIES who decides shooting and release schedules. The blockbuster movie industry corresponds to oligopoly model of economics. Its a free market that sorts itself out. Memorial Day weekend and 4th of July weekend are probably the biggest weekends for movies for the whole year. And yet all movies are not released on those two weekends. Why? Because the dates are spread out as far as possible in order to maximize earning potential in the summer months, while at the same time reducing blockbuster overlap. I say leave it as it is. If this really becomes a “problem”, it will sort itself out.
Posted by Matt on June 6th, 2008Lord of the Movies…. lol
Posted by joe on June 6th, 2008“Blockbuster” is code word for “over budget, so lets hype the shit out of this so we can get our money back”.
Posted by Baychuk on June 7th, 2008yes i would love to see blockbuster film all year around and not just around them couple of months.
Posted by Roy on June 8th, 2008Yea? How’d that strategy of over hyping work out for Speed Racer.
Posted by Wes on June 8th, 2008Hey, I’ve been lurking here for a few months, and decided to create an account today. Just figured I’d drop in and say hi
Posted by ovesesillTix on June 12th, 2008Leave a Reply