Big Open

The Simpsons movie opened this past weekend and made a lot of money. I'm not going to look up the precise box office take, because I don't really give a shit; if you do, you're reading the wrong blog. It will stay in the theaters for a little while, and it will make more money, but all the hype will be gone, because it seems to be more important than ever these days for a movie to open big. And I think that kinda sucks.

Movie advertising runs on such a predictable schedule now, that it's all too easy for people like me, who pay attention to what's going on but don't actually care about anything but the movies themselves, to see the big picture all too clearly. There are the early trailers, the teasers, that generally contain no footage from the movie itself, but are designed to interest everyone in seeing the movie several months down the line. If they do use actual footage, typically it's assembled quite hastily, and it shows. Then about two months before release, there are full trailers everywhere. I might be off on the dates here, but this isn't the important part, so lighten up. Trailers online, official websites, on new release DVD's, in theaters before movies believed to have the same target audience. TV ads all over the place. A month before release, you see something every day, often two or three times an hour. During commercials, on buses, billboards, pop-ups...constant advertising. Then it mostly disappears for a while, until the week of release, when they REALLY bombard you. Then it's Friday, and the movie opens, and they shut the fuck up. The gates are open, the bull is loose, and all they can do is hope for a wild ride.

Maybe, during opening weekend, up through the following weekend, you might see and hear ads telling you it's the #1 movie, but after that, almost nothing. That's it. It's over. It's like they figure, if you haven't gone to see it by then, either you're not going to, or you've made up your mind to see it eventually whether you're exposed to more advertising or not, and advertising to you at that point would be a waste of money. So as far as the studios are concerned, they need you opening weekend, or forget it.

And that's the way they have to do it, because there's too much demand on the attention of the consumer, which is generally short and fickle, not to mention the wallet of the consumer, which is also fickle, and not really all that deep, even though one might not think so considering the spending habits on economic display these days. I think it sucks they're forced to advertise this way, they're stuck with putting all their eggs in the basket of opening weekend. Because I remember the days of a movie staying in first run theaters for 3 or 4 months, then moving to second run theaters, dollar shows, and occasionally still being there when they came out on video 6 months after opening weekend. This was not that long ago, people; I'm not that old. But the speed of commerce is accelerating so rapidly, I'm starting to feel old pretty fast here.

Let me put it this way: I remember being amazed by the release of Batman Returns on VHS only four months after its theatrical release. That was practically unheard of at the time. In addition, it was also released FOR SALE on the same date made available for rent. This too was quite rare. The only movies released for sale and rent at the same time were children's movies, Disney stuff, because a lot of people did (and still do) buy those movies for their kids without actually having seen the movie. So for Warner Bros. to do this on a major motion picture, that had done well in theaters, was a totally new thing.

Clearly it was done to increase holiday revenue; the movie even takes place at christmastime. I'm sure it worked, and everyone else said hey, we should do that, we can make more year-end money releasing summer movies in time for holiday shopping. I can't say I blame them, but still, the rush for sales is maddening to someone who just wants to see the movie without all this pressure. Now, it's like I've got to see it right away, or just wait to rent it. There's no middle ground anymore. There was even a time, not too long ago, when movies were released on DVD shortly after being out on VHS for a little while. Sometimes, you couldn't even rent the DVD, it was only for sale. All of this is gone now. Everything comes out in 4-6 months, immediately for sale, often on sale, sometimes advertised more heavily than it was for its theatrical release. Personally, I kinda miss the old days.

Not the old old days, pre-VCR...I'm not a baby boomer or some crazy old fart; give me a break. I just like movies to stay in the theater for a while. They can't do that now; there are too many releases, and if they don't have enough screenings of the newest movie, they won't pull in enough money. Everything's gotta be fast fast fast and move on. What movies opened a month ago? Live Free or Die Hard. Transformers. Something else, I'm sure. I haven't seen an ad for either of those big movies in weeks. But I did go see Die Hard last week. I liked it. And the theater was far from crowded. Pretty soon, they'll only be showing it after 8pm, and the week after that, it's gone, not to be seen again until christmas shopping is upon us, and the DVD shows up.

I actually have extremely vague memories of my father taking me to see Star Wars in August of '77, and I was only three and half years old. Star Wars opened in May. They all have, I think, but the point is, as successful as that movie was in its time, if it opened in May of '07, I'm sure it'd be long gone from theaters, with ads for the DVD just around the corner. And I think that's sad. I think we're missing something. Making movies is a business, but the business is speeding up so fast, the movies are being left behind.