TV's SUPE DIDN'T FLY AT BOX OFFICE |
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Angelenos remember the days when the December box office was jammed with Oscar hopefuls in much the same way that the San Diego Freeway is parking lot-like packed with drive-time vehicles. Whether or not you live in So. Cal, you may remember those days, too. They only ended a few years ago.
Today, the rush to release Oscar contenders begins right after Labor Day. Filmmakers, if not movie goers, believe that there are many award-worthy motion pictures, that releasing all of them post Thanksgiving is impossible.
This year, the first Oscar wannabe out of the gate was Focus Features' HOLLYWOODLAND, released to mixed reviews on September 8. Although this compelling speculation into the death of television's Superman, George Reeve, tanked at the box office, Ben Affleck picked up a Venice Film Festival Best Actor Award for playing TV's Man of Steel. The award, along with festival buzz, and a sprinkling of good reviews, may yet result in HOLLYWOODLAND being remembered when Golden Globe and Oscar nominations are announced in January.
Unlikely to be among the Globes' or Oscar's chosen is Sean Penn's ALL THE KING'S MEN, a late-September release. Despite positive pre-release buzz, the flick, a re-make of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, opened to largely negative reviews - and its box office was POSEIDON-like disastrous.
Before the clock strikes Halloween, at least two more awards hopefuls will be off 
ALL THE KING'S MEN WAS A BOX OFFICE DEBACLE |
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and running at a multiplex near you. Oscar darling Clint Eastwood's FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, opening wide, October 20, an Iwo Jima tale, is one. As a British Monarch, Helen Mirren's THE QUEEN, already in Selected Cities, is another.
Both films premiered to positive response at the late summer Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. To a large extent, distributors' fall release strategies now hinge on what happens at these festivals. In recent years, Hollywood has come to understand that Venice, Telluride, and Toronto are potent opinion-making vehicles in launching award-worthy movies. In order to reap the full advantage of a late-summer film festival boost, distributors must move up their award-caliber releases from post Thanksgiving to early fall. By Thanksgiving, momentum garnered by a movie during the late summer festivals has already been lost.
However, in pushing up release from late to early fall, the industry risks another kind of gamble. Like most things in life, the motion picture fall release strategy is a two-edged sword. If award contenders such as HOLLYWOODLAND and ALL THE KING'S MEN, released in September, tank at the box office – and they did – they most probably will be forgotten long before voters receive their Globe or Oscar nominations ballots. On the other hand, if the prominent early fall releases connect with audiences, their commercial success, added to summer festival momentum, 
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and critical praise, place the films in the forefront of voters' minds when it's time to mark their nominations ballots.
So, the early fall release strategy, like many of our film stars, can swing both ways. The September release of a box office debacle such as THE BLACK DAHLIA won't help to put Golden Globes or Oscars in the trophy cases of its creators. But, if they mine multiplex gold, THE QUEEN, and FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, might benefit at awards time from their October arrivals. The Box Office can be like a Las Vegas casino. In the movies, however, the bells and whistles aren't literally bells and whistles; they're stars and special effects.
Bucking the fall release trend, DREAMGIRLS, receiving Oscar buzz since production began, will rush into theaters just under the late-December awards consideration deadline.
Whether this fall's bumper crop of box office releases is remembered when awards nominations are announced in winter, or forgotten like a pile of discarded autumn leaves, Hollywood continues in its belief that September, October, and November are the smartest release choices for their would-be golden greats.
Once again, this fall, the studios hope that the "best of their best" will remind Matchflickers, young and mature, exactly why movie-going can be a richly rewarding experience. If they succeed, then globes of gold, other statuettes, people's and critics' awards, may be their reward.
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| The Business of Show |
Every other Friday
Does advertising, public taste, or overindulged stars determine a movie's box office fate? Christoper Stone explores what's going on behind the box office.
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| Christopher Stone |
Christopher Stone is the author of the international best seller Re-Creating Your Self. With Mary Sheldon, he co-authored three highly successful hardcover books of guided meditations.
He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West.
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