Gary Dretzka
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Ray Pride

Week Five ..

We're about a third of the way through one of the oddest summers in the Big Opening Era.

Last weekend was the third straight weekend with over $160 million at the box office, after there previously being just one such summer weekend in this decade, which was the last weekend of May last year, powered by Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty, The Italian Job, The Matrix Reloaded, the four of which were responsible for $143 million of that weekend.

With Riddick, Stepford and Garfield entering the field this weekend, even if each of last weekend's top three drops 50%, there is still $80 million sitting there before the new trio starts selling tickets. There is no question that the market can expand to allow each or any of these films to open to as much as $40 million. But will it want to?

Universal would be happy, I imagine, with Riddick opening to 2 Fast 2 Furious numbers ($50 million). The take for Potter/Shrek 2/DAT should be about the same as 2 Fast faced last year from Nemo/Bruce/Italian. But 2 Fast opened only against the holdovers. Riddick has 2 challengers, though Garfield really isn't close to chasing the same demographic group. However, gay men may be defined for the entire summer by their choice between Vin and Bette.

The summer finally starts delivering comedies… all in the same two weeks… next week... plus The Terminal. While all of the films could do well, they are probably not going to make all of their money in a couple of weekends. In other words, Spider-Man 2 is looking like it will have the relative lull in box office that they have been hoping for as they get to the June 25 release date.

I am a great believer that the market will break all "rules" for the right movie. This summer has already broken records. But the bar for what qualifies as the "right" movie has got be a little higher at this point in the summer. There are a five "big" movies that still have to worry: King Arthur, I, Robot, Catwoman, Collateral and Alien vs. Predator. I think we can assume that Spidey 2 and The Village will be fine. And none of the rest of the summer, besides these seven films, NEED to pass the $100 million mark.

I haven't seen any of that "Big Five," so it is hard to be sure of the possibilities for any of the films. It's going to be very, very interesting.

And now, as promised…

TOP 10 WAYS TO MAKE THE PRESS YOUR BITCH

10. BE CONSISTENT
Controlling the media is a lot easier if you can create at least the illusion of consistency. Like many of these points, it all comes down to relationships. Every once in a while, building a movie into an event that is unlike the rest of the schedule can work. But if the movie isn't quite making it, that can come back to haunt you.

If you have a consistent relationship with the press, coverage becomes a job and not an adventure. When things settle down into those kinds of patterns, getting a journalist to bend in the wind when your film needs a little help is a lot easier.

9. MAKE MOVIES THAT MAKE
THE PRESS FEEL SMART
To know us, is to know our arrogance. The press is remarkably like the civilian public. There are some very smart, highly educated folks… and there is everyone else. If a movie is too smart for the press, it is likely too smart for the public.

Now, if you can make a movie that makes the press feel like they are smart, even if the movie is simplistic, you have a sure media winner.

8. TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT CHANGES BEING MADE
If your movie is being recut, reshot, rethought, do not try to cover it up. The only way to win here is to keep the lid on perfectly tight or you are going to get slaughtered when the truth comes out.

The bottom line is that it just doesn't matter. These situations become legendary fodder for tabloids only when they are badly covered up. Bite the bullet. Trust your journos to act like the adults you have convinced them that they are.

7. MY COSTA RICAN BANK ACCT. # IS 55512120000
No deposits under $250,000 please.

6. SCREEN THE MOVIE
This is one of the biggies. When you don't show the movie, the press is free to treat it the film like any other gossip-driven speculative activity in Hollywood. Show the movie and you have a group of writers under embargo, waiting for the agreed moment to release their opinions.

The downside risk is that people will talk. The upside - and this is more and more of an issue as test screenings become more limited - is that you might find out that your movie is a lot better than anyone expects it to be.

Paramount has been sitting on The Stepford Wives, sending out every signal that the film is a disaster. But with the exception of those obsessed with the re-shoot confusion over the robot/brain rewiring conflict, the critical hum is significantly more positive than anyone would have expected just a few days ago.

