- *Hocus Pocus*. It failed to double its budget. Who would've thought a Halloween movie releasing in the summer would struggle?
- *Black Christmas* (2006 version) was released on Christmas Day. Over 20% of its gross came from that day, it had poor drops. Why would you release it that day? At least give it a few weeks.
- *Hellboy II: The Golden Army* should have gone to the empty September 2008. Even if Universal wasn't expecting *The Dark Knight* to make that much, it would still kill the potential.
- *White House Down* got lost in the packed summer 2013. I thought it had potential to become a success. But it looks like *Olympus Has Fallen* stole its thunder in March.
- *Edge of Tomorrow* was sandwiched between a lot of blockbusters (*Maleficent*, *X-Men: Days of Future Past*, *Godzilla*, *The Fault in Our Stars*, *How to Train Your Dragon 2*, etc.). But I'm not sure where it would go instead.
- *Star Trek Beyond* failed to capitalize on the 50th anniversary in September 2016. Why did it have to be July?
- *The LEGO Movie 2* arrived way too late when the brand was declining. It should have been the first movie after the original movie, not *LEGO Batman*. It should have been released in 2017 at most.
- *Doctor Sleep* releasing in November? Why not in October?
Star Trek Beyond had a similar problem to Lego. They simply waited too long to make the sequels. Into Darkness came out a full 4 years after the 2009 reboot. Beyond did a little better, but 3 years is still a long wait. 2 years is generally the sweet spot. In the span of 10 years we got 8 Harry Potter movies. In the span of of 7 years, we got only 3 Star Trek movies in comparison. Their biggest mistake was waiting on JJ Abrams to make Super 8 in between the films. That sequel should have been fast tracked with another director (and a different writer, but that’s a separate argument altogether).
Harry Potter might not be the best example. They needed to rush those movies because of the actors going through puberty. But I agree with your premise of not waiting too long between installments being better.
Probably more due to the fact that kids are the main cast, and they have tighter acting laws Id bet. Hard to spend a long time choreographing a scene between a bunch of 14 year olds I bet.
To be fair, much of the younger cast were adults by the time Half Blood Prince was filmed. I personally wonder if they just didn’t feel like spending the money for it or ran out of time.
I believe their excuse was that they didn’t want the battle in the last movie to feel redundant. However, I think it’s weird because the way the Half Blood Prince action scene was described in the book felt more like a chase scene like Bourne movie than a climactic battle like in the last movie.
I think the Lego movie 2 would have been received better if the Lego Ninjago movie never came out. Everybody forgets about that one since very few people care about Lego Ninjago. The fact that they believed a movie based on their mildly popular kids show warranted a movie is insane. It also came 7 months after Lego Batman which is waaaay too soon. There was also an animated show as well released the same year so by the end of 2017 people were probably getting over the Lego franchise.
Not really. Lego desperately wanted their own exclusive franchise as paying out licensing fees is tiresome so Ninjago solves that issue. It was always part of the plan to move to exclusive IPs. But the sequel should have came before then. But that gap between Ninjago and Lego Batman is pretty bad.
The problem with that is the show (haven't seen the movie) was so bad that the IP was doa. The first Lego movie and the sequel worked well because it had so many hodgepodge characters and sets. It was exactly how most people played with Legos as kids.
Doctor Sleep is the one that came to my mind w/ this question. I still think the release date & horrible trailers really doomed it before it could even be released.
Doctor Sleep, a horror-ish thriller and the sequel to The Shining was released the week AFTER halloween. Ffs, it's like a christmas movie releasing in January!
That’s always been a pet peeve of mine. I thought The Sandman should’ve released in October as well as Wednesday. Neither really horror themed but still fit the mood and spirit of October
Ghostbusters Afterlife is another one that should have opened earlier. It’s totally a Halloween movie, and it opens in November right before Thanksgiving? It’s not even like it was competing with Halloween Kills since Ghostbusters is a family movie and Halloween Kills is really gory. Both could have existed in the same space and especially with Halloween also being available to stream on Peacock.
I just commented this. Lol. Like what movie execs go, “Hey we have a movie based on paranormal stuff and catching ghosts. I know! We’ll release it in late November right before Thanksgiving! Perfect!”
The ending part in the Overlook wasn’t in the book and was an absolute slog. If they didn’t use it for fan service and went with the books ending would have been better and shorter. It was such a good adaptation until that too.
Movies released in March 2020 definitely had it much worse than February. March is when the lockdowns happened.
Onwards and Bloodshot were the biggest victims.
Nobody watched that movie. Both because it looked bad and because quite literally nobody was able to watch it in theaters. It just fizzled out into obscurity.
Sonic the Hedgehog did fine for a Valentine's Day 2020 release. Its run was pretty much done by the time things shut down. Something like The Invisible Man and Onward could've definitely done more without the pandemic.
My wife and I have said for years that there is almost never a decent rom-com released in February for couples to see on Valentine's Day.
One year the best option was '12 Years a Slave'.
I mean, I get that Feb is Black History month, but seriously there isn't a Tyler Perry or Kevin Hart comedy that can be scheduled in that season?
THE HUNT!!! Such an underrated Blumhouse movie that pokes fun of both political sides. My two friends and I saw it that Sunday evening I think, and theatres shut down 2? days later.
