In the Summer, Wednesdays Can Be Just Fine

Forget Friday night. Wednesday is the date night as far as Hollywood studios are concerned.

Don’t believe it? Check out all the last-minute shuffling of release dates on upcoming movies perceived as hot tickets for the younger crowd. The most noticeable round of musical chairs has stopped on Miramax’s “Halloween H2O” and its Aug. 5 debut.

In the last few weeks, MGM has moved its “Disturbing Behavior”--a horror film targeted at the same 12 to 24 age group--from Aug. 5 to July 22.

Touchstone Pictures’ “Armageddon” opened nationwide on Wednesday, and 20th Century Fox’s “There’s Something About Mary,” a comedy from the writers of “Dumb and Dumber” opening July 15, also targets that age group. Disney’s remake of “The Parent Trap,” aimed at a younger audience, opens July 29.

Exhibitors and studio distribution executives say the reason Wednesday has become such a golden opportunity--especially during the summer--is simple: “Every night is Friday night for young audiences who see a lot of movies,” said Paul Dergarabedian, acting president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

“You wouldn’t open on a Monday or Tuesday, that’s too early. Wednesday is just about right in the summer.”

The Wednesday openings carry obvious benefits, but also potential risks, for studios.

A strong opening and early positive critical reviews give studios two extra days to allow word of mouth to build on a film. Buzz and a strong Wednesday opening box office is used to pump up Friday newspaper and television advertisements beckoning weekend moviegoers.

Plus, in a best-case scenario (see “Titanic”) studios bank on Wednesday’s younger audiences returning over the weekend with a friend in tow.

“Wednesday is just a great option in the summer,” said Larry Gleason, MGM’s distribution chief. “There are just so many pictures opening in the summer, so much clutter. It’s about taking advantage of an opportunity that doesn’t always exist in the fall. You can’t usually open on a Wednesday because the audience isn’t available.”

Case in point: “Halloween H2O.” Halloween, the holiday, this year falls on a Saturday, usually considered a prime night for teen moviegoers. Problem is most teens will be at Halloween parties that night. So, when Miramax decided to juggle dates for the best Wednesday advantage, it wreaked havoc with other studios’ schedules, particularly MGM.

The slasher sequel of the cult franchise that first brought its longtime star Jamie Lee Curtis fame was originally set for a Sept. 25 release. Then it was pushed to Aug. 28.

“But we test-screened it and the response went through the roof so we decided it had legs and knew that five weeks of summer is exactly what we wanted,” said Miramax co-chairman Bob Weinstein. “It tested as well as ‘Scream’ and it’s kind of funny that MGM has been saying they had the first scary movie out since ‘Scream,’ using our picture to promote theirs. When we decided to move to Wednesday the 5th, they said at first they weren’t going to move theirs. But they did.

“Maybe they got scared,” he teased.

Gleason described “Disturbing Behavior” as a “Stepford Wives” for teenagers that would appeal to the “Scream” crowd. Amused at Weinstein’s response, he noted: “We just wanted to be the first horror movie out this summer, so we pushed our release up. But now we’re having to rush the post-production to get it finished in time.”

Disney followed Miramax’s lead by heading for the safe harbor of a Wednesday opening around a major holiday that fell on a Saturday. “We would be competing with fireworks and July Fourth picnics,” says producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “Wednesday just made sense.

“Sometimes you run into this with holidays. You just work it to your advantage,” he continued. “Really it’s the old studio logic rediscovered: Use Wednesday and Thursday to create a stir . . . but you better have a movie people want to see.”

If not, bad word of mouth on a Wednesday release can cripple and even kill opening weekend--typically the greatest turnout period for any movie. Consider Sony’s “Godzilla,” a film that opened on a Wednesday (May 20). By the first weekend’s close, it had grossed$55 million with $44.5 million reaped over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

But box office fell 59% from that first weekend to the next, a drastic drop-off for any picture. Exhibitors blamed the plunge on bad word of mouth that rose after the Wednesday opening.

“You have got to feel you’ve got a really strong picture if you open on Wednesday because if you open and the numbers aren’t there, you’re done by Friday,” said Barry Reardon, head of Warner Bros. distribution. “Typically, unless it’s a big summer event movie, you usually see Wednesday as opening day for review-oriented serious movies in the fall.”

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But safety can be another factor prompting a midweek debut. Gritty urban dramas that could potentially attract a criminal element often open early to hopefully lessen the chance of violence erupting at packed theaters on opening weekend.

“Whether it’s a film like ‘Set It Off,’ ‘Players Club’ or ‘Menace II Society,’ you are concerned about activity both in and outside of the theater,” said Dale Pollock, who produced “Set It Off.”