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Beware fall title pile-up
June 13, 2008

Claudia Eller and Josh Friedman had a great story in the L.A. Times this week about how increasingly difficult it is for studio execs to pick theatrical release dates for their films, given the crazy number of titles released--517 last year, or an average of 10 per weekend. 
"This is one of the biggest issues facing Hollywood today," says Fox's Tom Rothman in the story, noting that it's just as crucial to pick the right release dates for movies as it is to select the right script and hire the right stars and filmmakers. "When you're trying to cram too many movies into a finite number of release dates, it's inevitable some will suffer."
Of course, this is particularly acute at the box-office in the summer, which then causes a subsequent pile-up of DVDs at retail in the fourth quarter, as noted before in this blog. 
I was struck by quotes in the story that could be changed ever so slightly to be addressing DVD.
From Disney chief Bob Iger: "Too many movies are being released into the marketplace. They can't all be good enough or marketed well enough to drive good returns."  Make that DVDs, and add that they can't all be priced attractively enough, either.
From Steve Gilula at Fox Searchlight: "Normally, we can hold them [screens] six to eight weeks. It's a jungle out there. If your gross isn't high enough, you're gone." For DVD, make that two or three weeks at retail. If your first-week sell-off isn't high enough, you're gone.
From Disney Dick Cook, addressing the week opening of the studio's Prince Caspian, in competition with Iron Man and Indiana Jones: "There were these giant vacuum cleaners on either side of us, and it took significant amounts of business away from our movie." Imagine how it's going to feel to go up against them again on DVD in the fourth quarter. Remember when Disney actually used to hold its big movie from video until the following spring?

Posted by Marcy Magiera on June 13, 2008 | Comments (0)