Many people think that pre - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, Super bowl weekend, later August, pre-Labor Day weekend, Labor Day weekend, post- Labor Day weekend is five of the worst release dates/periods.

In recent years, we can discover many winners in these periods:
pre - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend : "White Noise" has $20 million opening weekend.

Super bowl weekend - This year, both Boogeyman and The Wedding Date become box office winners.

Later August/ pre-Labor Day weekend - we have Hero , Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid and Without a Paddle.

Labor Day weekend -- Jeepers Creepers 1 & 2

post- Labor Day weekend -- Resident Evil: Apocalypse has $20 million opening weekend.

Therefore.... No "bad release dates" anymore?

I think it's more of a genre thing. Hollywood is exploiting an audience at the moment and the audience is going along with it.

There are still less than favorable release dates. You would not want to release War of the Worlds in the middle of February.

At least, they are more favorable than before. :wink:

That's not necessarily the case though. This year is good, granted, but the rest follows a typical pattern of inflation in the industry.

I just don't think there is enough data to say that "wow we had a really good January 2005, so I can release my movie at any time now".

In Feburary, Super Bowl weekend isn't bad, too.

In recent 12 months, all Labor Day weekend opening films BOMB. Otherwise, we can find several box office winners (as I said before.)

If the movie has an audience, the month or week doesn't matter. :wink:

It's all about luck, really. Some movies flourish in a time where it's bleak out, and people want something scary (White Noise, Boogeyman). Does that make sense? Maybe not, but it's January and people just want something, I suppose. Horror seems to be the supplier of sustinence for the moviegoer's hunger. It may explain why good movies like Elektra (shut up) and Assault on Precinct 13 failed. Even Catwoman grossed $40 million in the summer, and I don't see why Elektra couldn't have done the same or better in June or July.

Yeah, mid to late February obviously can't produce $350 million hits

There is no BAD REALASE DATES.

There is BAD MARKETING

Passion? :wink:

And the movies that aren't marketable (like SUSPECT ZERO) :wink:

Passion was an anomoly. There's not enough to denote a trend.

Even in Suspect Zero's case, I think it was possible to achieve a higher opening weekend. A huge marketing campaign can't help the movie's legs, but the movie's opening weekend, though.

I think in GENERAL there are better release periods, like summer will always turn out better weekdays and Christmas will give two bloated weeks due to holidays, and there are less favourable release periods, like January, where you wouldn't necessarily want to release a big budget action film, however I agree that there just aren't any "bad" release dates. The Passion of the Christ proved that a film can open pretty much any time and be HUGE and that release date isn't that strong of an influence. Marketing, and the Passions controversy coverage, is what made it open so well. In my opinion, the release date is one of the least influential factors on a film's box office success. I would rank marketing (probably the strongest - marketing is THE reason why White Noise was able to do so well despite being a horrible film), the genre of the film, the overall look, and the quality of the film as stronger influences.

Just my opinion.

PEACE, Mike

I think it depends on the genre. If you release a christmas movie before Halloween it is going to bomb, same if you release a horror/halloween movie a week or two before Christmas.

Pre-Labor Day weekend was never a bad weekend. As a matter of fact, I would call it a great slot for a blockbuster that has yet to be exploited.

Thats not always true.Scream opened a couple weeks before Christmas and went on to be huge. If a movie is good and people like it, they will see it. Release dates have little effect.

There was a time when Hollywood would release there big films only during the summer (Late May to mid Aug) and November/December. The rest of the year was littered with smaller films with only a handful of big films and the occasional surprise.

Then came the mid to late 90s and May started becoming more and more of a blockbuster friendly month from the get go - now its the biggest!

1997 was the pivotal year in Holywood attempting to have summer like BO all year around - the pre summer slate of films was quite a gamble and produced some solid grosses - Liar Liar, Dante's Peak, Star Wars Special Edition, Volcano, Absolute Power, Donnie Brasco, The Devil's Own, Jungle 2 Jungle, Howard Stern's Private Parts etc

Being a mgr in the business for over 10 years I can honestly say that if a movie looks like a HUGE blockbuster, great cast etc and it comes out in Jan chances are it sucks and will just get money from being frontloaded and will have a terrible multiplier....

and Sept, no matter what will always be the worst month for movies.... our slowest month every year is ALWAYS sept...

if a movie is listed as summer then all of a sudden is found in Sept, that is a BAD BAD thing...aka, Four Feathers, Sky Capt, and this year Pink Panther..

The only good movies I can ever think of in Sept not killing our payroll etc would be Rush hour and Sweet home AL

January is a well known dumping ground for films - its the stuff that the former year had no space for, the studios have no real confidence in and there some theaters and buisness to share around [although not too much] so they fire out any old shit.

Feb is really a month thats taking off, March is still kind of catatonic, April is a bit boring - but usually provides some good results, May is probobly the biggest month now, June is huge, July is a little lower but still pretty hefty, August is dropping off, September is the WORST, Horrible month where everything that even January couldnt accomodate dollops down, Everyones spent from the summer fun and no one really wants to go see a movie. October is Halloween - so horrors restart the market, Novembers a family month, December is a blend of dramas and family films and is generally the best time until May.

Depending on the movie itself, there are bad release dates still.