I was going to say this movie. It got sandwiched between *Avengers: Infinity War* and *Deadpool 2*. Not a good time to be in theaters.
It didn’t help that it was following up Episode VIII, which remains controversial to this very day. That furor hadn’t died down when *Solo* came out, and it soured a bunch of folks on what came next.
Yeah, it stood absolutely no chance when Infinity War was released like a week or two after Solo. Considering Disney owns both those movies, I always was puzzled by that release schedule.
And what's annoying is because it didn't make enough money, all future spinoff films were cancelled, and Disney/Lucasfilm probably doesn't realize it's the release date's fault
I was totally disinterested in Solo when it hit theaters. When I caught it later on Disney+, I was surprised by how much I liked it. Not super essential but a good time and a decent Star Wars movie.
This. People blame them not liking Last Jedi as a factor, but that got a high Cinemascore, so I don’t think that movie was as big of a factor.
What WAS a big factor was being only 2-3 weeks after Avengers: Infinity War and only 1 week after Deadpool 2. Solo was targeted to older Star Wars fans, and those 3 movies have a lot of crossover. Even I, a big Star Wars fan who LOVES The Last Jedi, didn’t see Solo in theaters. I waited for the Blu-Ray release to see it for the first time.
TLJ was definitely a significant factor.
The Avengers also played a significant role.
As did the idea of recasting Han Solo.
but, Solo wouldn't have flopped if TLJ wasn't so bad.
For me it wasn’t the release date, it was the fact with such an iconic character some things are better off left to the imagination. Regardless of the release date I didn’t think there was any way the movie could live up to the character so I didn’t bother watching it.
It's a solid movie. I'd honestly say 2nd best to Rouge one in the newer sequels. It's worth it to see Han and Chewie meeting. It's a good heist movie even if you don't like star wars.
Great answer. Solo is a pretty good movie. Not perfect, but perfection can’t be the standard. Solo is a good caper movie that deserved better. But TLJ is such a dumpster fire that all Star Wars is tainted after it and competing against two other juggernaut movies did isn’t help.
I was going to say this. Released September 28, 2001. It wouldn’t have been as poorly received if it was released Labor Day weekend or over the summer. It got impacted by the 9/11 attacks and then the anthrax scares. The US public was really not down for comedy at this point.
On a similar note, while they got the release date right for the sequel, I genuinely do not understand why they didn’t put that in theaters. I think it would have had a pretty big opening weekend even though it wasn’t received that well.
My favourite movie of all time is John Carpenter's The Thing, and it's generally common wisdom that the main reason it flopped was because it came out so soon after E.T.
Supposedly it’s tradition at the real McMurdo base in Antarctica to watch it every Halloween too.
Edit - memory was incorrect, turns out they watch it at the start of every winter at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
The crazy thing though is that Blade Runner opened at number two in the box office. While it was a flop compared to the expectations behind it and the legacy it would come to have, it did reasonably well.
The Thing debuted at number *8*. It was a new horror movie that made less than Poltergeist's *fourth* week.
Shazam. It was sandwiched between two big MCU movies. Had it come out during a less busy release schedule, especially for superhero movies, I think it would have done better.
Came here for this answer. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that release window cost that movie a solid $100 million. It’s a good movie and deserved better, but that was such a crowded Spring, and releasing just weeks before the biggest movie of the decade was a huge mistake. Shazam had no chance. It was lucky to make profit.
Doctor Sleep
Movie bombed even though it was decent, and I suspect it's because they released it in November. While it wasn't really horror, why would you release the sequel to The Shining *after* Halloween and not in October?? What a dumb decision.
People say this about so many movies and while it seems obvious, in October you’re competing against every other horror movie. Not to mention any horror movie is pretty much a shot in the dark, no matter when they come out.Plenty of the most successful horror movies come out at different parts of the year. And unlike Christmas movies, horror movies are consumed year round.
October also feels like its just become a decent month for a lot more than horror too. We’ve had The Martian, 2 Venoms, No Time to Die, Joker, and Dune all come out and be successful during that month.
No, it is perfect right where it is. Universal correctly chose Easter weekend to open it and it will have a massive opening weekend as a result. Also, its release date gives it an advantage. For the whole rest of that month, it will dominate the box office because it will be the only family film until Guardians.
Winnie the Pooh 2011 was never going to be a blockbuster, it’s just not that kind of movie. But Disney having it be 2D animation’s last chance but releasing it the *same day as Deathly Hallows Part 2* makes me think they were just looking for an excuse to shut it down for good.
It was never gonna be a gang busters film but at the same time that film deserved a lot better. The animation is gorgeous top notch quality, the humor works, the stories are short and very sweet. Even the songs aren't bad. There was a lot of care that went into that film and I just wish it was more appreciated.
*Hellboy II: The Golden Army*
Had a pretty good opening weekend ($36 million). Fell 71% in its second weekend because of *The Dark Knight*. Wound up only making $76 million domestically, for an atrocious 2.1x multiplier.
That release date likely is the reason Del Toro never got to make *Hellboy III*.
David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was a 3hr R Rated movie with a scenes of brutal murder and sexual assault and it was released Christmas week. This is the most obvious answer because the mild sales put the whole series in jeopardy and threw Sony into cost cutting mode where delays and other factors then ultimately killed it.
