In a class discussion recently, a fellow student raised the question as to whether we thought movies are released in a strategic fashion. I decided to do a little investigating and found the answer to be without a doubt, absolutely…at least sometimes. There are countless forums, blog posts, and articles, which discuss this topic, and some of the commentators have really interesting takes. Obviously, each particular circumstance has its own chain of events which influence why a certain film is made and when. Some movies are rushed into production, while other movies bounce from desk to desk for years until any progress is made. And this bouncing from desk to desk and studio to studio could be a major contributing factor in itself. The more people who read a plot, the more people inspired and influenced by that plot. A studio may choose to pass on a particular script, but may inherently like the idea, so decide to tweak some details and call it their own- a major reason why most screenwriters need to be represented by agents: to alleviate a lot of the “you stole my idea” drama.
It definitely seems as if movies, or similar movies I should say, come in waves. Sometimes it seems that if one movie is extremely successful, all of a sudden, other people want to jump on that bandwagon. Think about the explosion of vampire movies after Twilight mania. As of May, there were at least 10 new vampire movies in the making. The same even holds true for television shows. Think Glee/Smash, American Idol/The Voice/X Factor, So You Think You Can Dance/Dancing with the Stars.
However, there is also a race to make movies with the same concept, even before a pioneering movie has paved the way for success. Recently, there were two different movies being made simultaneously about Snow White, with Lily Collins playing the lead in Mirror Mirror, which just came out March 16th, and Kristen Stewart playing the lead in Snow White and the Huntsman, due to be released June 1st. There are, and will continue to be, tons of comparisons made between the two pictures. The anticipation of paralleling the two films really helps advertise and hype each individually, and has begun to do so already, because they are based on the same fairy tale. Apparently each is very different from the other, telling the story in completely distinctive ways. Regardless, the media frenzy is definitely going to help both films cash in at the box office.
Here are two links to websites that list movies which were released around the same time about the same topic. There are a lot more than I realized!
I’m sure now I will be paying closer attention to movies in production and movie releases, and will notice more and more of a strategy and trend as to when and why a movie gets the green light when it does, after having done this research. Movies have the potential to generate enormous sums of money, which justifies all of the strategizing, competing, and racing through production and release. If public acceptance and approval was an exact science, all films would be major blockbusters and everyone would profit. But for now, while all anyone can do is speculate, I’m sure the trends and the rivalries will continue, so stay tuned.
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