Technology has changed the way films are made and distributed. Chris Nolan is releasing his new film, INTERSTELLAR, to theaters which still have film projectors, much to the chagrin of digital projection theaters. Netflix has enticed other films to skip the theaters completely, heading directly to streaming video. This was completely different when Star Wars was released. Star wars was released in 1977. This was an era when the main moviegoers market were teenage boys in the 13-18 age group. Producers shot for getting their films released on one of 4 major release dates -- Thanksgiving, Xmas, Easter and Memorial Day. All 4 of these dates coincide with school holidays. Studios targeted the first 3 holidays as release dates for family films, and the last date, Memorial Day, for films which might have legs to pull audiences in through the summer. In Los Angeles, the key theater for a films release was Manns Chinese Theater. William Friedkins new film, SORCERER was booked to open there on Memorial Day. Two years prior to Star Wars release, JAWS had broken box office records and its star, Roy Schnieder, was the star of Friedkins action packed new film. SORCERER was the first film Friedkin directed since his box office bonanza, EXORCIST, so theater owners expected the combination of EXORCISTs director with JAWS star to bring in major audiences. Star Wars was booked to open on Memorial Day in Westwoods Avco Cinema. Westwood was an area vying for LA moviegoers, but Manns Chinese was still considered the premier theater because of its long, historic importance. Knowing Star Wars was going to be released at the Avco, Marc Hamill spoke to the theater manager and arranged to bring guests in to see the trailer, spreading word of mouth advertising. William Friedkin didnt have SORCERER ready on time, pushing his Memorial Day release back. This freed up the time slot so we were able to book into Manns Chinese Theater, enabling us to open in two Los Angeles locations for Memorial Day weekend. We also had an Orange County theater, and the 3 locations together gave us the basis for a traditional LA release pattern. This traditional release pattern covered opening in Hollywood, Westwood and Orange County for a minimum of a 2 week release with the film then spreading to other theaters. The spread booking into other theaters was dependent on how well the film did at the core 3 locations. With their release date pushed back, SORCERER had a day to day promise for their Manns Chinese slot. Though we were doing booming business, the commitment to Sorcerer meant we needed to move out of the Manns Chinese so Sorcerer could open there. We booked a month at the Egyptian Theater, thereby freeing Manns Chinese. SORCERER had a big media campaign promoting their opening. On June 24, Sorcerers lines went around the block, but we were showing across the street, at the Egyptian, to packed houses. By the end of the following week, Sorcerers lines vanished. This was also true in San Francisco where box-office records had been broken by Star Wars, which was replaced by Sorcerers empty house. SORCERERs failure at the box office and STAR WARS success is credited as the beginning of the blockbuster era.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 20:53:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015