Production studios,
Let me let you in on a little secret. I, and many other people, like to spend money. I personally like it a lot, especially on movies.
I really liked spending my money on “American Sniper” last weekend. It was well worth it, and many other people seemed to enjoy spending their money on it too.
But, perhaps the best part about spending my parents’ hard-earned money on a ticket for “American Sniper” was the fact that I got to do so in January.
January through March is known for not being a good time to release movies. With summer being blockbuster season and winter being reserved for potential award-winners, there’s not much to look forward to in the beginning of the year for movies.
Last year around this time, “Ride Along” was the top grossing movie. The year before that was “Mama.” Now, I’m not saying these were bad movies, but I can bet not many people realize “Ride Along” was a Kevin Hart comedy and that “Mama” was a lackluster horror movie.
“American Sniper” broke this stigma. A lot of people went to go see it. It grossed 90.2 million dollars in one weekend.
That makes it the most successful January weekend ever for a movie, beating the previous record of 68.5 million dollars held by “Avatar.”
Critics were expecting “American Sniper” to do well, but not well enough to top the all-time highest grossing movie ever.
There are lot of different reasons why this may have happened. It could be because of the recent Oscar nominations, its marketing or just word of mouth.
Regardless of how “American Sniper” made so much money, the important lesson to take from it is this: Movies can be successful in the beginning of the year. People want to spend their money on movies in every month of the year.
Instead of making us wait until the summer and winter for all the good movies, disperse them throughout the year instead of pretending like the beginning of the year is reserved for bad movies. There are a lot of factors that make us want to see movies, such as quality and interest. However, the month of the year is not one of those factors. A movie will be good or bad regardless of whether it’s released in January or June.
Now, I can’t say you’ve only been giving us bad movies in the beginning of the year because that wouldn’t be true.
In February, you’re giving us “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which I’ll go see just because I’m curious about all the hype around it. Next year in March, you’re giving us “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and everyone and their mothers is going to see that.
The reason people are excited for these movies is the marketing around them. They’re going to see them because they’re either really excited about the movie or because they’ve been inundated with trailers, news stories and word of mouth.
In fact, these movies are going to make so much more money than they would have if they were released in the summer or winter because there’s going to be so much less competition around them. It’d actually be more lucrative if you dispersed your movies throughout the year to limit competition.
With the right marketing, movies can be even more successful in the beginning of the year.
I know there’s a stigma against movies being released in the beginning of the year, but look, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Let’s keep breaking this stigma by releasing more movies like “American Sniper.”
I need something to look forward to at the beginning of the year. I break all of my New Year’s resolutions the first day, and I never have a date on Valentine’s Day. So, please, give me something that will pick me up. Maybe something like an “Inception 2” in March of 2017.
– Sam Bozoukov