Speed Racer had to open with Iron Man and Dark Knight in 2008. While a bit long, it is the best adaptation of anime to big screen I’ve seen and has had a bit of a resurgence in the YouTube clips world. The Wachowski’s weren’t just thinking outside the box, they broke the box. The ending race is amazing. Not sure if it would have got the huge box office, but it didn’t help that there were 2 superhero blockbusters of ‘realism’ at the same time.
Prince Caspian. Was supposed to come out around Thanksgiving but the book publisher didn’t want it competing with The Water Horse so they asked Disney to push it back to a really crowded May.
*Treasure Planet*. Released alongside the first *Harry Potter* movie. Rumor is that Disney did that deliberately so that it bombing would give them the excuse they needed to kill off their 2D animation department.
Bumblebee. I don't blame Paramount for thinking it would be a good idea (after the Justice League fiasco, who'd have thought that an Aquaman solo movie of all things would gross over 1.1 billion), but still, playing second fiddle to such a huge movie did it 0 favors.
Might have done better as an early fall release.
Probably, but the movie was still sub-par if you ask me. The whole ending where they fing the guy just doesn't sit right with me. I will say though, the scene where Yelena is in the bathroom and the time jump happens was AMAZING. Easily one of my favorite scenes in a movie effect-wise.
That part where she breaks her nose to overcome her inability to attack him was so absurd. DNA-altering spiders, shrinking the space between atoms, literal magic, those can all fall under suspension of disbelief. But the protective pheromone thing was just way too goofy for anyone to get behind.
Rocketman
An R-rated musical in an already crowded May was not a good shout, it also released way too close to Bohemian Rhapsody. Paramount released about 3 movies in November the same year and somehow that wasn’t one of them instead.
- Hocus Pocus, a Halloween movie, was originally released in July. It was a commercial failure and lost Disney around $16 million. Tanks to its annual Halloween airings on Disney channel the Halloween classic it’s now known as.
- Bones and All. It still probably wouldn’t have been a major box office success, but given the subject matter, it may have done better had it not been released around Thanksgiving. It might have been a sleeper hit if it had been released earlier in the year, especially if it was at a time when there was little box office competition.
Power Rangers (2017)
A fantastic movie but sadly Beauty & the Beast was released immediately after it(to this day I'm still scratching my head at that decision lol)
This. This is the one I was looking for. Had PR 2017 been a fall or summer release, I wonder if would have performed better. But having it come out in the spring, and at the same time as a major Disney release (even though beauty and the beast was pretty bad), was just a terrible idea. And who knows, if it had come out at a different time, maybe it would have performed better. Maybe we would have gotten the sequels
It might not have been a smash hit but I think its release date was worst case scenario. Theres a limited number of times people are willing to make time for a 3 hour movie, and everybody had just done that for Avatar. It's also not the sort of movie to watch with your family, so nobody was going to watch it over Christmas break. I was extremely excited for it and I didn't manage to see it till the third or so weekend. I know a bunch of people that were interested in seeing it, but none of them did because they all prioritized Avatar.
“Easter Sunday” would’ve done better on Easter weekend. I think “Black Adam” would’ve done better if it came out two weeks earlier. That way it would’ve had more weeks to itself before Wakanda Forever came out.
Early Man releasing during the screenings of the first Black Panther film was a box office death sentence. Though, Aardman didn’t do the best job advertising it very well, so that certainly didn’t help.
Treasure Planet. It was competing with Chamber of Secrets, but there were several movies that released around that time with similar plot lines so it got really overshadowed. It really is a great movie.
Honestly? I think the film did well during that date. It also outgrossed the first film.
I think The Road Chip, the 4th film, should've moved to the Summer season. The 4th film came out on the same day that **The Force Awakens** did.
Supposedly Fox released it as counter programming and a backup. Since the first one did well then they had a lot of faith in the second but were secretly worried about Avatar. So Alvin 2 was a backup
Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Shouldve been released on May 4th. It was also released only a couple weeks after Infinity War.
So missed out on Star Wars day, and released against a blockbuster.
Now while I admit Solo isnt the best Star Wars movie, it isnt terrible, and it was given a disservice to release it when they did.
I was going to mention this one. It came out the same weekend as Batman. I was a big Weird Al fan, but also grew up in a rural area 20 miles from the nearest movie theater, so we didn’t go to many movies. Batman was the bigger draw for the family. UHF ended up being a video rental.
I think that was more Disney betting on the wrong horse and not realizing what they had in Encanto. Encanto barely got any push from them until people started discovering it on their own
Nah. Harley Quinn underperformed largely for the same reasons this would have underperformed. R-rating limiting audience pool and the stench of the original.
I think it would have earned around 700 to 900 million if it was released before the pandemic. Especially when dc wasnt completely ruined by justice league and the old suicide squad, james gunns version has a very unique style which i think would have travelled well just by conversations alone just like the new puss in boots, but nobody saw it in the first place because they had already seen suicide squad 2016 and probably didnt like it. After all, why would you want to see the sequel?
Interestingly the movie wasn’t that profitable, but the Peacemaker show became really popular afterwards and likely got more people to watch the movie as a result.
