August Worst Month of Year for Hollywood Movies
Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder Buck the Trend
Aug 1, 2008
Only many film production companies, small and large, no longer see the dog days of summer as a ticket sales wasteland.
Movie Studios Cram Over 200 Movies Into the Year
A major movie studio like Warner Bros. Pictures produces a little over a dozen movies each year. According to imdb.com, the company plans to release a total of 14 films by the end of 2008, with perhaps only ten or so of those movies actually being heavily promoted.
While this may not seem a lot, one must also factor the other studios: Sony, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount and Disney. Then add each of their “independent” offshoots, as well as any actual independent production and distribution companies. Combine all these, and the final tally for movies each year goes well over 200 films.
With only 52 weeks in a year, each studio’s opening weekend clashes with others, but they usually know when to pick their battles. There’s summer from May to first weekend in August, and the holiday season from November to Christmas. These are the prime spots, and studios obviously choose to place their best product in these weekends.
August Becomes Home to Bad Movies
But for every good movie there is most likely a not so good one. In the past, and even to a certain degree this year, studios would take movies they had no faith in and throw them onto a weak battleground.
Like the last three weeks of August. It is a time when college kids and, well, kids in general, go back to school. Families usually start to develop an allergy to blockbusters, having already been bombarded for three months by the studio’s best summer efforts. Not wanting to waste their more promising efforts on a weak month, studios used August as a dumping ground.
They would dump the likes of last year’s Invasion, an $80 million remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers that went through at least two directors and two writers. Despite being a big budget project, the movie stunk of failure. It was released on August 19th to a slew of awful reviews. And it’s not the only one.
Studios Now See the Month as Perfect Comedy Release Date
But the times are changing. After The Mummy: Tomb of a Forgotten Franchise bows this weekend, there might actually be quality films following behind it.
Pineapple Express comes out August 8th. The next week marks the debut of both Tropic Thunder and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Tropic Thunder is another comedy with an all-star cast of Robert Downey Jr., Ben Stiller and Jack Black. And Star Wars: The Clone Wars has the fact that it’s a Star Wars movie. Animated or not, it’s going to make money.
Pineapple Express plays as a stoner comedy starring the recent movie star Seth Rogan and produced by Judd Apatow, cinematic comedy’s very own Midas.
Apatow Comedies Help Revive August
It was another Apatow movie that helped push this trend. The 40-Year-Old Virgin opened on August 21, 2005, with little expectations of massive success. It surprised many with its domestic take of 109 million.
While last August gave us Invasion, Daddy Day Camp and The Nanny Diaries, it also delivered Superbad, another Apatow production.
Sadly, it’s true that there is still plenty of cinematic trash being dumped this August. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 comes to mind, along with a desire to write an article about unnecessary sequels. Then add the cheap horror film Mirrors and The Longshots, another Ice Cube family movie directed by none other than Fred Durst. THE Fred Durst.
But this is expected for a month like August. Take joy in the fact every weekend contains a movie that might actually be viewable. A trend is starting, and maybe August has room for good movies after all.
