Rant on timing in the movie biz

[SpacemanSpiff]

Usually I don't rant on Hollywood, but I saw this (the full trailer) for Edge of Tomorrow in the theaters last weekend when I saw the latest X-Men film (a good film, BTW, if you can get past a few continuity errors).

http://youtu.be/yUmSVcttXnI

Invasion leaves, passing over the white cliffs of Dover, England; invasion force lands on a beach, under attack, including Tom Cruise's line "I die within five minutes of landing on that beach, along with everybody else."

OK, the movie looks like a mashup of a war film with Groundhog Day, with some basic biotech scifi thrown in. Another high-tech kaboom movie. Not a problem, doesn't mean I'm going to see it, or will at least wait until it hits Redbox.

Then, they close with the release date.

June 6.

The seventieth anniversary of D-Day.

Please tell me this wasn't deliberate on somebody's part at Warner Brothers, because if it was, it's not cool.

My first father-in-law was in that invasion. He rarely talked about the war, and D-Day was one of the few times he got emotional.

Nuff said. End of rant.

[mrkelley23]

I'm sure it will turn out to be one of those deliberate mistakes that gets apologized for profusely, while gleefully watching public attention rise for the movie.

[silverscreenselect]

Usually June 6.

The seventieth anniversary of D-Day.

Please tell me this wasn't deliberate on somebody's part at Warner Brothers, because if it was, it's not cool.

My first father-in-law was in that invasion. He rarely talked about the war, and D-Day was one of the few times he got emotional.

Nuff said. End of rant.

I understand your point (my father came ashore shortly after D-Day and lost a leg very soon after that), but I didn't pick up the vibe from the movie that they were trying to rip off or reference D-Day. It was just a big noisy summer Sci Fi film.

If the movie were premiered on a day other than Friday, you might have a point (the Omen remake premiered on Tuesday June 6, 2006, not to cash in on D-Day but because it was 6/6/6). However, this movie represents a big investment by the studio and they jockey with the other studios for prime release dates. The idea is to premiere sometime between the beginning of May and the Fourth of July and to be the only major release that weekend so that they can appear in the maximum number of theaters and the maximum number of high price (Imax, 3D) theaters as possible. That's why Godzilla didn't premiere the same weekend as X-Men.

Here's the list of major summer premieres:

May 2: Spider-Man (Sony)
May 9: Neighbors (Universal)
May 16: Godzilla (Warner)
May 23: X-Men (Fox)
May 30: Maleficent (Disney)
June 6: Edge of Tomorrow (Warner)
June 13: Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks)/Jump Street (Sony/MGM)
June 20: Think Like a Man (Screen Gems)/Jersey Boys (Warner)
June 27: Transformers (Paramount)
July 4: Tammy (Warners)/Deliver Us from Evil (Screen Gems)/Earth to Echo (Disney more or less)
July 11: Planet of the Apes (Fox)

You can see Warner didn't want to compete directly with any other big-budget action film and they didn't want to cannibalize market for any of their own other smaller films.
A June 6 release date gives Warner a one-week buffer on either side with no other major action release. The two major releases the following week Train Your Dragon and Jump Street don't appeal to quite the same demographics as Edge of Tomorrow, so it could get a good second week as well if it gets good review. In fact, there's a good chance it could be #1 for three weeks in a row until Transformers premieres.

If Warner didn't take that date, there's a pretty good chance Fox would have moved up the Planet of the Apes release to that date instead.

[Bob Juch]

Usually June 6.

The seventieth anniversary of D-Day.

Please tell me this wasn't deliberate on somebody's part at Warner Brothers, because if it was, it's not cool.

My first father-in-law was in that invasion. He rarely talked about the war, and D-Day was one of the few times he got emotional.

Nuff said. End of rant.

I understand your point (my father came ashore shortly after D-Day and lost a leg very soon after that), but I didn't pick up the vibe from the movie that they were trying to rip off or reference D-Day. It was just a big noisy summer Sci Fi film.

If the movie were premiered on a day other than Friday, you might have a point (the Omen remake premiered on Tuesday June 6, 2006, not to cash in on D-Day but because it was 6/6/6). However, this movie represents a big investment by the studio and they jockey with the other studios for prime release dates. The idea is to premiere sometime between the beginning of May and the Fourth of July and to be the only major release that weekend so that they can appear in the maximum number of theaters and the maximum number of high price (Imax, 3D) theaters as possible. That's why Godzilla didn't premiere the same weekend as X-Men.

Here's the list of major summer premieres:

May 2: Spider-Man (Sony)
May 9: Neighbors (Universal)
May 16: Godzilla (Warner)
May 23: X-Men (Fox)
May 30: Maleficent (Disney)
June 6: Edge of Tomorrow (Warner)
June 13: Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks)/Jump Street (Sony/MGM)
June 20: Think Like a Man (Screen Gems)/Jersey Boys (Warner)
June 27: Transformers (Paramount)
July 4: Tammy (Warners)/Deliver Us from Evil (Screen Gems)/Earth to Echo (Disney more or less)
July 11: Planet of the Apes (Fox)

You can see Warner didn't want to compete directly with any other big-budget action film and they didn't want to cannibalize market for any of their own other smaller films.
A June 6 release date gives Warner a one-week buffer on either side with no other major action release. The two major releases the following week Train Your Dragon and Jump Street don't appeal to quite the same demographics as Edge of Tomorrow, so it could get a good second week as well if it gets good review. In fact, there's a good chance it could be #1 for three weeks in a row until Transformers premieres.

If Warner didn't take that date, there's a pretty good chance Fox would have moved up the Planet of the Apes release to that date instead.

