Guest Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Allowed to? Sure. Likely to? Not at all because the entire point of Star Wars is to make as much money as possible and set records. You don't do that by even acknowledging divisive social issues in your major media. In books/comics? Sure. But not in the real moneymakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kurgan Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Nobodys really stopping them. It's more a question of how it'd go over with the fan base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Dameron Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 That's unlikely. Why would Disney ever want to push back a film that is already scheduled for a May release?How much is it worth to get a lock on a lucrative holiday for the foreseeable future? Think about it: Every year, the week before Christmas, a new Star Wars movie comes out. Disney has a LOT of product it needs to put on its schedule every year. They're upping the Marvel Cinematic Universe releases to 3 per year. They have 2-3 Disney/Pixar animated films they need to schedule every year. They're releasing about 1 live-action remake of their animated classics every year. That's not counting anything else Disney might want to push out in a given year (fit in the next Pirates of the Caribbean or Tomorrowland). Instead of fitting Star Wars into all that and risk it getting lost in the shuffle. Make it a consistent deal for the viewers. Star Wars = Christmas. Christmas = Star Wars. Alternate between the main series and an anthology movie each year and make it a new tradition where an entire generation grows up going to the theaters to see a new Star Wars movie on the Friday school gets out for Winter Break each and every year. Additionally, just before each new main series release, you re-release the previous episode the first Friday of December every other year to earn a free $100 million in your pocket every other year. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceheart Posted January 1, 2016 Author Share Posted January 1, 2016 Unless they're reserving Christmas for Indiana Jones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Dameron Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Actually, I just noticed that Avatar 2-4 is planning a Christmas release in 2017-19. Sad to say, but it looks like Disney is running away from that fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavonis Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Six of the seven SW films were released in May. The only reason TFA was released in December was because Disney was stupid enough to promise a film in 2015 before they had any preproduction done. They were shooting for a May 2015 release back in 2012. December 2015 was the compromise after JJ asked for more time. It has been nice to have TFA out in Xmas season, but blockbusters are a summer thing, and SW is a blockbuster film series; it invented the blockbuster. Releasing it at Xmas is an anomaly; it would probably have made more money and made it faster in May 2016. Why they're aiming for Rogue One to come out December 2016 is not clear to me. Maybe they don't expect it to be as popular as an episodic film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Dameron Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 I understand how things worked before. But I rather liked my Star Wars Christmas season. I think the two go very well together. The past be damned, this just feels right and is obviously financially lucrative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavonis Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Just do what I did as a kid, then, and binge watch Star Wars films around Xmas. USA Network used to run marathons of the OT on Xmas eve and Xmas day. Now with the Blurays I can do that without commercials. You could, too. If it were possible to demonstrate TFA made more money now than it would have if it were released in May 2016 then you might count on Disney changing its schedule. If Cmas were the season for big budget films then all the studios would release during this time of year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Dameron Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 That's not exactly the same as joining a group of tens of millions enjoying a collective tradition and then discussing it with friends and family for weeks afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavonis Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Far be it from me to discourage you from wishing for the impossible. I'd play the lottery if I were you. The odds are better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kurgan Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Releasing it at x-mas apparently hasn't hurt box office reciepts all of that much. Say what you will about TFA, it isn't losing money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Dameron Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Releasing it at x-mas apparently hasn't hurt box office reciepts all of that much. Say what you will about TFA, it isn't losing money. Soon the top 3 movies of all-time will all have been released on December 18-19. The Lord of the Rings movies finished in the top 2 movies of their years opening from December 17-19. It's one of the best week's to launch a blockbuster. And it seems to have potential to create mega movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavonis Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Perhaps there is something to the Xmas season blockbuster trend. People are out of school, and many have days off from work. That's good for business, especially repeat business. The last time I went to a movie in the theater more than once was 1996 when Star Trek: First Contact was playing. I see at least one downside, though. Spoilers. It's hard to sell merchandise related to the films without releasing spoilers, too. A Rey action figure that sports a lightsaber is a dead giveaway for an important plot point in TFA. How will Disney balance merchandising just before Christmas with spoilers about their new films? Won't releasing in May be just as good for the balance sheet, considering the months of spoiler-free purchasing of games and toys that can be done until Christmas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driver Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 If the next May release doesn't do as well as December, they'll switch it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Dameron Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 I see at least one downside, though. Spoilers. It's hard to sell merchandise related to the films without releasing spoilers, too. A Rey action figure that sports a lightsaber is a dead giveaway for an important plot point in TFA. Star Wars = Christmas on a yearly basis would be just about the best merchandising synergy a soulless marketing executive could ever ask for. There are plenty of ways to sell a ton of merchandise without significant spoilers. And you want kids playing with your Star Wars merchandise, you get them thinking about nothing but Star Wars leading during the whole Christmas season. That's a money train. I suspect EA was quite pleased to ride the Star Wars anticipation wave with the release of Battlefront leading up to Christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavonis Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 I suppose. We will see. I still suspect that summer would be even better for merchandising and box office revenue but I can't argue with results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kurgan Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Soon the top 3 movies of all-time will all have been released on December 18-19. The Lord of the Rings movies finished in the top 2 movies of their years opening from December 17-19. It's one of the best week's to launch a blockbuster. And it seems to have potential to create mega movies.In these cases though, I wonder if the names aren't a bigger factor in their success. SW and LOTR would have broken records no matter when they were released. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Dameron Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 In these cases though, I wonder if the names aren't a bigger factor in their success. SW and LOTR would have broken records no matter when they were released. It makes a big difference in terms of the movie's legs. Traditionally, nothing comes out in January except Oscar bait and comedies. You don't release a big-budget blockbuster in this time frame. This means that if a December blockbuster has achieved a measure of success and buzz, people will continue going to see it for at least the next month because there's nothing else to go see. Titanic is perhaps the best example of benefiting from the New Years' deadzone. The biggest movie opening in January 1998 was Spice World ($29.3 million in its entire run). Seriously, just let that insanity of that sink in for awhile. Feburary 1998 was a little better with The Wedding Singer (only decent comedy of Adam Sandlers' career btw) serving as a modest hit. You release Titanic in the summer of 2007, it would have gotten lost between The Lost World, My Best Friend's Wedding, Batman and Robin, Con Air, Hercules, Face-Off, Speed 2, Men in Black, and Air Force One. A lot of those aren't even good movies, but it would have been enough to dilute the audience attention. It's the difference between Titanic taking in $600 million, and taking in maybe $100 million. Now Star Wars, LotR, and even Avatar to a certain extent would have been able to exert themselves in the summer months a lot better than a romantic disaster tragedy. But they too would have to fight with a new blockbuster coming out each and every weekend. The overall box office revenue might be way up for the summer over the early months of the new year, but competition for those dollars is so much higher as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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