ST SW Episode VII to OPEN DECEMBER 18, 2015

Question:

Do studios have to pay to get a movie released on a Wednesday? Who decides that and what keeps many films from being released on Wednesdays as opposed to Fridays?

 

I think this is because of the "opening weekend," which is vitally important to studios and investors. If a movie is released on a Weds it has an opening weekend still but it is weakened by the initial two days of release. Also, Friday and Saturday are the absolute most likely days for folks to go to the movies because of the traditional work week being Mon-Fri.

Box office and especially opening weekends are of great importance to studios and producers and they want to maximize profit.

 

That certainly makes sense. But how does that factor into all other SW films and LOTR films being released on Wednesdays or Thursdays?

 

Weren't all of the LOTR films released on Fridays?

 

Nope-all on Wednesdays.

 

One week left? I've heard of time flying, but this takes the proverbial biscuit.

 

Correct... it will be accurately displayed once it hits 99 weeks.

 

I can't speak to the OT because I just don't know, but the PT were all released on Fridays. In fact many had "Thursday midnight showings," which is really Friday morning and still counts as an "opening weekend." I would expect the ST to follow this conventional pattern.

 

Phantom Menace opened on Wednesday, May 19.
AOTC opened on Thursday, May 16
ROTS opened on Thursday, May 19.

So yeah not all on Wednesdays, but none on Fridays.

 

There were no Thursday releases. Those were Friday mornings -- 12 AM midnight showings. I worked for a theater and we ran the movies at Midnight.

 

Episode II and III were all released on Thursdays. I remember getting into a fight about it in elementary school and ended up being right.

 

I've just checked all the info again just to be sure and those dates are accurate. Episode I was released on a Wednesday and II and III were on Thursdays. The midnight showings were on the previous nights.

 

I think they should open it on Friday to macsimize the weekend box office so it can break some records.......

 

Shhhh!!

 

In a somewhat competitive season, pushing it back to Wednesday could give it an extra $80-$100 million if it can pull in $50 the first night and $30-$50 the second (which is possible). It could be a little lower, but it would still add a chuck of change to the total.

The weekend might be slightly under what it would have been with a Friday release, but the totals by Sunday would still be quite a bit higher if there's a Wednesday release.

I'm really not sure what governs studio's decisions to release on Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays.

 

It's definitely out by Thursday night because nobody does midnight shows anymore but instead do Thursday night openings (we have Twilight to thank for that. Midnight Friday was too late for the tweens so they moved it to 10 PM Thursday and now everybody does Thursday night.) It's possible that the release date may move to a Wednesday which may even mean Tuesday night(!) premieres!

Generally, other new movies open on Christmas so, in the case of Anchorman 2, they opened on a Wednesday so they could have a full week ahead of X-Mas instead of only 5 days if they had chosen Friday. However, the Friday18th in 2015 is a solid 7 days before Christmas so it may stick with that date (but, as mentioned, Thursday night 8 or 10 PM is really the date). But I could see Wednesday happening. I hope they have this all sorted out a solid month before it premires. Sometimes these dates get moved, like, 2 weeks in advance which would suck for trying to book days off for work from a personal standpoint. (I need a solid 24 hrs before Ep. 7 to get a full series rewatch in)

 

I'm off work next Monday (I work nights) but I'm honestly considering making a point to be at home in front of a computer to see it roll over at 12 AM.

 

Latest from Ali....ouch!

This time last year, Episode VII had a script, but no director. Now there is a director, but no script. Development heaven.
https://twitter.com/aliarikan

 

Either they're back from Vacation, or we'll be seeing AT ATs, in the ST