Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: firday openings... a thing of the past?

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Film Handlers' Forum » firday openings... a thing of the past? (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2

Author

Topic: firday openings... a thing of the past?

Brian Hogan
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 119
From: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 07-16-2001 03:03 PM

so with all these features opening on wednesday, rather than friday... are distributors just gonna switch over to wednesday openings for everything? hell... why not switch to a tuesday opening, that way new film, music and video would all come out on the same day. sakes.

-hogan

| IP: Logged

Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 07-16-2001 06:09 PM

Call it a fluke of studio scheduling and the way the calendar runs this year.

Four straight weeks of Wednesday/Friday openers -- and one of those Wednesdays just happened to be a US holiday.

Not only that, there are 2 weeks of Wednesday/Friday openers in August per the most recent update on www.filmreleases.com .

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-16-2001 07:01 PM

They just want to get a "record" opening "weekend" by tacking the two extra days on the front of the weekend.

| IP: Logged

Steve Scott
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1300
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 07-16-2001 10:34 PM

It really is the calendar.
The studios want people to remember when the films are being released, so they try to pick days that people will remember. July 4th, for example, was a Wednesday & most people in America know when that day is getting close. So then, they remember when the movie that they saw in the trailers is coming out.

| IP: Logged

John Scott
Master Film Handler

Posts: 252
From: Oakdale, MN, USA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 07-16-2001 10:53 PM

Plus don't forget that every summer has a number of Wednesday releases. Its usually a way to distance yourself from the competition opening the week with you.

| IP: Logged

Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)

Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 07-17-2001 07:36 AM

It the sixties most films opened on Wednesdays and Friday openings were much less frequent. The film distributor's would usually open on a Friday if they were expecting a bad review. The reviews would appear in the Saturday papers. Saturday the circulation was less than half of the weekdays. Wednesday opening were reviewed on Thursdays and if you have decent reviews they would be quoted in Fridays large ads.

| IP: Logged

Jerry Chase
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1068
From: Margate, FL, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 07-17-2001 08:48 AM

Wednesday openings lasted into the mid-1970s.

Wednesday openings were usually a bear for managers, since they often weren't finalized until Monday, which meant a Wednesday ad had to be rushed to the newspaper and abuse heaped upon the theatre manager for keeping the entertainment page from being sent to bed early. Those were the days when some papers actually printed news and didn't have complete sections of fluff ready and even printed days in advance of the publication day.

IIRC, film for both Wednesday and Friday openings was delivered Tuesday nights, sometimes Monday. In my case, Norm, who ran a private film delivery service out of Boston, would stamp the snow off his boots and sit up in the booth with me and we'd smoke our pipes and chat while he thawed out and his fingers uncurled from the steering wheel death-grip caused by ice-slick narrow Vermont roads and white-out snowstorms.

| IP: Logged

Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 07-17-2001 11:10 AM

Mike B: On Wednesday openers, weekend gross is calculated just like Friday openers.

John S: Outside summer, Thanksgiving and Xmas, Wednesday openers are often movies with black and/or Latino appeal (Next Friday, Romeo Must Die). In New York you also have the occasional arthouse movie opening on a non-holiday Wednesday (Liberty Heights, Best in Show, Sexy Beast).

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 07-17-2001 02:08 PM

In my days at the Grandview Drive-In (1967-1970), we changed programs on Wednesday.

With almost "instant" reporting of film grosses by the media today, you want the first numbers to come from a Friday or Saturday night, rather than a slow mid-week day. But as noted, opening on a Wednesday or holiday can be used to draw attention to "being different", and can build momentum for the busy weekend with a good picture.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

| IP: Logged

Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 07-18-2001 05:25 AM

I didn't notice til someone else pointed out but a lot of the "Gangsta" or "'Hood" type movies come out on Wednesdays- most recently "Baby Boy". I've heard this is so you can open it on a night when the other movies will be slower than on a weekend, so if the 'Hood' film gets gang-bangers coming in they'll be easier to deal with. Thinking back this seems right, since "New Jack City", "187" and "Turn it Up" (a bad "Rapsploitation" flick which NOBODY came to see!) came out on Wednesdays.
Seems funny- Wednesdays are either for big 'Event' pictures or "Gangsta flicks".

| IP: Logged

Matthew Bailey
Master Film Handler

Posts: 461
From: Port Arthur,TX
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 07-18-2001 07:13 AM

My god,Brian Hogan! What happened to the film that I saw in your
picture!? It looks like you had a very serious accident with it!

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 07-18-2001 07:19 AM

To Brian Hogan:

I just noticed your photo, with a pile of film on the floor and your body hunched over it in frustration. Hopefully, this is a rare event at your theatre, and that things usually run much smoother.

| IP: Logged

Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 07-18-2001 02:33 PM

Jesse: We happen to be in summer season right now -- EDI defines summer season as Friday of Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day proper. This year summer season is 5/25 to 9/3. Baby Boy opened 6/27. It just happened to start the 1st of these 4 straight weeks of Wednesday/Friday openers.

| IP: Logged

Brian Hogan
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 119
From: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 07-20-2001 02:35 AM

yeah... about that pic

... i was workin at this 8 plex in town and this print was theaded through the fail-safe wrong and half the print ended up on the floor cause the platter wasnt picking it up. i guess i stopped by at the wrong time cause somehow i got suckered in to helping fix the problem. good thing there was a camera

| IP: Logged

Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 11-15-2001 06:40 PM

Release date for Star Wars Episode 2: 5/16/2002 -- a Thursday.

Outside US/Canada movies generally open on Thursday and Lucasfilm wants a uniform release date around the world. That's "globalization" for you!

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.