That explains (and makes sense) why they’re opening in may instead of april in the US, but not why they don’t just hold international release until that same date. Do films in late april do better than early may elsewhere?
Biggest Hollywood star, arguably. But if you’re judging based on sheer popularity criteria, along the lines of how many human souls on this planet have heard of an actor and/or recognize his face, I doubt that Downey is up there with, say, the Bollywood megastar Shahrukh Khan.
Are Indian stars well-known outside of India? I really have no idea how widely-distributed Bollywood and other Indian films are.
Maybe?
The “seasons” are opposite in Australia. They are heading into “Winter”. My guess is that the data base is now world wide, since the distribution companies are basically world wide organizations and they push using the same practices.
I don’t know what drives attendance in China? What is their “school year”? How many screens does China now have at how many locations? Are the movie choices driven by 18 to 24 year old males? (Is Regal building locations there? What’s at their concession stand? :eek: )
It’s not pretend winter, no need for the quotes. Sometimes it snows and everything!
The Australian and New Zealand school breaks happen four times a year, rather than just once (or twice if you count Christmas as a school break in the US and UK, and you probably do). These are six weeks at December/January, two weeks at the ends of March, June, and September, or thereabouts. They tend to release big movies at those times, if they can. Usually this means a delay from America’s release dates, but lately it’s occasionally been ahead of the US release by sometimes as much as four weeks.
The release of Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness etc does not coincide with School Holiday breaks (last break was over Easter), so I don’t know what the reasoning is behind it, beyond the aforementioned jump-start on piracy.
I know Indian films are popular in North Africa and the Middle East. And oddly Russia & the former Soviet Union.
It never occurred to me before, but how do the kinds of films opening in the summer differ from those opening in the winter in the Southern Hemisphere? In the U.S., it’s standard to talk about the difference between summer blockbusters and Oscar bait. There’s a strong tendency to open movies that are expected to get Oscar nominations toward the end of the year, approximately late November through late December. The thought is that you want Oscar voters to have those films fresh in their minds. It also helps get the films on the film critics’ best-of-the-year lists for the same reason. On the other hand, movies that are expected to be blockbusters but which aren’t expected to get Oscar nominations open at the beginning of summer, approximately late May through late June. The thought is that you will be hitting high school and college students who have time off. Films that are expected to be sleepers, those that don’t have big stars, directors, or writers but which might get good word of mouth after they open, tend to avoid both times in order not to get lost among films which will open with lots of recognition already. I have no idea if this works outside the U.S. I can’t find much discussion of this online.
I agree with this, in that Shahrukh Khan is probably a much bigger star in terms of face and name recognition (unless you’re American, but hell, I’m a Kansas farm girl transplanted to Chicago and not even particularly into Bollywood films, and I’ve probably seen at least 10 of his movies).
As far as biggest International Hollywood actors, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Tom Hanks(?) might be up there with RDJ. What say non-American Dopers?
A lot of the money to make Iron Man 3 came from China. There is additional content with Chinese stars which will not be in the American version. That could be a factor for the different release dates.
It looks like Iron Man 3 is doing very well.
And it’s at 92% at Rotten Tomatoes! It looks like it will be one of those rare movies that are critical and box office successes.
The only country in the world to get it after the USA (and Canada, Lithuania and Turkey)? Poor Poland.