I was going to post this when I found out Batman was moved up, but I think it's more of a general question. Sorry if its a repeat thread, but typing Wednesday into the search engine really wasn't much of a filter.

With the expection of Wednesday releases before Thursday holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christams, why do movies bother with the mid-week release date. I think it's counter productive for box office numbers.

Really, look at movies trends. Basically, a movie with mediocre reviews, or that is unheard of, gets a massive opening weekend (like Passion did) and it piques people's interests. If the opening weekend was not a breakthrough surprise, then the legs suffer because disinterested people wouldn't look twice. Opening weekend makes a big deal on legs does it not?

As much as we argue front loading kills a movie, what kills a movie is if it is bad, period. A bad movie makes huge opening weekend numbers and everyone tells their friends not to bother watching it. However a movie still needs front-loading if its going to take off at all. A movie expected to make 2 million that surprisingly pulls in 5 million opening weekend makes the front page. People think to themselves, all of a sudden "Hey I've never heard of this movie, but look at how many people are watching it."

Putting Blockbusters, especially in the summer with no end-of-week holiday, on a Wednesday release is a no-no. Look, even Pirates of the Carribean didn't have a thrilling opening weekend because Wednesday and Thursday took some of the steam off of it. Imaging what would have happened if the monday papers had said it broke the weekend's b.o. high, intead of not even breaking into top 20 charts?

If the movie is good, it lets the word of mouth get out there. Or if there's a lot of surrounding competition it gives it more of a five day period to make all the money it can before some huge movie comes out a week or two later. In Shrek 2's case, even the opening weekend was higher then it would've been thanks to the WOM from Wednesday-Thursday.

I think Spider-Man 2's $180M six day tally last summer made studio's realize that a Wednesday opening is more profitable than a 5 day.

So Spiderman got released on Tuesday? Eh, I guess studios can release when ever they want, but still. If one anticipates all the people that broke down the doors to wee Shrek 2 the weekdays before, and crammed them all in on the weekend, that would have been a huge weekend. wom would have then carried through more effectively to have an even more impressive second weekend?

I guess I just think the tactic gets used poorly. They did this with movies such as MC2 and Beauty Shop that really could have used more impressive weekend numbers to get people into the theatres the following week. This way they just seemed generally unimpressive. Compared to Sin City which was smart and held its guns for that Friday.

Well I'd definitely agree that having a 5 day hurts if the movie is pretty bad/has bad WOM, or for that matter is small and released outside of the summer. Assault on Precinct 13 was helped because the word was pretty strong on it, but State Property 2 crashed and burned, making about 1/3 of Assault's weekend just comparing the opening day vs. weekend ratio.

Oh, and Spider-Man 2 had a holiday on Monday, it was released Wednesday.

No, Monday was part of that weekend, since it was the day after the 4th of July, that's why he said 6-day weekend.

Call me neutral, but if HP3 was released two days before its official release date, would it gross more?

Moreover, why is it that Wednesday release is to blame for killing a movie's chance to make more box office gross than what it grossed already before discontinue theatrical release (unless Shrek 2 had a poor release date)?

I mean despite good WOMs/reviews, there might be negativity (from everywhere) on the movie based more on their knowledge of the novel before watching it THAN depending on age groups like kids.

In other words, there isn't enough point about Wednesday releases, dolcevita

As far as i know ; studios get the biggest share of the percentages from films in the first two weeks for blockbusters. Other kinds of film like arthouse/expanders can neogiate other theatrical arrangements which ensures its maintaining theaters for a longer time; blockbusters drop fast and strip theaters equally as fast.

The logic of getting more bang from the run by launching it on a wednesday means its actually not benefiting theaters; but rather benefiting studios, as blockbusters continue on their run the theaters begin to claim a larger percentage of the gross. They pounce on more profit when the films are potent and then by the time its losing theaters significantly; its made the studio a shitload anyway.
So really, profit motives. Fanboys rush out to see it, it cancels out in part the chances of sell outs for the weekend and if the films good gets the word of mouth out there for the first weekend.

There really is no need for pictures like Miss Congienality 2 and Beauty Shop to pounce on 5 day bows, id say anything outside of the summer season where kids are out of school, and the christmas season when everyones off and weekdays are massive, are pointless for a 5 day bow.

Ah, thanks for the inptu Michael. Didn't know that studios made profit on a time schedule. I just thought they bargained a percentage (x amount of money for every ticket) and it stayed steady. I didn't realize they don't get as much after a certain amount of time. That would really explain how front-loaded and advertisement heavy movies have become instead of depending on good wom.

That seems awefully hectic when dealing with different release runs in different areas, and rotating films, but I guess those smaller ones are done differently than uniform wide release ones, as you mentioned.

Yeah, it just seemed like a head scratcher why MC2 and Beauty Shoip would do it, since I'd assume any movie that tries to prevent early reviews already knows it doesn't have wom going for it, and would try to jazz up their opening weekend numbers to create interest rather than letting those movies not even take top spot on their opening weekends (I think neither of them did). Had they at least come in number one, it might have made a few more people interested in seeing it the following week?

I guess it does matter less though for the very big blockbusters, or for movies that don't fear poor response. So Star Wars isn't going to care either way.

Thanks for the info.



I'd respond to your query, only I can't even figure out exactly what you were trying to say/ask?

Studio's release it on Wednesday for HIGH 5 day numbers. Opening days are always one of the biggest days for a movie - and Thursdaly lets the WOM go out and then BAM you got a weekend = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

WHAT Titanic didnt break $100 million in 5-days. There wasn't much of a problem there.

Quite true

In addition, big franchise films where there is a bit of faith for them can actually do better with Wednesday releases. Nothing better than to have a bunch of fanboys screaming how freaking coooool a movie is and spreading the word and stuff. In addition, it also gives the opportunity for fans to go watch the movie once again on the weekend for casual viewing with other friends who usually do wait till the weekends.

You can have my inptu anytime

My Hero...

@bABA..that's true, it allows for fanboydom double viewings in a way that maybe sometimes waiting a whole week could cool the excitement.

I think this studio reaping benefit early model is why so much money gets wasted on promo rather than depending on wom, and also just leads to insane front-loading. Don't know if its the brightest idea? Fiscally its sound, but what does it do for encouraging quiet, quality movies?????

I think they have Wednesday release just because they can. Some have good reasoning, but some like Beauty Shop and Assault on Precinct 13 are stupid. Why didn't both of those movies open on Friday. They were both counter-programming. Beauty Shop to Sin City and Assault on Precinct 13 to Are We There Yet? They should have opened on Friday. Also, why the hell are there Thursday releases? They are stupid. Why did Miss Congeniality 2 open on a Thursday. The only others that have opened on Thursdays that I can think of are Matrix Reloaded, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.

I agree with the first part, that for a lesser known film winning the weekend is vital to survival and wednesday release can work against that. But with some of the bigger well known movies that tend to appeal to young males, especially sequels, these often have sharp drop offs in the following week because their audience sees the release as an "Event" that they can experience wiht their peers. So for a big well known blockbuster a wednesday release is simply a way of getting a higher theater count, lengthways instead of widthways, if that makes any sense.