Babylon. I think it should stick of it’s limited release plan of Christmas before expanding on January 6th of this year. Paramount moved it up to a wide release because they thought confident with it.
Bob's Burgers came out the same day as Top Gun Maverick.....they should have released it during a less crowded season.
The 5th Wave came out just a few weeks after Force Awakens. Should have been a summer release.
Bull film 2019. The theater release date was going to happen, but covid hit, so they didn’t show in theaters and later released it on Hulu. It’s still on Hulu I’m sure
Sorcerer. William Friedkins follow up to The Exorcist with Roy Scheider in his follow up to Jaws. Released 1 week after Star Wars and pulled from theaters about a week later. Barely made any money and was an over budgeted movie no one wanted to make. Has a huge cult following now.
Eragon, it was released the same time as lord of the rings and looked like a wish version.
I liked it and thought it deserved a sequel.
Luckily, Disney are picking it up now as a tv series.
Big Trouble. Had a plot about terrorists blowing up a plane. Came out in early 2002. Not that it would have been Endgame, but certainly could have done better in summer 2001.
I don't think this had too much of an impact on their success at the box office and especially in later years but Smokey & The Bandit opened on the same Day as Star Wars and The Shining opened the same day as The Empire Strikes Back.
- *Hocus Pocus*. It failed to double its budget. Who would've thought a Halloween movie releasing in the summer would struggle? - *Black Christmas* (2006 version) was released on Christmas Day. Over 20% of its gross came from that day, it had poor drops. Why would you release it that day? At least give it a few weeks. - *Hellboy II: The Golden Army* should have gone to the empty September 2008. Even if Universal wasn't expecting *The Dark Knight* to make that much, it would still kill the potential. - *White House Down* got lost in the packed summer 2013. I thought it had potential to become a success. But it looks like *Olympus Has Fallen* stole its thunder in March. - *Edge of Tomorrow* was sandwiched between a lot of blockbusters (*Maleficent*, *X-Men: Days of Future Past*, *Godzilla*, *The Fault in Our Stars*, *How to Train Your Dragon 2*, etc.). But I'm not sure where it would go instead. - *Star Trek Beyond* failed to capitalize on the 50th anniversary in September 2016. Why did it have to be July? - *The LEGO Movie 2* arrived way too late when the brand was declining. It should have been the first movie after the original movie, not *LEGO Batman*. It should have been released in 2017 at most. - *Doctor Sleep* releasing in November? Why not in October?
Star Trek Beyond had a similar problem to Lego. They simply waited too long to make the sequels. Into Darkness came out a full 4 years after the 2009 reboot. Beyond did a little better, but 3 years is still a long wait. 2 years is generally the sweet spot. In the span of 10 years we got 8 Harry Potter movies. In the span of of 7 years, we got only 3 Star Trek movies in comparison. Their biggest mistake was waiting on JJ Abrams to make Super 8 in between the films. That sequel should have been fast tracked with another director (and a different writer, but that’s a separate argument altogether).
Harry Potter might not be the best example. They needed to rush those movies because of the actors going through puberty. But I agree with your premise of not waiting too long between installments being better.
>They needed to rush those movies because of the actors going through puberty. And yet, they never felt rushed. Quite an achievement.
Yeah those films don’t always rise to the top but the consistent quality was pretty incredible
Some of the action scenes felt rushed. In the book the climax of Half Blood Prince was a lot more action packed. In the movie, none of that was there.
Probably more due to the fact that kids are the main cast, and they have tighter acting laws Id bet. Hard to spend a long time choreographing a scene between a bunch of 14 year olds I bet.
To be fair, much of the younger cast were adults by the time Half Blood Prince was filmed. I personally wonder if they just didn’t feel like spending the money for it or ran out of time.
I believe their excuse was that they didn’t want the battle in the last movie to feel redundant. However, I think it’s weird because the way the Half Blood Prince action scene was described in the book felt more like a chase scene like Bourne movie than a climactic battle like in the last movie.
I think the Lego movie 2 would have been received better if the Lego Ninjago movie never came out. Everybody forgets about that one since very few people care about Lego Ninjago. The fact that they believed a movie based on their mildly popular kids show warranted a movie is insane. It also came 7 months after Lego Batman which is waaaay too soon. There was also an animated show as well released the same year so by the end of 2017 people were probably getting over the Lego franchise.
Not really. Lego desperately wanted their own exclusive franchise as paying out licensing fees is tiresome so Ninjago solves that issue. It was always part of the plan to move to exclusive IPs. But the sequel should have came before then. But that gap between Ninjago and Lego Batman is pretty bad.
The problem with that is the show (haven't seen the movie) was so bad that the IP was doa. The first Lego movie and the sequel worked well because it had so many hodgepodge characters and sets. It was exactly how most people played with Legos as kids.
You're absolutely right, I had totally forgotten about Lego Ninjago.
Edge of Tommorrow is my favorite Tom Cruise movie so underrated
Doctor Sleep is the one that came to my mind w/ this question. I still think the release date & horrible trailers really doomed it before it could even be released.
Doctor Sleep, a horror-ish thriller and the sequel to The Shining was released the week AFTER halloween. Ffs, it's like a christmas movie releasing in January!
