Uk Film Dates - Curious

[JammyJim]

After perusing http://www.moviesuk.fsnet.co.uk/ukcin.htm#2004

and looking at the films and when theyre going to be release can someone please explain why films like SWAT are going to take 4 months to hit UK cinemas. Ok it opened y/day (btw it was rather good).

Bad boys 2 is in october. Seabiscuit which looks rather crap but has been out awhile is in october.
Uptown girls is in october but is here now.

Even tomb raider is not in the UK yet...



Why does such a huge gap in time take palce when the movie is clearly going to be released there. Fair enough that the new films are 'judged' on US audiences and if its succesful it goes to UK and if not it flops (i wonder if Gigli will make it) but wtf? Why months and months of waiting?

It means i have to go to the theatre more before i leave :-((((

[Dilly_D]

September 12th

Tears of the Sun

that's silly...Tears of the Sun has been out on DVD here since mid March iirc

/edit: it was released on dvd here June 10

[Dante Hicks]

Does it really matter when you see a lot of these films? Would your life be impoverished greatly if you had to wait 3 months to see 'Bad Boys 2'?

With some of these films, don't some of our crapper cinemas get second-hand reels from American cinemas? Perhaps it's a distribution issue.

[the_dastardley_chihuahua]

hasnt promotion got something to do with it too? the stars of the films cant do all the tv/radio/newspaper interviews for all the countries it is released in at the same time, thats why it gets staggered releases around the world*

*as with most of my posts, could all be bollocks.

[Nusselt]

they're on kazaa within a month

(camcorder in cinema versions but still)

[Deffeh]

Originally posted by JammyJim
Uptown girls

what?

[wu_trax]

i dont get that for uk neither.
for germany or france i understand, because these movies usually get translated and synchonized, but for uk that isnt necessary.
it would be far more clever to start these movies at the same time worldwide (like they did with lotr and matrix).
ive already downloaded bad boys 2, tomb raider 2, pirates of the caribean sea (or whatever), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, etc. none of these is out here yet (that doesnt mean that i wont watch most of these movies on cinema, but still, some people might not want to watch them on cinema).

[Woof]

Originally posted by JammyJim
Why does such a huge gap in time take palce when the movie is clearly going to be released there. Fair enough that the new films are 'judged' on US audiences and if its succesful it goes to UK and if not it flops (i wonder if Gigli will make it) but wtf? Why months and months of waiting?

All this encourages is for UK peeps to DL and burn it to VCD.
If i remember correctly, Lord of the Rings was released more or less at the same time in the UK as america. If i had to wait months to see the last installment i'd DL.

[ChubbyChecker]

Yeah, LOTR had a simultaneous worldwide release. Matrix 2 did too, didn't it?

I think the reason most films don't release at the same time worldwide is because of promotion. There are probably also distribution issues.
There might be financial issues too. ie the company wants to spread out their income by getting money from different parts of the world at different times. That would explain why some releases are so spred out.

[CjC]

Originally posted by Dante Hicks
With some of these films, don't some of our crapper cinemas get second-hand reels from American cinemas? Perhaps it's a distribution issue.

I reckon u might be on the right lines. Several times I've been to see films in the uk a week or so after they are released and I notice the quality of the picture seems fairly poor to me (The old hair lines and dust spots on the image etc..)

The other reason could be the sceptical "Americans have to be first" scenario. I notice that certain music releases in the US are ahead of UK shcedule, sometimes for UK artists too!!!!!

[Mong]

Originally posted by JammyJim
Why does such a huge gap in time take palce when the movie is clearly going to be released there ... Why months and months of waiting?

I kid ye not. Film is so expensive, that only a certain amount are made for each film. As the popularity of a film decreases in the US, the films are shipped overseas (the UK mainly) and so on and so on...

Very big films know they'll recoup the costs, so can afford to make many copies.

M.

[CjC]

Originally posted by Mong
I kid ye not. Film is so expensive, that only a certain amount are made for each film. As the popularity of a film decreases in the US, the films are shipped overseas (the UK mainly) and so on and so on...

Very big films know they'll recoup the costs, so can afford to make many copies.

M.

Presumably this will be overcome by the eventual uptake of digital projectors - since the film industry can then ship stuff over the wire thus in reality all it costs the producers will be bandwidth and something to store the film on.

[Leshy]

Happens to a lot of things, not only movies. I remember waiting for Quest for Glory V - it went gold in November and I couldn't buy it in the Netherlands until May or so.

[cookiemay]

Originally posted by Nusselt
they're on kazaa within a month

(camcorder in cinema versions but still)

ur probably the kind of person who downloads tmd moviez versions.
far better versions usually out a couple of weeks after release eg telecine's or ts ( yes is still camcorder but in empty cinema and in projection room)

[wu_trax]

Originally posted by Mong
I kid ye not. Film is so expensive, that only a certain amount are made for each film. As the popularity of a film decreases in the US, the films are shipped overseas (the UK mainly) and so on and so on...

Very big films know they'll recoup the costs, so can afford to make many copies.

M.

i have absolutly no idea about the technology, but dont they have to make them new anyway? at least for non-english-speaking areas? these countries get usually a translated version or at least subtitels.

[wu_trax]

Originally posted by CjC
Presumably this will be overcome by the eventual uptake of digital projectors - since the film industry can then ship stuff over the wire thus in reality all it costs the producers will be bandwidth and something to store the film on.

but that will ruin the whole 'cinema'-feeling

[Tactitus]

Originally posted by Mong
I kid ye not. Film is so expensive, that only a certain amount are made for each film. As the popularity of a film decreases in the US, the films are shipped overseas (the UK mainly) and so on and so on...

Very big films know they'll recoup the costs, so can afford to make many copies.

Film prints are moderately expensive (about $2500 a print). When you consider that the "average" film opens in the US in about 3000 cinemas simultaneously, that's about $7.5M for prints.

What's the average opening in the UK? 1000 cinemas? That would only tack an additional $2.5M on to the total price. Not all that much extra, really.

I think that studios would have to spend a lot more than that on advertising. Except that if they delay the UK release and the film bombs in the US then they won't have to spend as much (or any) on advertising.

[CjC]

Originally posted by wu_trax
but that will ruin the whole 'cinema'-feeling

Indeed, unfortunately it will happen because it will save money. I dunno, perhaps someone out there will invent a "Reel Filter", like a bit of a clever photoshoppery feel to give it those hairs, dots and cigarette burns we all love and expect on movies

[wu_trax]

Originally posted by CjC
Indeed, unfortunately it will happen because it will save money. I dunno, perhaps someone out there will invent a "Reel Filter", like a bit of a clever photoshoppery feel to give it those hairs, dots and cigarette burns we all love and expect on movies

a friend of mine used to work in a cinema and he told me that right now there is only one cinema all across germany that shows movies digitally (probably the same in uk). so i guess it will still take a lot of time until they all switched.