Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Brother Bear opening on a Sat.

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Posted by Nicholas Roznovsky (Member # 861) on 08-18-2003, 10:25 PM:

Okay, okay, I know that Disney doesn't feel the need to ever make sense. In fact, they usually go out of their way to wield their power just for the sake of doing so and making things difficult for everyone else. Having said that, I STILL don't understand this one:

"Brother Bear" (after a brief LA/NY limited run) expands to nationwide release on Saturday , November 1st.

Why? Why? Why? [Mad]

I can understand not wanting to open a film on Halloween, but opening a film on a Saturday doesn't seem to be the best solution to me. Open it on Oct. 24th or Nov. 7th. Neither one of those dates seem to have anything which would compete for the kiddie audiences.

All they're really doing is cutting a day's box office off the opening weekend (okay so it's Halloween, but people would still show up for the film) and creating more work for just about everybody in the film industry. Marketing-wise, I don't see why Nov. 1 is so much more attractive than Oct. 31. Is Disney afraid that if the film opens on Halloween that no one will remember it the next day? Does opening the film on a Saturday somehow help its marketability? Is it just a lot of crap to put up with for another "Treasure Planet" box office return?

Of course, it gets better! This would be annoying enough in and of itself, but this also happens to be the week where "The Matrix Revolutions" pops up on a Wednesday!

So, if you plan on playing the rerelease of "Alien" (10/31), "Brother Bear" (11/1), "The Matrix Revolutions" (11/5), and New Line's "Elf" (11/7), that means you'll have four schedule changes in eight days!

I enjoy staying busy and changing things up now and then, but I'm not a big fan of this or any other film opening on a Saturday. Bah humbug! [evil]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-19-2003, 12:10 PM:

I haven't a clue, but I love the end of the trailer with the two moose. [Big Grin]

FWIW, I think this movie is going to erase the memory of Treasure Planet.

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 08-19-2003, 12:25 PM:

quote:
So, if you plan on playing the rerelease of "Alien" (10/31), "Brother Bear" (11/1), "The Matrix Revolutions" (11/5), and New Line's "Elf" (11/7), that means you'll have four schedule changes in eight days!

Alien?

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 08-19-2003, 01:32 PM:

Am I the only one who thinks that "Koda" (the name of the younger bear) would be a better name than "Brother Bear"? This movie does not look very good to me at all. Soon to be yet another nail in Disney's coffin at least as far as animation goes.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-19-2003, 01:59 PM:

Michael B: Yes, "Alien" is getting a "director's cut" re-release on Oct. 31.

Michael G: Actually the Disney marketing people wanted to just call it "Bears."

What is this thread, a meeting of the Mikes?? [Cool]

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 08-19-2003, 02:36 PM:

Hi Mikes!

The animation & music seem like top shelf work. Its the story I'm concerned about. IMHO, it looks far better than "Treasure Plannet" or the slew of other recent Disney films (exceptions being anything from Pixar, & Lilo and Stitch)

I loved the soundtrack Phil Colins did for Tarzan. I can't wait to hear this one.

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 08-19-2003, 04:12 PM:

I am actually looking forward to the Alien release. I really hope that they make good use of the surrounds. If they do it right, they can make it feel really creapy even for those of us who have seen it a hundred times.

Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 08-19-2003, 04:39 PM:

Appears to be another Disney dud. They've lost touch with reality when it comes to their animated films of late.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 08-19-2003, 05:34 PM:

quote:
I can understand not wanting to open a film on Halloween, but opening a film on a Saturday doesn't seem to be the best solution to me. Open it on Oct. 24th or Nov. 7th. Neither one of those dates seem to have anything which would compete for the kiddie audiences.

After Brother Bear comes out you'll have family fare back-to-back-to-back: Elf, Looney Tunes, The Cat in the Hat.

In NYC an arthouse picture will start its regular run on a Saturday if it has its premiere at the New York Film Festival. That's how the UA Union Square booked Dancer in the Dark.