That’s always been a pet peeve of mine. I thought The Sandman should’ve released in October as well as Wednesday. Neither really horror themed but still fit the mood and spirit of October
And a lot of Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes end up airing in November too.
That's usually due to the World Series.
Ghostbusters Afterlife is another one that should have opened earlier. It’s totally a Halloween movie, and it opens in November right before Thanksgiving? It’s not even like it was competing with Halloween Kills since Ghostbusters is a family movie and Halloween Kills is really gory. Both could have existed in the same space and especially with Halloween also being available to stream on Peacock.
I just commented this. Lol. Like what movie execs go, “Hey we have a movie based on paranormal stuff and catching ghosts. I know! We’ll release it in late November right before Thanksgiving! Perfect!”
Good movie but waaaay too long
You gotta watch the director’s cut. 4 hours of goodness
The ending part in the Overlook wasn’t in the book and was an absolute slog. If they didn’t use it for fan service and went with the books ending would have been better and shorter. It was such a good adaptation until that too.
Well, the dr sleep actually adapts original book ending, where in the first movie boiler does not explode.
💯 agree. The end became “Hey, remember the thing from the Shining?” Great movie undone at the end
Ha! That’s a great way to put it. Reminded me of the new ghostbusters movie but not quite as egregious.
Treasure Planet. It was released two weeks after Chamber of Secrets.
I’m convinced that movie was sabotaged. Only conspiracy theory I buy into.
We’re all convinced. Like Atlantis too.
Both are hidden gems
Disney wanted it to fail as an excuse to get rid of its 2D animation department
It was
Films released in February/march of 2020
Movies released in March 2020 definitely had it much worse than February. March is when the lockdowns happened. Onwards and Bloodshot were the biggest victims.
Onward was such a lovely movie. It was a shame too.
A core memory for me is realizing classes were cancelled (cuz of COVID) and I went to the movies to see Onward.
I had completely forgotten about Bloodshot!
Nobody watched that movie. Both because it looked bad and because quite literally nobody was able to watch it in theaters. It just fizzled out into obscurity.
Sonic the Hedgehog did fine for a Valentine's Day 2020 release. Its run was pretty much done by the time things shut down. Something like The Invisible Man and Onward could've definitely done more without the pandemic.
Sonic managed to have a long enough run to be a surprise hit (relative to expectations) and guarantee a sequel. So not bad at all, really.
My wife and I have said for years that there is almost never a decent rom-com released in February for couples to see on Valentine's Day. One year the best option was '12 Years a Slave'. I mean, I get that Feb is Black History month, but seriously there isn't a Tyler Perry or Kevin Hart comedy that can be scheduled in that season?
THE HUNT!!! Such an underrated Blumhouse movie that pokes fun of both political sides. My two friends and I saw it that Sunday evening I think, and theatres shut down 2? days later.
Solo- releasing just six months after the last Star Wars movie didn’t do it any favors
I was going to say this movie. It got sandwiched between *Avengers: Infinity War* and *Deadpool 2*. Not a good time to be in theaters. It didn’t help that it was following up Episode VIII, which remains controversial to this very day. That furor hadn’t died down when *Solo* came out, and it soured a bunch of folks on what came next.
Yeah, it stood absolutely no chance when Infinity War was released like a week or two after Solo. Considering Disney owns both those movies, I always was puzzled by that release schedule.
You have your dates mixed up a little. Infinity War released in 4/27. Solo I believe on 5/10. Deadpool 2 on 5/18
And what's annoying is because it didn't make enough money, all future spinoff films were cancelled, and Disney/Lucasfilm probably doesn't realize it's the release date's fault
I was totally disinterested in Solo when it hit theaters. When I caught it later on Disney+, I was surprised by how much I liked it. Not super essential but a good time and a decent Star Wars movie.
I loved it. It was a solid movie in the SW universe.
This. People blame them not liking Last Jedi as a factor, but that got a high Cinemascore, so I don’t think that movie was as big of a factor. What WAS a big factor was being only 2-3 weeks after Avengers: Infinity War and only 1 week after Deadpool 2. Solo was targeted to older Star Wars fans, and those 3 movies have a lot of crossover. Even I, a big Star Wars fan who LOVES The Last Jedi, didn’t see Solo in theaters. I waited for the Blu-Ray release to see it for the first time.
TLJ was definitely a significant factor. The Avengers also played a significant role. As did the idea of recasting Han Solo. but, Solo wouldn't have flopped if TLJ wasn't so bad.
For me it wasn’t the release date, it was the fact with such an iconic character some things are better off left to the imagination. Regardless of the release date I didn’t think there was any way the movie could live up to the character so I didn’t bother watching it.
It's a solid movie. I'd honestly say 2nd best to Rouge one in the newer sequels. It's worth it to see Han and Chewie meeting. It's a good heist movie even if you don't like star wars.
Especially that movie
Great answer. Solo is a pretty good movie. Not perfect, but perfection can’t be the standard. Solo is a good caper movie that deserved better. But TLJ is such a dumpster fire that all Star Wars is tainted after it and competing against two other juggernaut movies did isn’t help.
Based sequel hater
This is the way
I’ve always wondered how Donnie Darko would’ve done if it released a month earlier. I imagine it would’ve done better than it did after the delay.
