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kay w

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Oct 16, 2002, 8:30:58 PM10/16/02

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Why do some movies open in LA and New York a week or two before they're
available in the rest of the country?

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kay w
Address munged. AOL isn't necessarily comatose, evidence to the contrary not
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Lalbert1

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Oct 16, 2002, 9:10:02 PM10/16/02

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In article <20021016203058...@mb-ch.aol.com>, scu...@aol.comatose
(kay w) writes:

>Why do some movies open in LA and New York a week or two before they're
>available in the rest of the country?

It's all part of the buzz for the film. N.Y. and L.A. are BIG movie markets,
and will produce the biggest *opening* box office sales. Opening sales are
reported on many news programs, and when a movie opens with big box office
sales then many other folks will go see it just because they think it's
something they should get with. For instance, last weekend the newsreader on
*local* CBS radio news reported that the new Madonna movie grossed only
$350,000 on its first Saturday opening (it must be some sort of all-time record
low opening). Aside from the fact that she has lost her audience, and the film
stinks, just hearing that boxoffice report will have a negative result. In the
words of Samuel Goldwyn, "They are staying away in droves.".

New York and L.A. opening dollar reports brings them into the effen tent.

Les

Al Yellon

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Oct 16, 2002, 9:30:28 PM10/16/02

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"Lalbert1" <lalb...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20021016211002...@mb-cj.aol.com...

Along the same line, this is why movies that most of us won't see until
January 2003, will make it into the Oscar nomination categories for 2002.
They are specifically released in NY and LA by December 15, 2002, the
deadline for such things.

--
"If you're not part of the future, then get out of the way." -- John
Mellencamp

Mark Hanson

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Oct 16, 2002, 10:35:40 PM10/16/02

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"kay w" <scu...@aol.comatose> wrote in message
news:20021016203058...@mb-ch.aol.com...

> Why do some movies open in LA and New York a week or two before they're
> available in the rest of the country?

Because to be eligible for an Academy Award nomination, a movie must be
released in those two markets during the eligibility period; i.e., to get
nominated for something for the 2003 awards, it must be released in New York
and LA some time between 1/1/02 and 12/31/02. This leads to likely nominees
getting released in those 2 markets around Christmastime -- occasionally at
other times, as with "Punch-Drunk Love" -- and in wider release after the
beginning of the year.

In other cases it's simple to get some good buzz from the media in those
markets before the wider release. This is usually done with smaller movies
that don't have the marketing budget of, say, "Spider-Man."

Mark

Blinky the Shark

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Oct 17, 2002, 12:10:13 AM10/17/02

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On 17 Oct 2002 00:30:58 GMT, kay w wrote:
> Why do some movies open in LA and New York a week or two before they're
> available in the rest of the country?

I haven't hung a KICK ME sign on my back in years, so...

...because that's where it's happenin'.

--
Blinky T. "I wasn't BORN in L.A., mind you" Shark

Rick B.

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Oct 17, 2002, 8:07:55 AM10/17/02

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kay w wrote:
>
> Why do some movies open in LA and New York a week or two before they're
> available in the rest of the country?

Years ago this was pretty much the standard M.O. for film
distributors; The New York Times would always be running ads for
movies that hadn't yet opened in Philadelphia. When they got to Philly
they would play exclusively at a theater in Center City for at least a
week or two before opening in the suburbs. If you saw a TV commercial
for a major studio release, it was usually a local spot with a clip
from the trailer and a tag telling when it would start and which
theater it would be playing. Star Wars may have been the movie that
changed all this; I seem to remember that it had a much wider initial
release than was typical for the time.

Anny Middon

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Oct 17, 2002, 10:59:39 AM10/17/02

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"Rick B." <deep...@sprynet.com> wrote in message
news:3DAEA81B...@sprynet.com...

Hard to believe in these days of rampant suburban multiplexes and few
"downtown" theaters, but it used to be that if you wanted to see the hot new
movie, you had to go to the big city, where there were elegant and large
movie theaters. Eventually the movie might make it to your local,
one-screen theater.

Nowadays those big thaters are gone or converted (like the Chicago Theater
was) to a venue for live performances. Or actually I guess, converted
*back* to a venue for live performances.

