Originally I was going to say that Comicbook.com was making a story out of nothing here, but they really aren’t. Kevin Feige refuses to move Captain America 3’s release date to not conflict with Batman vs. Superman on the same day… uh… right… why should he? Feige’s response is perfect too, but it’s also very PC, so let me translate it into the common tongue: “Why the fuck do I care what Warner Brothers does with their movie? I don’t work for them!”
Hollywood mentality is really dumb sometimes. “Oh my God, we can’t release two superhero movies the same day! Someone needs to move theirs.” This literally happens all the time. No other industry does this. Even in comics, Marvel doesn’t say “better not put out Captain America this week, there’s a Superman comic coming out.” The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t say “hey, we should move our game to Saturday because the Ravens are playing this Sunday.” When someone comes up with a hit reality show on CBS, do you know what NBC does? They make the same damn show and put it on at the same time. Or they just don’t care…
But for some reason, at least with Hollywood blockbusters, the studios tend to have this unwritten rule that “oh my god, we must play nice with each other.” It’d be like if I decided to make steak one night for dinner and suddenly I found out that the people down the street were having steak and I had to say “oh my god. Better make chicken and have steak next week.”
Ok, yes, I understand why. You’re trying to maximize your audience by making sure that you have the only geek movie premiering. But you know what else is premiering the same weekend? A bunch of stuff, probably. Usually about a dozen movies premiere any given weekend. You know what would be an even better way of maximizing your profit. Write a good movie and stop caring what the other guy does.
So good for you, Feige.
I made a comment to my partner at work about this a month or two ago. In my opinion it’s brilliant on Marvel’s part. Yes, having the two movies have the same release date will hurt Cap’s opening weekend numbers, but based on the performance of the MCU compared to DC movies Cap should still perform very well and pull great numbers. On the other hand Batman vs. Superman having to go up against Cap I predict will be a significant blow to BvS, though honestly it will still probably pull respectable numbers anyway, but as long as Captain America 3 looks good and the intervening movies perform well then it should win hands down. For Marvel this is simply a good business move. If I were DC I’d be rethinking that release date, and probably moving it up.
I’m confused. Have movie-loving nerds not heard of the “double feature”?
For some people that’s certainly an option, but there’s also a significant portion of movie goers that will choose one or the other, especially for the opening weekend.
Yes, given line length and ticket prices, most people actually don’t do double features these days. Some do, certainly, but it isn’t a strong thing to bet on. Of course, its also often stated that if you cut ticket prices in half you would more than double ticket sales. Economics is hard! Let’s go shopping! (yes, I realize the irony there)
But Steve makes another good point. Marvel has no real reason to move their date, because at this point, no matter what DC/WB film apologists might want to argue about quality, Disney/Marvel is certainly winning the war in the popular mindscape. If you’re really going to try to play chicken on this, Marvel is likely to win weekend one purely based on reputation, regardless of how good either film actually turns out being. The MCU is a Juggernaut right now, and the DCCU is just starting out and has questionable success at best. If I were Warner, I’d move and look for a weekend where I was opening up against a poorly tracking chick flick or something… just because I want every advantage I can get. Disney isn’t worried about that right now.
That said, it’s a stupid argument anyway, because we’re 22 months out, and given the production problems films typically have the chances that dates might slide (particularly in Warner’s case) are more likely than not.
I would so go to a double feature
Sam: yeah, but you’re an old man with disposable income. Bread and butter are the teens and 20-somethings
Well, it will depend on which movie the movie goer pays to see. With this demographic, they will just slink into the other show when their movie is over.
The problem is going to be IMAX, and the theater owners aren’t going to like this plan one bit, so someone will move. I personally won’t watch one of these types of movie in anything but IMAX 3D. So the reality is opening weekend, the movie in that theater, #13 at the waterfront as I recall, is the one I will see.
man, I’m so tired of these superhero movies…