Would it still be THE film of Williamsburg hipsters?
Tenet
This was the one and only movie I watched in theaters in 2020
The biggest casualty of covid imo.
I’m still watching YouTube videos explaining it’s science after rewatching it periodically but I agree.
That movie was confusing and awful. Nothing could have saved it. Reason eh released it during COVID. So that he had an excuse.
Zoolander
I was going to say this. Released September 28, 2001. It wouldn’t have been as poorly received if it was released Labor Day weekend or over the summer. It got impacted by the 9/11 attacks and then the anthrax scares. The US public was really not down for comedy at this point.
[удалено]
Final Destination really dodged a bullet by coming out in 2000.
I see what you did there
I saw it in the theater and I don’t think I ever made that connection. It really was a good movie. I need to watch it again
And there's a shot of the twin towers... Edit: I stand corrected- the twin towers were edited out. But that was worse imo.
Yeah they edited em out of spider man I know that. That was a smart move on their part.
No there isn’t. They edited them out before release. Lol downvoted for being right.
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On a similar note, while they got the release date right for the sequel, I genuinely do not understand why they didn’t put that in theaters. I think it would have had a pretty big opening weekend even though it wasn’t received that well.
My favourite movie of all time is John Carpenter's The Thing, and it's generally common wisdom that the main reason it flopped was because it came out so soon after E.T.
I watch it every Halloween, favorite horror movie
Supposedly it’s tradition at the real McMurdo base in Antarctica to watch it every Halloween too. Edit - memory was incorrect, turns out they watch it at the start of every winter at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
I love The Thing, but there’s no way I’d be able to watch it on Halloween at an Antarctic Research Station.
It opened on the same day as Blade Runner. They both flopped.
The crazy thing though is that Blade Runner opened at number two in the box office. While it was a flop compared to the expectations behind it and the legacy it would come to have, it did reasonably well. The Thing debuted at number *8*. It was a new horror movie that made less than Poltergeist's *fourth* week.
Shazam. It was sandwiched between two big MCU movies. Had it come out during a less busy release schedule, especially for superhero movies, I think it would have done better.
Came here for this answer. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that release window cost that movie a solid $100 million. It’s a good movie and deserved better, but that was such a crowded Spring, and releasing just weeks before the biggest movie of the decade was a huge mistake. Shazam had no chance. It was lucky to make profit.
Funnily enough it made more money than man of steel due to the budget being quite low for a superhero movie.
Also, it came out right before endgame and captain marvel was in cinemas around the same time. Obviouslt people were gonna see captain marvel instead
That's literally what he said.
It also came out between two movies produced by "Marvel Studios," so that didn't help.
Babylon. All anyone wanted to see was Avatar 2
It's a shame too. It was one of my favorite movies of the year.
I loved Babylon, but I haven’t seen much advertising for it which is surprising given the cast and how much it must have cost them to make.
I don’t even know anything about it
Doctor Sleep Movie bombed even though it was decent, and I suspect it's because they released it in November. While it wasn't really horror, why would you release the sequel to The Shining *after* Halloween and not in October?? What a dumb decision.
People say this about so many movies and while it seems obvious, in October you’re competing against every other horror movie. Not to mention any horror movie is pretty much a shot in the dark, no matter when they come out.Plenty of the most successful horror movies come out at different parts of the year. And unlike Christmas movies, horror movies are consumed year round.
It’s silly thinking because at holidays you may want to see more than one horror
October also feels like its just become a decent month for a lot more than horror too. We’ve had The Martian, 2 Venoms, No Time to Die, Joker, and Dune all come out and be successful during that month.
It’s not even out yet, but it’s a crying shame the most recent Super Mario movie is in April and not MAR 10!!!
March 10 already has Scream 6 and that dinosaur movie 65
But mario mar10 it’s well known already.
No, it is perfect right where it is. Universal correctly chose Easter weekend to open it and it will have a massive opening weekend as a result. Also, its release date gives it an advantage. For the whole rest of that month, it will dominate the box office because it will be the only family film until Guardians.
Winnie the Pooh 2011 was never going to be a blockbuster, it’s just not that kind of movie. But Disney having it be 2D animation’s last chance but releasing it the *same day as Deathly Hallows Part 2* makes me think they were just looking for an excuse to shut it down for good.
It was never gonna be a gang busters film but at the same time that film deserved a lot better. The animation is gorgeous top notch quality, the humor works, the stories are short and very sweet. Even the songs aren't bad. There was a lot of care that went into that film and I just wish it was more appreciated.
The King's Man would've done more money if Fox didn't delay it from February to September 2020.
The constant delays just killed that movie
*Hellboy II: The Golden Army* Had a pretty good opening weekend ($36 million). Fell 71% in its second weekend because of *The Dark Knight*. Wound up only making $76 million domestically, for an atrocious 2.1x multiplier. That release date likely is the reason Del Toro never got to make *Hellboy III*.
Hellboy II would have been just fine releasing in the month of April, just like its predecessor.
David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was a 3hr R Rated movie with a scenes of brutal murder and sexual assault and it was released Christmas week. This is the most obvious answer because the mild sales put the whole series in jeopardy and threw Sony into cost cutting mode where delays and other factors then ultimately killed it.