Anny

Boron Elgar

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Oct 17, 2002, 11:20:00 AM10/17/02

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On Thu, 17 Oct 2002 09:59:39 -0500, "Anny Middon"
<An...@enteractNOSPAM.com> wrote:

>"Rick B." <deep...@sprynet.com> wrote in message
>news:3DAEA81B...@sprynet.com...
>> kay w wrote:
>> >
>> > Why do some movies open in LA and New York a week or two before they're
>> > available in the rest of the country?
>>
>> Years ago this was pretty much the standard M.O. for film
>> distributors; The New York Times would always be running ads for
>> movies that hadn't yet opened in Philadelphia. When they got to Philly
>> they would play exclusively at a theater in Center City for at least a
>> week or two before opening in the suburbs. If you saw a TV commercial
>> for a major studio release, it was usually a local spot with a clip
>> from the trailer and a tag telling when it would start and which
>> theater it would be playing. Star Wars may have been the movie that
>> changed all this; I seem to remember that it had a much wider initial
>> release than was typical for the time.
>
>Hard to believe in these days of rampant suburban multiplexes and few
>"downtown" theaters, but it used to be that if you wanted to see the hot new
>movie, you had to go to the big city, where there were elegant and large
>movie theaters. Eventually the movie might make it to your local,
>one-screen theater.

But even within the big city there were the fancier, often studio
owned, theaters that got first run big splashy movies at release &
neighborhood (but still well within the big city) ones that showed 2nd
run or 2nd run & a B movie on a double bill. And there was a whole
class of films that never got the splashy treatment at all, but opened
in the neighborhoods.

In those days, I don't think I even realized there were people who
*lived* outside of the city, let alone ever got movies to watch there.
City, Dark Matter, Another City, Some More Dark Matter.....

Boron

GrapeApe

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Oct 17, 2002, 10:14:13 PM10/17/02

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>> Why do some movies open in LA and New York a week or two before they're
>> available in the rest of the country?

I always wonder if Chicago was regularly as priveleged. Siskel and Ebert had to
be seeing the advance showings SOMEWHERE.

JmG

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Oct 17, 2002, 10:47:01 PM10/17/02

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On 17 Oct 2002 00:30:58 GMT, scu...@aol.comatose (kay w) wrote:

>|Why do some movies open in LA and New York a week or two before they're
>|available in the rest of the country?

There's something in between?

J

Jim Ellwanger

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Oct 18, 2002, 8:09:09 PM10/18/02

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In article <20021017221413...@mb-cp.aol.com>,
grap...@aol.comjunk (GrapeApe) wrote:

I have never seen a movie that was open only in New York, L.A., and
Chicago. Either a movie is playing only in New York and L.A., or it's
playing in a handful of largish cities (New York, L.A., Chicago, Boston,
San Francisco, et al.), or it's playing nationwide.

Movie critics almost always see movies at special advance screenings,
not open to the public, and when those screenings are held may have very
little to do with when the movie is actually playing in a city. My
mother's boyfriend reviews movies for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and
he went to a screening of "Spirited Away" in Tampa in mid-August. Two
months later, it hasn't yet opened in the Tampa Bay area.

--
Jim Ellwanger <trai...@mindspring.com>
<http://trainman1.home.mindspring.com> welcomes you daily.
"The days turn into nights; at night, you hear the trains."

Eric Boyd

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Oct 19, 2002, 2:08:17 AM10/19/02

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"Anny Middon" <An...@enteractNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:aomj6t$7pl$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...

> Nowadays those big thaters are gone or converted (like the Chicago Theater
> was) to a venue for live performances. Or actually I guess, converted
> *back* to a venue for live performances.

And there are even stranger ironies. The venerable Tower Theatre at
Westheimer and Waugh in Houston was converted from a movie palace to a live
venue. It is currently a giant-ass video rental place.

-E

StarChaser Tyger

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Oct 19, 2002, 3:01:22 AM10/19/02

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We get signal. What you say? It's "Eric Boyd" <se...@ev1.net> !

Your post is offensive to the gluteally gifted.
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