Should studios spread out blockbusters over a whole year?

Not sure if it would be a good idea, but then again, I'm not an expert on how much movies make in certain months.

I will say that I'm surprised that Thor, a comic book film, comes out in November.

 

Yes.

 

Well I think March is considered a blockbuster month ever since or even before 300 came out in 06 and with Captain America 2 coming out in early April I do see studios opening up. Hell even the new (bad) Die Hard movie came out in February.

So yeah I say yes.

Especially in September. Me and my friends always go to see a movie right when school starts and Im sure all of us would prefer a new good september action movie rather than the summer layovers

 

In recent years, the "summer" season has been getting earlier and earlier, it feels, with huge movies (generally superhero ones) coming out the first week of May, so basically the entirety of May-July is the true blockbuster season, with December also being a huge time. I do like the idea of spreading things out, though, as we have seen with March and April releases.

Captain America 2 is an April release, I believe, and Thor 2 and Catching Fire both come out in November. John Carter, which was supposed to be a huge blockbuster, came out in March, I believe, so they're definitely trying to spread it out. I think at least 3 of the Harry Potter films were November releases.

I'm not sure if we'll ever see huge blockbusters in January-February, but I could see March-July being the spring/summer blockbuster period, then Aug-Sept getting upper-mid level releases, October being franchise horror films, and Nov-Dec being blockbuster season 2.0, with a heavy focus on family-friendly stuff.

 

November and December have always been the technical blockbusters months.

 

No. For starters, in January and February you run the risk of losing a huge chunk of the movie going public to winter storms. Studios also don't want blockbusters eating into the gross of their Oscar contenders.

Late August and September is prime moving season with school and college starting up. A lot of people are just flat out too busy around that time of year to spend much time in the theater no matter what is playing.

I do think that March and April could be utilized more than they have been, although that has been changing somewhat in recent years. But some months are going to flatout have a smaller audience base to draw from.

 

You make good points here. For some reason, I was thinking Taken 2 was a later summer (August/September release) and just assumed Argo was a December awards-season release. I forgot all about Twilight killing it in November.

 

Depends on the film. More niche audience blockbusters seem to do very well in March, while blockbusters in general are starting to reach back toward late April.

However, summer and holiday months both offer something spring months, late winter and early autumn do not: no school.

Most of these films are targeted to teenagers and children. The key demographics are almost always under 25. They are not in school in the summer or during holiday seasons. That means they have a lot of money to spend on cheap diversions (movies) and the most free-time they'll have all year to do it.

That is why those will remain the major months.

 

I'm not sure. A so-called "blockbuster season" is definitely marketable and considering younger audiences who are out of school with more chances to be marketed towards are still the key demographic, I don't think it will ever quite work out if you spread it.

I do think certain movies could be moved. After Avengers, I thought it was smart to put Thor in November and Cap in March. Less competition with an almost automatic draw.

 

As a writer, I would absolutely LOVE to have the full calendar open, that would be amazingly awesome. HOWEVER, I'm unsure of the business side. so I can only say creatively, the idea excites me but I'm unsure of anything beyond that.

 

I do not think this would necessitate more blockbusters. Financially studios can only spend so much. It would perhaps only mean a less cluttered summer.

However, creatively, this is a good thing. Studios spend too much on their blockbusters now. The thought of that being the only type of film to invest in for year round grosses is a scary thought. One I would like to avoid.

 

I think they are trending towards spreading out the blockbuster season and I think they should.

 

We're seeing some big movies get away with March/April because of spring break season, I think. Shifting weather helps as well. It may take a long while, though, for them to really push the "start" earlier than the first Friday in May. September/October has always worked for the quieter movies that can still surprise with a little edge-of-the-seat action and genuine entertainment (ie: The Prestige), as well as quality writing/direction/acting.

 

Late October and early August usually have quite a few big budget things they probably just couldn't squeeze into the later schedule.

 

Late August is a dumping ground for movies that can't hang with the big boys.

 

The only reason March and April are even used for big movies is the fact that they have Spring Break and Easter Break. Kids are out of school for at least a weekend. That's why it's usually action movies targeted towards teens are released then. Janurary and Feburary are usually the trash months. Studios jump their bad movies into these months because people don't see movies as much ten. Sure Star Wars and Taken are exceptions but the studio didn't believe Star Wars would be good and I bet no one would have pegged an action movie starring the guy from Schindler's List would be a hit. Besides for each of those movies there is a Bullet to the Head, The Last Stand, Parker, Movie 43, Broken City, A Haunted House, Texas Chainsaw, Mama, Warm Bodies, Dark Skies, Snitch and that's only from this year. We're not going to see big changes any time soon.

 

If anything weekend numbers wouldn't experience sudden drops from week to week. Good blockbuster films with little competition would be able to make decent coin. There's nothing wrong with a film slowly building it's box office, everything is about the opening weekend. The problem is there's this artificial period that's been created and over the years it's become increasingly crowded to the point of absurdity.