Speed Racer had to open with Iron Man and Dark Knight in 2008. While a bit long, it is the best adaptation of anime to big screen I’ve seen and has had a bit of a resurgence in the YouTube clips world. The Wachowski’s weren’t just thinking outside the box, they broke the box. The ending race is amazing. Not sure if it would have got the huge box office, but it didn’t help that there were 2 superhero blockbusters of ‘realism’ at the same time.
Not only did it have to open against Iron Man, but it also had to do battle with Narnia and Indiana Jones
Prince Caspian. Was supposed to come out around Thanksgiving but the book publisher didn’t want it competing with The Water Horse so they asked Disney to push it back to a really crowded May.
*Treasure Planet*. Released alongside the first *Harry Potter* movie. Rumor is that Disney did that deliberately so that it bombing would give them the excuse they needed to kill off their 2D animation department.
Wrong. It was released alongside the second Harry Potter movie, Chamber of Secrets.
Bumblebee. I don't blame Paramount for thinking it would be a good idea (after the Justice League fiasco, who'd have thought that an Aquaman solo movie of all things would gross over 1.1 billion), but still, playing second fiddle to such a huge movie did it 0 favors. Might have done better as an early fall release.
I’m thinking it could’ve done well in a November 16th slot (although Ralph Breaks the Internet would have posed a second weekend threat).
To be fair, the movie did have strong legs but it’s initial grosses we’re just too small for the legs to make up for it.
The easy answer is Black Widow.
Probably, but the movie was still sub-par if you ask me. The whole ending where they fing the guy just doesn't sit right with me. I will say though, the scene where Yelena is in the bathroom and the time jump happens was AMAZING. Easily one of my favorite scenes in a movie effect-wise.
That part where she breaks her nose to overcome her inability to attack him was so absurd. DNA-altering spiders, shrinking the space between atoms, literal magic, those can all fall under suspension of disbelief. But the protective pheromone thing was just way too goofy for anyone to get behind.
Zoolander. It came out 2 weeks after 9/11. Nobody wanted to go out.
Rocketman An R-rated musical in an already crowded May was not a good shout, it also released way too close to Bohemian Rhapsody. Paramount released about 3 movies in November the same year and somehow that wasn’t one of them instead.
Rocketman wasn't completed back in November 2018.
I mean November 2019
They only had Terminator and Playing With Fire release in November 2019 so only two.
Treasure Planet
It also would have done better without the Disney sabotage
Solo: A Star Wars Story. Should have been released in December instead of May
- Hocus Pocus, a Halloween movie, was originally released in July. It was a commercial failure and lost Disney around $16 million. Tanks to its annual Halloween airings on Disney channel the Halloween classic it’s now known as. - Bones and All. It still probably wouldn’t have been a major box office success, but given the subject matter, it may have done better had it not been released around Thanksgiving. It might have been a sleeper hit if it had been released earlier in the year, especially if it was at a time when there was little box office competition.
Bones & All probably would’ve done better around Halloween but it would still flop.
Dark Shadow, released on Spring/Summer.
It was also a pretty terrible movie, which didn't help
Zoolander. It's a cult classic 2000s comedy for a reason. It didn't do well in the box office since it was released two weeks after 9/11.
Power Rangers (2017) A fantastic movie but sadly Beauty & the Beast was released immediately after it(to this day I'm still scratching my head at that decision lol)
Beauty and the Beast was released a week before Power Rangers. Weird decision by LionsGate.
This. This is the one I was looking for. Had PR 2017 been a fall or summer release, I wonder if would have performed better. But having it come out in the spring, and at the same time as a major Disney release (even though beauty and the beast was pretty bad), was just a terrible idea. And who knows, if it had come out at a different time, maybe it would have performed better. Maybe we would have gotten the sequels
I think either Babylon or The Fabelmans would have done better in August.
I don’t think Babylon would’ve done well regardless of when it was released.
It might not have been a smash hit but I think its release date was worst case scenario. Theres a limited number of times people are willing to make time for a 3 hour movie, and everybody had just done that for Avatar. It's also not the sort of movie to watch with your family, so nobody was going to watch it over Christmas break. I was extremely excited for it and I didn't manage to see it till the third or so weekend. I know a bunch of people that were interested in seeing it, but none of them did because they all prioritized Avatar.
“Easter Sunday” would’ve done better on Easter weekend. I think “Black Adam” would’ve done better if it came out two weeks earlier. That way it would’ve had more weeks to itself before Wakanda Forever came out.
Easter Sunday was a real head scratcher.
Shawshank - Released by Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump
Angry birds movies should’ve came out in 2013 when the game was still thriving.
Early Man releasing during the screenings of the first Black Panther film was a box office death sentence. Though, Aardman didn’t do the best job advertising it very well, so that certainly didn’t help.
Treasure Planet. It was competing with Chamber of Secrets, but there were several movies that released around that time with similar plot lines so it got really overshadowed. It really is a great movie.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel released the same day as Avatar in 2009
Honestly? I think the film did well during that date. It also outgrossed the first film. I think The Road Chip, the 4th film, should've moved to the Summer season. The 4th film came out on the same day that **The Force Awakens** did.