5. GET THE MOVIE FINISHED
Of course, the ability of a studio to screen a movie for press is based on the existence of the film in some semblance of the final version. Delivery dates, while still often lied about, are getting later and later.

Having the movie is one of the absolute necessities if a studio marketing division is going to have any flexibility in selling the film. Greenlighting movies with release dates already intact has become a virtual standard in recent years. But selling the movie is, in most cases, more important to the studio than making the movie itself. To hamstring marketing is no different than messing with the CG department. (Actually, it is significantly worse for 99% of films.)

And when the marketing department is limited, their actions, which they often have to spin, can make reporters suspicious… or downright cranky. Bad idea.

4. ENFORCE EMBARGO DATES
The press is no different than any other group of immature brats. They need boundaries in order to play well with others. Review embargoes are one of those boundaries. And enforcing them can be very effective.

However, selective enforcement can be a serious problem. And I'm not talking about myself and others who tend to make agreements with studios that are a little different each time out. (an inconsistency in my inconsuistency theory). I'm talking about major mainstream media being given a different set of rules to live by than the rest of the press corps.

But even if Time or Newsweek gets a competitive reviewing advantage, other journalists can live with that… so long as the studio is consistent in "breaking" those rules.

Trouble comes when every movie has a completely different set of embargo rules, again, making journalists a lot more comfortable with breaking those rules….or at least bending the hell out of them.

This also speaks to #2 on this list, having enough staff to have consistent and well-attended relationships with every outlet. Oddly, It is very much like the piracy issues. No one can expect every studio to keep a detailed, consistent relationship with every media outlet. There are too many and too many that cannot be prioritized. However, if you can buy Soul Plane on Canal Street in New York for a month before release and MGM knows it and there isn't any police effort to shut it down, even if it may be futile in the big piracy picture, it is hard to take later complaints seriously.

Arguments that the trades have some traditional right to review earlier than anyone else are simply silly in the era of the internet. And once any major outlet runs a review, why should any other be expected to keep the horse in the barn?

That said, there is some value to embargo rules. But the complexity of today's media universe requires more elaborate, more detailed and better enforced codes of conduct.

3. BLACKBALL MORE JOURNALISTS
What does one have to do to get dumped by a studio? Well again, it depends on whom the one works for. The bigger your audience, the greater the tolerance.

Studios and most media outlets are around for the long haul. But the penalty for breaking the rules is rarely more than a slap on the hand for anyone these days. Every studio journalist has a mental file cabinet filled with not-funny stories about media members gone wild. But free media is too important to the studios to put their foot down to demand reasonable behavior.

Spare the rod, spoil the press.

2. HIRE ENOUGH STAFF TO KEEP UP WITH THE MEDIA, BEYOND THE PITCH
Journalists who cover indies can tell you how often you hear from the publicists for those films… you hear from them constantly. With publicity as a key component of any inexpensive marketing effort, publicists are working the media well all day, every day.

But at studios, there tends to be inconsistency of who is handling what media and you can go a long time between movies, as a critic, without hearing from the studio publicists. Every studio wants strong positive relationships with the press. Well, someone has to have their finger on the pulse and most studio publicists don't have the time to "handle" the press in between release dates.

There are some great publicists who do this now and I gather that a lot of the regional publicists have consistent relationships with the journalists on their beats. But it is surprising how often weeds are allowed to grow on the movie turf between films. With a few exceptions, the publicists are not to blame. They have too much turf to cover, too many movies and too few hours in the day. But while a half million dollar spot on the hot TV show isn't blinked at anymore, a couple hundred thousand dollars, spread out over a year and used to actually employ people, could be worth a lot more than studio bean counters could ever imagine.

1. DID I MENTION CONSISTENCY?

Week Five: Boxoffice Chart | Buzz Chart

Week Four | Boxoffice Chart | Buzz Chart
Week Three | Boxoffice Chart | Buzz Chart
Week Two | Boxoffice Chart | Buzz Chart
Week One | Boxoffice Chart
The Summer Preview

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