Free For All Friday; or Where Have All The Blockbusters Gone?

Did you ever notice that the movie season tends to almost disappear after Christmas only to pick back up again come summertime?

Can anyone name a movie that has opened between 1/1 and 4/30 that was a huge success?

If you throw out Passion of the Christ for its pre-Easter opening, the next “best” movie to have opened between this black hole of film releases is a close battle between Fast & Furious (2009) and 300 (2007). Aside from my total man crush on Gerard Butler, those 2 movies are okay and were definitely niche movies.

Cloverfield in 2008 had the highest grossing ever for a January release at just over $40M for its opening weekend. Oh, and that was half of its haul for the ENTIRE LIFE OF THE MOVIE!

February had Passion of the Christ. And it made lots. Can anyone name the #2 movie opening of ALL TIME for February? Hannibal (2001). Jesus Christ and Hannibal Lecter. There’s an odd couple. Suffice to say, the list is thin in February for blockbusters.

March… well, it picks back up again with 300, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Monsters v Aliens, and The Watchmen all topping $50M for its opening weekends. Not bad. But then the list is a pretty big DROP after the next 12 or so movies of ALL TIME opening in March. Yikes.

April came and went, and nobody was really missing a “CAN”T MISS THIS MOVIE” experience, unless you are a big Hannah Montana fan, in love with Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious), or saw The Matrix when it first came out (because, let’’s face it, no one knew what to expect of that movie when it first came out). And again, after the top 20 OF ALL TIME grossers, it’’s pretty much chump?change for major blockbusters, WAY down below a $20M opening weekend.

Now comes the major blockbusters, in which if you don”t make around $80-$100M, it’’s considered a failure. But, can anyone name the worst month to open a movie, in terms of opening weekends?

September.

If Jackass: Number Two is in the top 10 OF ALL TIME movie openings in September, you know it’s a bad month. (Just barely missed out on the top 5 as well). If you were to add up the top 5 movie opening weekends OF ALL TIME in September, it would still be less than the top opening in July (The Dark Knight). 1 movie gaining more money than the top 5 of September. That’s patchetic. But hey, at least September has “International Housekeepers Week” for a celebration.