Movies that might have fared better with a different release time
 

Let me say that this is not a thread about how a movie's quality should or shouldn't be determined by how much money it makes. Rather, it is about movies that did okay nor not as much as hoped at the B.O. and most likely would have benefitted from being released at a different time of year than it was, as audiences tend to have tastes for certain kinds of movies at certain times of year.

My picks:

The Score- not a great movie, but it was more of a fall release that didn't seem to have any business being out in the summer.

The Interpreter-again, this had a fall feel to it, not late Spring

The Terminal-why they put this out in the summer I will never know, it seemed to have Christmas/ Holiday film written all over it.

Cinderella Man-I know, it's a little early to call and word of mouth might help it, but this should have shot for a Fall release as well

Before people start pulling out the whole "A good movie will do well regardless argument," I must disagree. It will work sometimes, but I honestly think it depends on what audiences are in the mood for at a certain time.

I don't remember when it was released in theaters (later in the summer I think), but I found it odd that they didn't release Wimbledon at the same time as the actual Wimbledon tournament.

Moulin Rouge is another one that probably would have done better in the fall.

That is the only one that comes to mind for me. I think it would have done significantly better around the holidays.

The Thing (1982) was in direct competition with E.T. Guess who won?

How about most of the Halloween films and "other Horror" movies coming out in July? This seems to happen every year.

they released reindeer games in Feb. instead of Nov-Dec. Wasn't a great flick but it wouldn't have done better with a XMas release.

Would you say the same of Die Hard 1 & 2?

Wyatt Earp, not a bad movie (I liked it), but it was around the time as Tombstone.

Rob Roy (Neeson, Lange) was a superb movie, but was released, IIRC, immediately after Braveheart. Never stood a respectable chance, regardless of how good it was.

Boy, the potential list for this question is huge!

So many flicks to choose from...

I love WYATT EARP dearly. I just adore the picture...

But it's always compared to TOMBSTONE, and it drives me crazy. I wish EARP had come out earlier.

The Thin Red Line was released around the same time as SPR and got clobbered at the box office. Also, I think Road to Perdition would have done better had it been released in the fall or winter.

It's better to have a DVD of a horror film for Halloween instead of releasing the film in October and selling the dvd in feb.

I think Titanic was originally slated to be released in the summer of 1997 but due to delays and over budgets it was released during the holiday season. I believe the new release date played a huge factor on the success of the film.

Even though the movie made a very respectable amount of money, the first X-Men might have made more had it been released after Spider-Man. I think when X-Men was released some thought it would be just another lame comic book movie like Batman and Robin. After Spider-Man people changed their tune on comic book movies and a solid movie like X-Men might have done better.

[QUOTE=Jackskeleton]It's better to have a DVD of a horror film for Halloween instead of releasing the film in October and selling the dvd in feb.[/QUOTE

That makes sense but they don't release many Christmas movies in the summer ....

Nevertheless, I miss the good old days when studios weren't afraid to promote horror movies around Halloween.

So FOX should've delayed X-Men over two years for the hope that a comic book film with really no bankable stars and a director the general public has no idea about would do over $400 million? Nobody knew that Spider-man was going to make a killing at the box office and beat Episode 2. Most people initially compared it to The Mummy, a blockbuster with legs due to the sold out showings of a Star Wars film that pushed people to other movies. Instead (and the fact it was released soon after 9-11), Spider-man happened to become one of the biggest films of all time with just cause.

However, X-Men did pretty well theatrically.

X-Men (7-14-2000)
Budget: $75 million
Domestic Gross: $160 million
Overseas Gross: $139 million

That's nothing to sneeze at. Especially since that film also had no bankable stars. The only thing getting people into the theater that it was a film based off of a respectable comic franchise.

Innerspace? But that could have something to do with Marketing as well.

Shawshank Redemption?

I never said that Fox should've pushed back the release date. I said that had the movie been released after Spider-Man it probably would have made more money. I think you're looking too much into what I said. Obviously no one at Fox knew how good Spider-Man would have done but after Spider-Man, comic book movies had become the craze, and X-Men would have benefited from the craze, X2 did. And no, the $160 it made domestically is nothing to sneeze at but it could have made more and more money is always better.

How are you sure X-Men would've benefited from the Spider-man craze? Any of these films ring a bell?

Hulk?
Constantine?
Blade: Trinity?
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
Catwoman?
The Punisher?
Elektra?

Actually, the reason why Spider-man was even made was because of the success of the X-men movie. People were really surprised that it was a hit. No one was going to doubt how good Spider-man was going to be though.

You make a point but my assumption was based pretty much only on how well X2 did. I think that had X-Men been released when X2 was X-Men would have made more money, possibly the same that X2 made. They are essentially the same movie released at different times. The both recieved good reviews from critics. They (obviously) had the same cast and they (obviously) had the same fanbase.

Superboy, you may be right, I never heard that before. If you are right then X-men was released at the right time.

I think it was March or April when House of 1000 Corpses came out. I seems like an obvious movie to have out for Halloween.

Here's something I wondered about that's sort of related. I wonder what the reaction to David Cronenberg's Crash would have been if it had been released a year later, which would have been around the same time as the Princess Di car crash.

Blade:Trinity-why on earth did they think putting this out at Christmas would be a good thing? They should have done like they did with Blade II and put it out around Spring Break time for the colleges.

Predator 2- the day before Thanksgiving of 1990? WTF?

I always thought Wayne's World 2 was rushed. It was released in December and bombed. A spring/summer release would have made a world of difference.