Posted by Dan Harris (Member # 1759) on 08-19-2003, 06:24 PM:

Michael B

"Alien" is being shown digitally at Odeon Leicester Square at some point over the coming month, and will also be showing in the UK from the end of October.

Dan

Posted by Nicholas Roznovsky (Member # 861) on 08-19-2003, 07:48 PM:

quote:
After Brother Bear comes out you'll have family fare back-to-back-to-back: Elf, Looney Tunes, The Cat in the Hat.

I don't think "Elf" poses much of a problem, or at least it shouldn't. Parents are still more than happy to dump their kids off for an hour and a half as long as Disney slaps their name on it.

Even if they don't want to split opening box with "Elf", why not release this bad boy on Oct. 24th? By releasing at the beginning of number, they've already raised the white flag for Thanskgiving weekend.

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 08-20-2003, 12:48 PM:

Our newspaper, The Press Democrat, is very inflexible when it comes to movie reviews. Movie Reviews run on Friday no matter when the film opens. We've told this to distributors when they want to open films on Wednesday. About half the time, they give up, unless it's a national campaign. Opening a film on Saturday would guarantee that it wouldn't be reviewed till the following Friday, by which time the film will have died.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 08-20-2003, 01:04 PM:

Shouldn`t the plural of moose be meese?

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 08-20-2003, 04:20 PM:

Just found out that Brother Bear will open 10/31 in NYC/LA and 11/1 nationwide.

Nicholas: Disney will open The Haunted Mansion for Thanksgiving.

Posted by Kevin Wale (Member # 1851) on 08-20-2003, 05:50 PM:

Alien will be a limited release. [Mad]

I can't understand that.

Please, someone tell me that they have heard a last minute change that has been made and that they decided to go wide! [Frown]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-20-2003, 08:38 PM:

quote:
Brother Bear will open 10/31 in NYC/LA and 11/1 nationwide.

According to a note that came with the one-sheets, it opens 10/24 in NYC/LA.

Our film booker told me that they picked the 11/1 wide date because they "just don't want to open on Halloween." (He thinks it's stupid, too.)

[ 08-22-2003, 08:39 PM: Message edited by: Mike Blakesley ]

Posted by Aldo Baez (Member # 790) on 08-22-2003, 01:05 AM:

In the new Entertainment Weekly Fall Movie Preview it lists Brother Bear opening October 24th.

Edit: My copy says Oct 24th that was a bad typo sorry.

[ 08-25-2003, 01:44 AM: Message edited by: Aldo Baez ]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-22-2003, 08:41 PM:

That's funny, my copy says Oct. 24. Regional printing, probably...they caught the error mid-stream.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 09-08-2003, 05:37 PM:

That magazine goes by NYC/LA release dates. Brother Bear is now confirmed as 10/24 in NYC/LA and 11/1 nationwide.

Posted by David L Parlier (Member # 1944) on 10-09-2003, 02:11 PM:

I would have to agree that Buena Vista releasing "Brother Bear" on Saturday, November 1st has left me wondering why? This is especially weird since they would be giving up part of the opening weekend money. However maybe it is true that they didn't want to release a kids movie on the night of Halloween. Then again this would assume that Buena Vista had morals and they just want to do the good Christian thing. Hmmm....

I personally have had my own idea of why they had picked a Saturday to release "Brother Bear" and it is starting to play out.

Note: This is just my own experience at the 4 screen theater I manage and realize it might not hold true for anyone else.

This past week we received word from BV that "Brother Bear" was going to be a 4 week deal. This in itself is nothing unusual especially for a movie being released so close to the holidays. So, we just simply play "Brother Bear" into thier other movie "Haunted Mansion" which opens on November 26th. Yeah right! They also informed us that "Brother Bear" was going to have to be played CLEAN through Saturday 29th. Now where are we going to find a movie that opens on a Sunday! Gee...I know! Maybe we could bump another studios Thanksgiving weekend movie and play "Brother Bear" into a fifth week. Could this be part of the reason why BV released the movie on a Saturday? Hmmm...Maybe?

