Summer Movie Season Arrives Earlier (and Earlier, and Earlier...)

The release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine today marks the start of the summer movie season. But the interesting thing is, today is May 1st and we're nearly two months removed from the official start of summer (June 21.) We're also nearly a month ahead of Memorial Day, which used to be the date the studios looked to as their jumping off point for summer releases. But as everyone seeks to get a jump on the competition, release dates are now sliding further and further up on the calendar. Somewhere along the line, the studio execs figured out that from Christmas-time through April, audiences are so starved for decent movies, that if a big-budget sequel, action or super-hero pic arrives in theaters in early May, it's likely to earn big box office. Moreover, the success of recent late March and April releases like Anger Management, Blades of Glory, and Baby Mama, has proven that even marginal pictures can do well so long as they have a decent marketing push behind them.

I'm not complaining though. In the 80s and 90s you had to wait until close to Memorial Day for blockbusters like Return of The Jedi (released May 25, 1983), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (May 23, 1984), Mission Impossible (May 21, 1996), and The Lost World (May 22, 1997). Nowadays, the release dates of some of summer's most highly anticipated films creep closer to the beginning of May. Which is why this decade we got Star Wars: Attack of the Clones on May 16, Van Helsing on May 7, and Spiderman 3 on May 4. The studios now understand that getting their film out in early (as opposed to late) May (when there's more competition from both other movies and from summer activities like going to the beach) can potentially add more than $100 million to their picture's gross. Look at last year's Iron Man, which was an entertaining film but by no means one of the best summer movies in recent years. It became a $300 million dollar blockbuster, largely due to the fact that its May 2 opening beat everything else out of the gate. Folks were so starved for a decent movie and so amped up for summer that they flocked to theaters to see it. 

And now, with today's opening of Wolverine, we've reached the limit of the May release. Wolverine is sure to have a huge weekend, and I predict that very shortly, maybe as soon as next year, one or more of the studios will dip their toe in the water and release one of their summer blockbusters in April. Even as I'm writing this, I'm looking at my calendar and I see that in 2010, April 30th is a Friday... Seems inevitable doesn't it?

Who knows what's after that. Easter could become the new Memorial Day. Studios might want to take advantage of the fact that many kids are on spring break around that time, and many adults get (or take) Easter Monday off so they can have a 3-day weekend. In any case, enjoy your summer movies and maybe I'll see you on line for Wolverine... or Star Trek... or Terminator Salvation... or Year One... or Transformers 2... or Public Enemies... or G.I. Joe... or Inglorious Bastards... or... 

Related Links:

Movie Insider 2009 Summer Movie Guide