Releasing movies on a Friday, at the beginning of the weekend, seems so self-evidently the right choice for cinemagoers that it’s hard to imagine that things used to be done differently. Films used to come out in the UK on a Thursday, and before that on a Sunday – although it’s hard to find many industry veterans who recall those days. In France, they plough their own furrow: new films arrive in cinemas on a Wednesday.
Now change seems to be in the air again, with Spectre – the first Bond film to do so – and Suffragette being launched on a Monday.
Monday release dates are rare for films, with notable exceptions including Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, launched in May 2004. Like Spectre, it opened on the first day of a half-term holiday, when the availability of the family audience is at its highest.
Suffragette’s Monday release, however, was determined by different factors. “We knew we were in uncharted waters for a non-blockbuster. It wasn’t a decision that was taken lightly,” said Lee Bye, head of distribution for Suffragette’s distributor Pathé Pictures.
Its move in the release calendar to 12 October was in fact precipitated by Spectre’s own move to 26 October – believed to have been prompted by the availability of royal family members and the Royal Albert Hall for the world premiere. Pathé decided to leapfrog Bond, giving its film two weeks before the inevitable loss of screen space that will occur when Spectre lands.
But while the reasons for Suffragette’s unusual release date were out of Pathé’s control, the happy outcome – a debut of £2.94m for the first seven days – suggests the tactic will almost certainly be repeated.
Two types of audience exhibit a marked preference for visiting the cinema midweek: older viewers and women, in either pairs or groups. They coincide with the primary market for Suffragette, which helped the film immediately, setting up good word-of-mouth advertising ahead of its first weekend, where the audience typically is younger and more male.
This week, Suffragette has been the top-grossing film every day, rising from fourth place for the weekend period.A major film opening on a Monday does, however, cause a tricky midweek programming rejig for cinemas that book films Friday to Thursday. “I wish people would leave films to open on a Friday, because previews or opening films early, they just make life difficult,” said Clare Binns, head booker at Picturehouse cinemas.
“[But] however complicated it makes it, which of course it does, if you know you are going to get great box office, you just get on with it. Frankly, you don’t care if it’s done on a great film that’s going to reap lots of people coming through the door.”
Binns does not necessarily see Monday becoming the new Friday for film releases, but she does expect to see continuing and increasing complexity in film booking. “Once one company does it, the other companies have to react to it, so you end up with a cascade of people changing dates and putting in previews and special opportunities to see films,” she said.
“As it’s such a crowded marketplace, the next five, six months of awards season, there’s going to be lots of this going on. There will be lots of people moving things around, and trying to get a head start.”
Given the success of Suffragette, Bye does expect to see the Monday tactic repeated but he cautioned: “It’s only going to be the right kind of movie that will be able to do it in the marketplace. And you are only as good as the last one that does it. The first one that fails massively, no one will ever do it again.”