This leaves us with a small problem since we have a large family market. We could really use "Brother Bear" for business at the first of November, but I do not see us bumping any other movie we have scheduled for that weekend. I hope this doesn't become a regular thing!!!

- Haunted Mansion
- Matrix
- Master and Commander
- Cat in the Hat

Is this just us or has anyone else had this problem yet?
How is everyones working relationship with BV?

At the least I just wanted to give a big "F U" to BV for all the problems they cause us!

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 10-09-2003, 06:28 PM:

What do you play Friday Night?

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-09-2003, 06:43 PM:

David L, you answered your own question in your 1st paragraph.

When Halloween falls on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, that weekend turns out to be one of the slowest of the year. Peep the numbers on Box Office Mojo some time.

Posted by Nicholas Roznovsky (Member # 861) on 10-13-2003, 11:15 PM:

Yeah, but cutting a day off the slowest weekend of the year doesn't improve your numbers. I guess it would improve your daily average over the weekend, but who cares about that number?

Low grossing weekend - potential Friday gross = even lower grossing weekend

I just don't get the whole Saturday release thing, but I've stopped trying. It is fast approaching and there's little that can be done about it. I still think that Disney's unwillingness to take on the teen-skewing "Elf" directly on the 7th shows that they have little or no confidence in this film.

Of course, what do I know? They send them and I just slap them together and run them...

Posted by Scott Oakley (Member # 651) on 10-17-2003, 11:00 AM:

I think it's funny that just because some of you don't want to see this this film you think it's going to be a flop like Treasure Planet. Unlike Treasure Planet this one appeals to boys and girls and plus it's got talking animals! This is going to be a hit, good movie or bad. We've been getting lots of calls about it for the last few weeks. And one woman asked when "Koda" was coming out.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-17-2003, 05:50 PM:

Nicholas: If Disney thought Brother Bear would be a flop the studio wouldn't have scheduled an 8-day NYC/LA exclusive starting next Friday. Disney has been advertising advance tickets for the NYC exclusive (at the Ziegfeld) the last few weeks.

Elf is another matter -- it opens opposite The Matrix Revolutions.

Posted by Nicholas Roznovsky (Member # 861) on 10-22-2003, 01:42 PM:

Somehow, running a limited release in NY and LA for eight days doesn't indicate that to me. Lots of crap opens in limited release. They've already committed to a mega-wide release on 11/1, so the limited run is just the standard Disney way of drumming up some word-of-mouth. I seem to remember them doing this on several films in the past.

Besides, that simulataneous 35mm/IMAX release of "Treasure Planet" last year was pretty bold move by Disney (one that pointed to them thinking it would be a success), and we all know how that one turned out.

Anyhoo, that doesn't really address the question I asked when I started this topic - why the Saturday wide release? I still don't understand what Disney gains by giving up a day of nationwide box office receipts.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-22-2003, 01:54 PM:

Nicholas - the question has already been answered several times in this thread --- THEY DON'T WANT TO OPEN ON HALLOWEEN. But they DO want to open before the other blockbuster kids movie ("Elf") comes out.

If I was them, I would have opened on Wednesday the 29th and gotten 2 extra days of $$.

Posted by Nicholas Roznovsky (Member # 861) on 10-22-2003, 02:18 PM:

I believe my original post in this thread pointed out the whole Halloween thing. I still don't think that's justification for opening on a Saturday. So, I guess I knew the answer when I started this whole thing - but that answer is (IMHO) just not good enough.

If Disney doesn't want to open wide on 10/31 that's fine. Anyone else facing this dilemma, however, would've opened the film on 10/24 or 10/29.

It's just frustrating to have to deal with another day's worth of changing over. Assembling the print itself is no problem of course, but creating schedules, coordinating advertising, and getting people to realize that I'll be adding and dropping shows after Friday night is a real pain. It's hard enough to get them to understand regular Friday and Wednesday release schedules.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 10-22-2003, 05:54 PM:

It's (BB opening on a Sat.) sure keeping things interesting....

