April and September more or less can be pretty equivalent, if they can cut together a great trailer it was pretty much as likely to open 20-30 then as it would be now though being castoff by Sony it's probably more like a teens opener.

That and Paramount now has a guaranteed high profile TRANSFORMERS trailer attachment at the "early" start of Summer
and will keep most of the screens NEXT is on available for SHREK THE THIRD to go into.

Yeah the dropoff will be immense, but it was likely going to be anyway.

True, September is worse I guess. My only concern is that the Feb-April period is way too crowded and there will be many casualties. But you raise some good points about that release date being good to showcase some of Par's other films. It could have a solid mid range pre-summer gross ala Breakdown, Volcano, Entrapment etc.

It'll be really interesting to see if the details of exactly why and how it was given over to Paramount ever emerge,
my guess would be at the very least there will be trailer enclosure on GHOST RIDER for NEXT and some
Sony trailer enclosure on NEXT as part of the deal.

New dates:

Reign Over Me has been pushed back two weeks to March 23.

MGM/Weinstein's horror movie 1408 with John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson has been delayed to July 13 from May 18.

Long-delayed Curtis Hanson movie Lucky You (with Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore) has been pushed back yet again, from March 16 to May 4.

Reign Over Me's move leaves March 9 all to 300, and March 16 still has 6 releases (Even with Lucky You gone). Methinks there's gonna need to be some shifting.

All of this week's new dates:

Lucky You -- 5/4/07 (Previously 3/16/07)
Nomad (The Warrior) -- 3/9/07 (Previously 1/26/07)
1408 -- 7/13/07 (Previously 5/18/07)
Fido -- 6/15/07 (Previously 3/9/07)
Mr. Brooks -- 6/1/07 (Previously 3/23/07)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 3/27/09 (New)
Live Free or Die -- 3/30/07 (New)
The Greatest Escape -- 4/18/08 (Previously 8/10/07)
Wind Chill 4/27/07 (New)
Reign Over Me -- 3/23/07 (Previously 3/9/07)

For a second I thought Die Hard moved!! Yikes. Lucky You will get demolished by Spidey - but May needs some alternatives to the big three so not a bad move. Sad to see 1408 move - it had a good slot.

Reign over Me just moved to a more congested weekend. There will be alot of casualties in Feb-Apr due to inept scheduling and over supply of films.

I dont understand why June 1st is so glutted with films now. Thats POTC's second weekend. Films like Mr Brooks would serve better as counterprogramming to Shrek and POTC.

\

I'm thinking they need to move the Sandra Bullock thriller Premonition to March 9. It would be good counterprogramming with 300, and Failure to Launch was a big hit with women on that weekend last year.

There's a movie called Live Free or Die that isn't Live Free or Die Hard?

Stupid eh Its a rather unique title to begin with and to use almost the same title for a small film like that it just silly. But thankfully its not Die Hard or else that weekend would have been a blood bath with Robinsons Vs Blades Vs Reaping Vs Rescue Vs DIE HARD 4!!!

The Hills Have Eyes 2 has been pushed back three weeks to March 23, 2007.
The Kite Runner opens November 2, 2007.

I dont like either of those actually. I mean its good Hills moved - but that 23rd March weekend is way too crowded now.

As for Nov 2 for KR - that weekend is already full with Bee Movie and Gangster - Kite Runner should have atleast opened against Fred Clause - which wont be as big as some think and has a totally different demo appeal.

Hills II is now against Dead Silence, which based on the trailer, should do quite well. Stupid move.

Man, the whole Spring just seems very overstuffed. Then again, many of the openers probably won't clear 5 million opening weekend. It'll be interesting to see what brave souls open against Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Carribean 3. Then again, with the oft-delayed Lucky You going against Spider-Man 3, they probably will be dumps.

Things have got to start moving....every weekend in April has at least five releases, and the 27th has seven.

Lucky You must not be any good considering it was first going to be released on December 16, 2005.

The studios deserve a bunch of flops IMO. How silly to glut Feb-April yet they leave this weekend completely void of any new release worth seeing. Pathetic!!

Try September bro.

http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/tickermaster/listing.cfm?tmID=1791&showdatechange=yes

December 16, 2005 was its original date.


The Invisible was pushed back two weeks to April 27, 2007. That weekend now has 9 wide releases opening!?!?!

And all have Spidey in their second weekend!

That is usually the biggest dumping ground date of the year. This year its especially bad.

Nothing is going to survive that weekend.

I would move....

The Condemned - May 18th (See No Evil's spot last year)
Death at a Funeral - August/September/some other month
Fracture - May 4th or May 18th (5/18 could use some adult fare to go against Shrek)
The Last Legion - May 11th or May 18th
Pathfinder - May 11th, May 18th, or June 22nd

Balls of Fury, The Invisible, and Next (Pathfinder could be left here too, I guess....I don't think it'll make much on any weekend you would put it on) are really the only films that should be opening that weekend (especially since The Invisible and Next could each possibly do $20m+).

The first two weekends of March are pretty much open right now too (Wild Hogs and Zodiac on the 2nd and just 300 on the 9th) --- some of the other April films should move up to that date (and a few of the ones coming out in the middle of March....currently 5 scheduled for 3/16 and 7 for 3/23).

Pathfinder has moved up a week, to 4/20.

They need to scatter the late March and April films. Something should go up against Shrek and another film against POTC3. Then they need to open something against 300 - preferably a female skewing film or comedy. Or even Meet The Robinsons which would work better against 300 than against Blades of Glory and Are We Done Yet? in its 2nd weekend.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters - 3/23/07
Mr. Woodcock - 5/11/07 (from 10/26/07)
Stardust - 8/10/07 (from 7/27/07)
Resurrection - 2/27/09 (from 2/22/08)

Ouch.