Thursday 7 June 2012

Avengers and Prometheus: Worldwide Distribution Madness!

 North American readers... ever wondered why the hell you're suddenly getting huge Blockbuster films like Avengers and Prometheus released later than the rest of the world?

Readers from the rest of the world... have you been wondering why here in Europe and elsewhere, we are being blessed with earlier release dates all of a sudden?


Well I've done some digging and come up with something resembling answers.  After first getting the chance to see Avengers on the big screen a full week before the Americans, I began wondering just what the hell was going on with the distribution plan of this most anticipated of blockbusters.  And then I find out we're getting Prometheus similarly early. 


My first thought was that staggered distribution is beneficial as the studios can fly the talent out to premieres and press junkets in many different parts of the world and they can essentially follow the release of the film, promoting it as they go.  But why not start with the USA as always used to be the case?  And also isn't this good for pirates?  Won't shoddy filmed copies from one country end up on street corners of some other country as soon as the film first gets shown on a big screen.  I'm pretty sure this was the case when I stupidly purchased a dodgy copy of Alien VS Predator in Malaysia.  The whooping, cheering and general enthusiasm of the audience watching the film on my dodgy copy meant it must have come from America!  (I mean that as a compliment!)

The point is it's not just down to staggered distribution patterns as these have been happening for years and America always got their big blockbusters first followed by the rest of the world.  So what's happened now to cause this (quite frankly) AWESOME shift in distribution tactics?


Rolling Stone report: 'It's somewhat unusual for a major commercial film like The Avengers to open abroad ahead of its U.S. release, but in this case, it may have worked in the film's favor. Given that American grosses for superhero movies typically dwarf international grosses, it looks like The Avengers will be a massive domestic hit.'

So the idea may be to get international audiences to be more excited about the film if they see it first.  As the international market is so huge, a film needs to get a fair shot at it and if it does not do well domestically, it may be less likely to gain success elsewhere.


The Hollywood Reporter said: 'Avengers posted the biggest opening day ever in New Zealand, earning $800,000. The film also bowed to $2.9 million in France and an even stronger $3.7 million in Italy -- the second-biggest opening day for Disney and the second-best for a Marvel title. All told, Joss Whedon's film earned an eye-popping $17.1 million from only 10 markets... Avengers, which is beginning its foreign rollout a week ahead of its domestic launch May 4, likewise enjoyed a record start in Taiwan, scoring the best opening gross of all time with $1.2 million. And it scored the second-highest opening day in the Philippines, grossing $1.3 million'
 
Seems like the early release in these foreign markets definitely had some impact.  These are huge numbers and the studios are no doubt licking their lips at the extra money rolling in from what they once saw as an opportunity for a little extra money after cleaning up at the domestic box office!  After the recent success of films like Titanic 3D in China, Hollywood are going to be increasingly paying attention to ways they can increase their revenue from all us suckers for American product that live outside their borders.
 
 
Bob Mondello writes: 'Hollywood studios have started premiering big films overseas before they come to the United States, and Battleship is a prime example of this practice: It first hoisted anchor six weeks ago in Japan, then cruised into Europe a week later. Soon after, it steamed into Russia and Pakistan, and has since docked in every movie port of call on the planet except the U.S., Canada and Paraguay... The Amazing Spider-Man will amaze Japan and New Zealand five days before it amazes the U.S. And if you positively can't wait to see Ridley Scott's prequel to Alien, Prometheus, you'll want to book a flight to Europe. Prometheus will open a week early in Europe to get ahead of soccer's Eurocup finals, which the studio figures will be a huge distraction to young males, the film's target audience.'
 
This is a fascinating article and just click on Mondello's name above to read more.  It is particularly interesting to note the consideration of football in the release pattern.  Is this solely the reason behind Prometheus' early UK release?  I can't quite believe it but I'm very interested in seeing how this develops in the future.  Just as long as the studios don't start delaying the UK release of films because they think we're all a bunch of football mad nutters who run around with shaved heads, flags painted on our faces and beating each other senseless because 'our' boys lost or beat another team.
 

What do you think dear international readers?  Should I just keep my mouth shut and enjoy the early releases in the UK?  American readers... is this pissing you off?  Sound off below!

16 comments:

  1. I am fricking loving it!!!

    I don't really care what the reasons are, it is just nice to have a one up on USA for once. I am still sore from The Muppets coming 3 months after USA!!!

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  2. I agree though I want to know the reasons because I want to know if this will continue happening! If so YAY for us!

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    1. I heard it was a way of the film distributers dipping their toe in the water, to see if it is cold..... But that is probably wrong.

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    2. Yeah seems about right but if they keep making more money by doing it then we could see this happening more and more! Good times for us! Not so much for the US! Though I wonder if piracy in the US will get worse!

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  3. Nothing much to say but suck it America!

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    1. Ouch! But I'm sure many feel the same. However, as the films in question are produced by American studios, I can see why American audiences should get to see them first!

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  4. I must admit, I was wondering what the deal was, especially with Avengers getting released earlier in Europe than the U.S. But then again, it doesn't surprise me AT ALL that it's all about the money. Anything to get more money to these people.

    I'm glad more countries internationally are reaping some "benefits" to this. A lot of Americans adopt this "me first" attitude, so I don't think it's entirely bad for us Americans to learn a little patience :)

    It also doesn't surprise me that film releases get pushed up or moved back because of competing things on TV. You see it happen often with films for stupid reasons. For example, the movie Beastly got pushed back about 8 months because Charlie St. Cloud was coming out the same month, and since Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron were dating at the time, they didn't want the movies to coincide at the box office. Stupid, much?

    The Adjustment Bureau's release date got pushed back several times because it was supposed to come out around Inception and both were considered to be within the sci-fi genre. With Inception's acclaimed success, TAB kept getting moved back. Oh, and btw, it was far inferior.

    It's all about da money.

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    1. That is hilarious about Beastly and CSC. Can't believe that happened! I can understand the release shuffling when similar films are coming out close to each other but I just couldn't make sense of the UK getting two of the biggest and most anticipated films of the year before the US. Ok so Prometheus has a Brit director but so does Dark Knight Rises. And then Avengers made no sense at all. So I'm glad I got a few answers and looking forward to seeing where this goes!

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  5. Veeeeery interesting! Nice write-up Pete.

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  6. I wish they could just release a movie at the same time internationally! I know it isn't fair that the US almost always get things first, though not the case anymore these days, but it is irritating to be left behind and seeing all the reviews popping out from overseas :D

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    1. Yeah it's strange. I would have thought in the age of such easy piracy methods, they would be moving towards international release dates. But on the other hand, I'm curious to see what the studios are up to and as long as the UK are the winners, I'm less likely to get upset!

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  7. I'm glad I get some blockbusters early. Just hope it extends to the smaller independent movies too. I saw "Take Shelter" and "A Separation" almost a year late but they were probably my favourite movies of 2011. Right now I want to see "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Safety Not Guaranteed" but there's still no release date where I live.

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    1. Yeah I'm glad too! That will be interesting to see if it extends to indie films but somehow I doubt it. Interesting you mention those two; Take Shelter and A Separation. I'm still delaying making my best of 2011 list until I see them!

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  8. This is pretty damn amazing. I still think that simultaneous worldwide distribution is the way forward, but that's more to combat pirates and the sort.

    Heck, I'm in England and I got to see Avengers and Promotheus before the people on the other side of the pond. That makes me happy :D

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    1. Amazing for us yeah! I'm surprised it hasn't become the norm for every blockbuster to be released same day worldwide but I'm very happy for the studios to give this a try for as long as they like!

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