You overlooked The Fault in Our Stars which also opens tomorrow and should blow Edge of Tomorrow and everything else out of the water.

[mrkelley23]

Usually June 6.

The seventieth anniversary of D-Day.

Please tell me this wasn't deliberate on somebody's part at Warner Brothers, because if it was, it's not cool.

My first father-in-law was in that invasion. He rarely talked about the war, and D-Day was one of the few times he got emotional.

Nuff said. End of rant.

I understand your point (my father came ashore shortly after D-Day and lost a leg very soon after that), but I didn't pick up the vibe from the movie that they were trying to rip off or reference D-Day. It was just a big noisy summer Sci Fi film.

If the movie were premiered on a day other than Friday, you might have a point (the Omen remake premiered on Tuesday June 6, 2006, not to cash in on D-Day but because it was 6/6/6). However, this movie represents a big investment by the studio and they jockey with the other studios for prime release dates. The idea is to premiere sometime between the beginning of May and the Fourth of July and to be the only major release that weekend so that they can appear in the maximum number of theaters and the maximum number of high price (Imax, 3D) theaters as possible. That's why Godzilla didn't premiere the same weekend as X-Men.

Here's the list of major summer premieres:

May 2: Spider-Man (Sony)
May 9: Neighbors (Universal)
May 16: Godzilla (Warner)
May 23: X-Men (Fox)
May 30: Maleficent (Disney)
June 6: Edge of Tomorrow (Warner)
June 13: Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks)/Jump Street (Sony/MGM)
June 20: Think Like a Man (Screen Gems)/Jersey Boys (Warner)
June 27: Transformers (Paramount)
July 4: Tammy (Warners)/Deliver Us from Evil (Screen Gems)/Earth to Echo (Disney more or less)
July 11: Planet of the Apes (Fox)

You can see Warner didn't want to compete directly with any other big-budget action film and they didn't want to cannibalize market for any of their own other smaller films.
A June 6 release date gives Warner a one-week buffer on either side with no other major action release. The two major releases the following week Train Your Dragon and Jump Street don't appeal to quite the same demographics as Edge of Tomorrow, so it could get a good second week as well if it gets good review. In fact, there's a good chance it could be #1 for three weeks in a row until Transformers premieres.

If Warner didn't take that date, there's a pretty good chance Fox would have moved up the Planet of the Apes release to that date instead.

You overlooked The Fault in Our Stars which also opens tomorrow and should blow Edge of Tomorrow and everything else out of the water.

Even if it does, it doesn't exactly go after the same audience that EoT does, does it?

[Bob Juch]

I understand your point (my father came ashore shortly after D-Day and lost a leg very soon after that), but I didn't pick up the vibe from the movie that they were trying to rip off or reference D-Day. It was just a big noisy summer Sci Fi film.

If the movie were premiered on a day other than Friday, you might have a point (the Omen remake premiered on Tuesday June 6, 2006, not to cash in on D-Day but because it was 6/6/6). However, this movie represents a big investment by the studio and they jockey with the other studios for prime release dates. The idea is to premiere sometime between the beginning of May and the Fourth of July and to be the only major release that weekend so that they can appear in the maximum number of theaters and the maximum number of high price (Imax, 3D) theaters as possible. That's why Godzilla didn't premiere the same weekend as X-Men.

Here's the list of major summer premieres:

May 2: Spider-Man (Sony)
May 9: Neighbors (Universal)
May 16: Godzilla (Warner)
May 23: X-Men (Fox)
May 30: Maleficent (Disney)
June 6: Edge of Tomorrow (Warner)
June 13: Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks)/Jump Street (Sony/MGM)
June 20: Think Like a Man (Screen Gems)/Jersey Boys (Warner)
June 27: Transformers (Paramount)
July 4: Tammy (Warners)/Deliver Us from Evil (Screen Gems)/Earth to Echo (Disney more or less)
July 11: Planet of the Apes (Fox)

You can see Warner didn't want to compete directly with any other big-budget action film and they didn't want to cannibalize market for any of their own other smaller films.
A June 6 release date gives Warner a one-week buffer on either side with no other major action release. The two major releases the following week Train Your Dragon and Jump Street don't appeal to quite the same demographics as Edge of Tomorrow, so it could get a good second week as well if it gets good review. In fact, there's a good chance it could be #1 for three weeks in a row until Transformers premieres.

If Warner didn't take that date, there's a pretty good chance Fox would have moved up the Planet of the Apes release to that date instead.

You overlooked The Fault in Our Stars which also opens tomorrow and should blow Edge of Tomorrow and everything else out of the water.

Even if it does, it doesn't exactly go after the same audience that EoT does, does it?

It goes for a younger audience but one that would see EoT.

[silverscreenselect]

Weekend figures are in and Fault in Our Stars beat all expectations with $48 million over the weekend. Edge of Tomorrow disappointed by finishing in third place (after Maleficent) with $29 million. Considering that Edge cost about $180 million, it's going to be a big disappointment for the studio.

Mrs. SSS and I went to see Fault at a 5:00 Friday show, usually a fairly dead time in theaters, except for big releases. There were about 100 people in the theater, most of them teenage girls.

We also saw a 2:00 showing of Edge today in 2D and there were about 20 people in the theater. I was surprised by a big plot twist at the very beginning of Edge that wasn't even hinted at in the trailers for a pretty good reason. It immediately brought to mind another D-Day connection to a 1960s film, The Americanization of Emily, with which it shares a major similarity.

I thought both movies were well made, but I didn't get caught up in the emotion of Fault. Overall, I give it a B and Edge a B+.