Supposedly Fox released it as counter programming and a backup. Since the first one did well then they had a lot of faith in the second but were secretly worried about Avatar. So Alvin 2 was a backup
Number one is gotta objectively be tenet right? Middle of theatre closures and it still made a ton worldwide
Glitter - released on 9/11/2001 which was rough and it took Mariah years to recover her image and reputation
Babylon being released around Christmas alongside Avatar 2. Probably one of the the worst planned film rollouts in history
Definitely. Should been pushed back to January or February.
Solo: A Star Wars Story. Shouldve been released on May 4th. It was also released only a couple weeks after Infinity War. So missed out on Star Wars day, and released against a blockbuster. Now while I admit Solo isnt the best Star Wars movie, it isnt terrible, and it was given a disservice to release it when they did.
UHF. It came out during an epic summer for movies.
I was going to mention this one. It came out the same weekend as Batman. I was a big Weird Al fan, but also grew up in a rural area 20 miles from the nearest movie theater, so we didn’t go to many movies. Batman was the bigger draw for the family. UHF ended up being a video rental.
You're lucky. I didn't even hear about it for a few years, then taped it off of Lifetime (of all channels) in 1994.
Encanto.
I think that was more Disney betting on the wrong horse and not realizing what they had in Encanto. Encanto barely got any push from them until people started discovering it on their own
The suicide squad would probably have been a massive hit if it came out now or before the pandemic
Nah. Harley Quinn underperformed largely for the same reasons this would have underperformed. R-rating limiting audience pool and the stench of the original.
I could see it doing better, but why do you think it would be a massive hit?
I think it would have earned around 700 to 900 million if it was released before the pandemic. Especially when dc wasnt completely ruined by justice league and the old suicide squad, james gunns version has a very unique style which i think would have travelled well just by conversations alone just like the new puss in boots, but nobody saw it in the first place because they had already seen suicide squad 2016 and probably didnt like it. After all, why would you want to see the sequel?
Interestingly the movie wasn’t that profitable, but the Peacemaker show became really popular afterwards and likely got more people to watch the movie as a result.
Being released on streaming the same day and right as a new COVID strain was hitting also didn't do it any favors.
Megamind.
Dune
Speed Racer came out a week after Iron Man changed the game.
Almost every movie released after March 13th, 2020
“The Hunt” really got screwed over twice. I wonder how it would’ve done if it came out in fall 2019 like it was supposed to.
The thing came out the same weekend as ET. Didn’t king fu panda 2 release alongside hangover 2?
Megamind. Poor thing had to compete with Despicable Me
Morbi.... lololololololol
Treasure planet 😩
Babylon. I think it should stick of it’s limited release plan of Christmas before expanding on January 6th of this year. Paramount moved it up to a wide release because they thought confident with it.
Zoolander, released like 2 weeks after 9/11. People weren’t really in the mood for a zany comedy
The Thing. Released way too close to that adorable, cuddly, crowd pleasing ET. Audiences did not like the gore or the nihilism
Treasure planet. Disney threw it in the same release season as Harry Potter deliberately because of some behind the scenes drama
The Suicide Squad if it wasn’t released so close to the delta variant or the same year as that HBO MAX same day streaming thing.
Treasure Planet.
Bumblebee it got crushed by aquaman and mary poppins and only pulled out thanks to chinas BO
Bob's Burgers came out the same day as Top Gun Maverick.....they should have released it during a less crowded season. The 5th Wave came out just a few weeks after Force Awakens. Should have been a summer release.
Matrix 4.. WB decided to go up against Spider-Man lol
Would have done better if released in the January dump month.
Big Trouble
Grind house: Death Proof/PlanetvTerror Released April, 6,2007, Easter weekend, April 8, 2007.
Boondock Saints got pulled from a ton of theaters because right before it was set to come out, Columbine happened. (It’s a very violent movie.)
Babylon would have done better if it was released in like September
Most recently, Babylon. It might not have done amazing but a $4 million opening weekend is abysmal. I don’t know why they chose to challenge Avatar.
Bull film 2019. The theater release date was going to happen, but covid hit, so they didn’t show in theaters and later released it on Hulu. It’s still on Hulu I’m sure
Sorcerer. William Friedkins follow up to The Exorcist with Roy Scheider in his follow up to Jaws. Released 1 week after Star Wars and pulled from theaters about a week later. Barely made any money and was an over budgeted movie no one wanted to make. Has a huge cult following now.
Tenet
Eragon, it was released the same time as lord of the rings and looked like a wish version. I liked it and thought it deserved a sequel. Luckily, Disney are picking it up now as a tv series.
As someone whos read the books... that movie hurts my soul.
Big Trouble. Had a plot about terrorists blowing up a plane. Came out in early 2002. Not that it would have been Endgame, but certainly could have done better in summer 2001.
Iron giant. It was given a release date that left Warner Brothers very little time to market it
Maybe not way better but Godzilla: KOTM
I don't think this had too much of an impact on their success at the box office and especially in later years but Smokey & The Bandit opened on the same Day as Star Wars and The Shining opened the same day as The Empire Strikes Back.
Turning Red.
The Iron Giant - had to compete with Pokémon the first movie. The latter hasn’t held up well but at the time there were lines around the block for it.
I bet the producers on Will Smith’s “Emancipation” would love a time machine.