Distrib jury still out on day-&-date releases
Tactic best for event pics; others need U.S. buzz
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There's split opinion over whether that's a positive development, however.
"Day-and-date releasing is a specific tactic that fits select tentpole titles," Universal vice chairman Marc Shmuger observed recently. "(But) when you have the right title, you pack so much excitement in the release date that it just radiates out everywhere."
Michael Rosenberg, prexy at U-based producer Imagine Entertainment is considerably cooler toward the trend.
"Most of the time, we make very American movies that need the benefit of box office and publicity to penetrate the overseas markets," said Rosenberg, who's attending the Cinema Expo trade show here this week, screening clips of a couple of upcoming Imagine pics.
There are a couple of points of agreement among most observers -- whether bullish or bearish -- on the trend toward distribbing pics on the same "day and date" in the U.S. and many foreign territories.
- Day-and-date releasing is best applied to situations involving the release of an event pic; and
- Some smaller movies often do better to delay foreign release, so pics can draw on the heat generated by the U.S. bow.
International exhibs are strategy-agnostic, willing to leave to distribs such timing questions -- so long as the results bear box office fruit.
Helps stop piracy
"Day-and-date helps stop video piracy, and that's a good thing," said Achim Kirchhoff, who operates a three-screen multiplex in Hilden, Germany. "What's not so good is that you don't have time to do promotions for a picture."
"Sometimes, to go hand-in-hand with the U.S. is best, and other times we must have more time to get ready," offered Andreas Thim, an Austrian-based exec with the Cine Star circuit.
Sony is one of the biggest proponents of the trend toward day-and-date global releasing, and its marketing and distrib topper Jeff Blake was one of the first studio execs given control over both domestic and foreign distribution -- an arrangement now spreading to other lots.
But though Sony bowed "Spider-Man" in many foreign territories simultaneously with domestic release of the comix-based actioner, western Europe was a notable exception. Sony penciled in Spidey for July debuts in various European territories after execs noticed the continent's July exhibition calendar was relatively free from tentpole competish.
No tight rules
"I don't think you should be a slave to a concept of opening on the same date everywhere in the world --- there are always exceptions," Blake explained. "Day-and-day releasing just opens up a wider range of possibilities, so that you no longer have to skip six weeks from the U.S. opening and start looking for good (foreign) dates. You can start looking from the U.S. opening onward."
Day-and-day rollouts help generate a worldwide buzz for tentpole releases, said Sue Kroll, international marketing prexy at Warners, which recently bowed "Scooby-Doo" in a handful of foreign territories simultaneously with family laffer's domestic opening.
"In the case of something like 'Harry Potter,' which is essentially a U.K. property, it does help make to make it seem like a global event," Kroll said. "There's something very attractive and desirable about that."
By bowing in various foreign markets in close proximity to its U.S. and U.K. openings, franchise's first installment "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" became "a bigger story and event that galvanized people over the holidays," she said.
Buzz breakdown
Such worldwide buzz also makes it easier to secure theaters in foreign territories, added international distrib prexy Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, who's here with Kroll to tout upcoming Warners product including the holiday bow of the second "Harry" pic -- "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."
But Imagine's Rosenberg noted international rollouts generally don't enjoy big TV-marketing support, and that can make it tough to create international pic awareness quickly.
Seasonal and cultural variations from market to market make it unwise to release most pictures simultaneously around the world, he added.
"While people would say the world is getting smaller and smaller all the time, there are some things that just don't allow us to approach overseas the same way as we do the domestic market," Rosenberg said.
On the other hand, Imagine's November 2000 family laffer "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" had to be rolled out with near-simultaneous bows worldwide. "It would be hard to market a Christmas-themed movie after Jan. 1," Rosenberg acknowledged.
But he rejects a growing consensus that highly anticipated tentpolers like a "Spider-Man" or "Star Wars" release must unspool day-and-date in some territories to avoid having pirated copies of pic preempt foreign bows.
Rushing pennywise
"If studios are going to invest $75 million to $100 million on movies, then as an industry they should do something to combat piracy," Rosenberg said. "But to just rush out a movie because they are concerned about piracy seems to me pennywise and dollar-foolish."
Among other problems, rushed foreign bows prevent Hollywood celebs from traveling overseas in time to help promote pics internationally, he suggested.
Still, some say an ever-wider embrace of day-and-date releasing is inevitable, exhibs adopt digital exhibition. The technology allows distribs to beam electronic copies of pics to remote sites that can be difficult to reach quickly with conventional prints.
Frank Mancuso is a former topper at MGM, whose James Bond franchise foreshadowed the day-and-date phenom decades ago with its simultaneous U.S. and U.K. bows. And Mancuso believes the electronic distribution of pics will eliminate virtually all physical obstacles to the trans-Atlantic rollout of new releases.
"There will be a day when you can press a button and have a picture go out to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Frankfurt, Germany, at the same time -- adjusting for regional time differences, of course," Mancuso predicted.
Presumably, popcorn will still have to be popped separately on each side of the Atlantic.