Posted by Chris Liczbinski (Member # 1957) on 10-24-2003, 12:56 PM:

From scanning through the posts I couldn't see a reply to Ian Price's question about what people are playing Friday night. We are changing our Thursday night change over to Friday night- however I am unsure when the outgoing prints will be picked up yet- could be Friday night or the following week.

EDIT- Our Thursday night change over will still happen, but anything regarding the theaters we will be showing "Brother Bear" in will be broken down/moved Friday night.

[ 10-24-2003, 11:09 PM: Message edited by: Chris Liczbinski ]

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-26-2003, 05:26 PM:

Brother Bear brought in an estimated $285K from its NYC/LA exclusive. That's a top-20 debut if the numbers hold -- and that's a good omen for next Saturday!

Kevin W, you called it 2 months before Fox would admit it. Alien gets re-released on Wednesday (10/29) and will go out limited, mainly in megaplexes. If you go to the UA Union Square in NYC you'll be able to see Ripley in DLP. [Big Grin]

Halloween day itself is gonna be like Labor Day weekend. The Human Stain opens limited instead of semi-wide (I smell a flop); In the Cut goes semi-wide; Sylvia has its national arthouse break.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 10-26-2003, 07:32 PM:

Has anyone determined if BROTHER BEAR uses digital or film projection at the Ziegfeld?

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 10-27-2003, 12:08 PM:

The Barco D-Cine Digital projector was reportedly removed from the Ziegfeld last summer, so what did they open "Brother Bear" with on October 24?

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 10-27-2003, 12:57 PM:

quote:
Brother Bear brought in an estimated $285K from its NYC/LA exclusive.

Keep in mind these figures aren't unusual for an exclusive engagement in these two cities. The El Capitan does throw off similiar grosses even when a Disney film shows citywide, because of their added attractions, in this case, a live stage show. Also, the prices for the El Capitan are way above the norm. General admission seating is $14 adults and $12 children/seniors. VIP seating (reserved seats, etc) is 23 bucks per person!!! Of course, when a film plays nationwide these ticket prices will get diluted, but when its one of only two theatres playing the film, they have a major impact on why the total gross is so high. (Back in the 80's, Disney's RETURN TO OZ played in a nationwide release. Fully one-fourth of the entire gross came from just one theatre - tje Radio City Music Hall!).

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 10-28-2003, 01:46 PM:

According to Variety today on "Brother Bears" opening.

The El Capitan in Hollywood did $213,055 for the weekend box office gross. And the Ziegfeld in New York did $78,914 for their weekend box office gross.
For a Total of $291,940

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-28-2003, 06:22 PM:

The movie got a "C" grade from Entertainment Weekly. Most of the complaints from the few reviews I've read seem to center on the Phil Collins songs.

I remember nobody liked the Elton John tunes from "Lion King" either, so who knows. [Confused]

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-28-2003, 06:59 PM:

Brother Bear is in 35mm at the Ziegfeld. Had he been in DLP the ads for the 8-day exclusive would have played up the DLP. He did, though, debut outside the top 20.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 10-29-2003, 08:30 AM:

quote:
The El Capitan in Hollywood did $213,055 for the weekend box office gross

Wow... just think, 3 weekends like that and I could pay off the debt on my theatre AND buy my wife the coveted minivan she wants.

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 10-29-2003, 08:45 AM:

We just finalized our schedules yestersday. We have three bookings ending Thursday night and three more ending on Friday night. There will be films moving from theatre to theatre both nights. It's been a challange figuring out what goes where, not to mention the extra labor involved.

Great for the distributors. Big mess for the exhibitors. But...what else is new? [Frown]

I'm sure others are facing the same delemma.

Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 10-29-2003, 10:01 AM:

I wonder if openning on a Saturday is an effort to boost the per screen average and set some sort of record... Disney must know that openning on Halloween will not help it, but if they open on Saturday, they would miss the dismal numbers from Friday. That follows openning it at two theaters that can get away with charging more for having it exclusively last week. I bet by Monday morning, it will have quite a high per-screen average.