It wasn’t that long ago that, for fans to see a movie before it’s scheduled release date (unless there was a preview screening) they had to go to a midnight show the night before. Yes, technically, midnight is really the next day, but you get the idea. Thursday Midnight showings for blockbusters, especially during Summer Movie Season, became the common practice.
Within the past few months, the 10p Thursday Night showings started popping-up. Clearly these are not same-day screenings, but the studios obviously realize that midnight showings that aren’t during the summer are very difficult for most people to attend. Should the “night before” money generated by these early screenings count in the weekend box office totals? I say no – because this gives an unfair advantage to the films that offer the 10p screenings.
Well, now 9p Thursday night screenings are about to appears at a mutliplex near you, starting this week with “Oz: The Great and Powerful” (update: most theaters have now moved to 8p shows). All the ads still say: “In Theaters Friday”, but “Oz” screenings will be taking place all over the country Thursday night, beginning at 9p. There’s a banner ad on this website with a clock counting-down to midnight Thursday night, even though thousands of people will have already seen the entire movie by then. 9p is still a little late for kids who have to get up for school on Friday morning (especially since the film is over 2 hrs long), but is this the new trend that we’ll be seeing from now on?
Paramount is advertising that “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” will now be opening on Thursday, March 28th, but there’s no confirmation yet whether that means 9p/10p shows or that it’s going to be a full Thursday release.
At some point every studio will simply have to start saying “In Theaters Thursday Night”, and the industry will have to go to 4-day weekend box office totals. New releases come out on Thursday down in Australia, so maybe we’re heading in that direction. But then it won’t be long before some studio comes-up with the plan to do Wednesday Midnight showings…Then 10p…Then 9p…Then 8…Then…