Weird UK release delays
We've recently had The Muppets being delayed for two and a half months, presumably because it was a Thanksgiving holiday release and we don't have Thanksgiving here.
Just noticed that Friends With Kids, released yesterday in the US, comes out here on 29th June. That's nearly four months late. OK, it's not had great reviews but that doesn't explain such a weird delay. Any theories, or other recent examples of odd UK release dates?
Just noticed that Friends With Kids, released yesterday in the US, comes out here on 29th June. That's nearly four months late. OK, it's not had great reviews but that doesn't explain such a weird delay. Any theories, or other recent examples of odd UK release dates?
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it's not weird, generally films made in the UK are released here quite a bit before they are over in the US. More films are amde over there so we tend to notice more. I do agree that it's really sometimes a hell of a long time, I'd prefer everything to be released internationally.
That's probably why The Muppets was more noticeable.
Blockbusters (Harry Potter, Batman etc) where the studios know are going to be massive hits can afford to splash out millions on worldwide distribution because they know they'll make the money back.
And based on the true story of an English zoo! So yes, a good example of a film that you would expect to get a prompt UK release.
A similar thing happened with Up and Ratatouille. It'll happen with a few more films coming out in America around the Olympics that will get pushed back until after except for the behemoths like Batman and Spider-Man.
Isn't Albert Nobbs classed as a British film? Oscar-nominated in the US but not released here until the end of April.
By the way, I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. If Albert Nobbs is seen as a small indie film it will probably have benefited from being held back until after the Oscars. But it still seems odd that we are getting it after Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal and Kuwait.
Now Is Good, an upcoming British movie is released here at the end of May; there isn't even a US release date yet, despite the fact that it stars Dakota Fanning.
Wouldn't have thought cinema release dates affect piracy much.
Imagine that you've heard a lot of news about a film in the US that's not coming here for a few months. You participate in a lot of forums where the film is referenced, and you try to avoid them, but can't, because you're part of that community. You might have some US friends or contacts, who are talking about the film, saying it's great, etc. So, you go and find out when this film is out here, find out it's several weeks away, and get frustrated. After that, you might just be tempted to just download it.
I'm not sure whether this is true now, but the UK a few years ago was leading the world in downloading TV shows. Why? Well, because a lot of US shows were either ridiculously delayed for months, even a year or more, or just didn't turn up here. So, a lot of people decided to fill in the hole of demand by themselves, seeing that nobody else was doing it, and just downloaded the TV series. Then you hear the TV companies whinge about downloading and the UK being the centre of this activity for TV programmes... and then, when that didn't work, decide to speed things up by getting shows over here a bit faster.
The Internet has made the world a global place, where news spreads fast, people talk to each other regularly over great distances, past national borders and cultures. It seems that the film industry is still living in the middle of the twentieth century...
That explains why I've just seen a DVD rip of it available online.
The weirdest scheduling delay is The Lorax, released this month in the US but not out in the UK until July, I wonder whether they were afraid The Pirates! would hurt it hence the delay and speaking of The Pirates! The UK are getting it first on 28th March while it's not released in the US until April.
But on the other hand I think Battleship opens in the Uk a month before the US! YAY
Disney have been doing a lot as of late, moving films around local holidays. With this Up/Wall-E we had to wait 4 months, Tangled was 2 months, Toy Story 3/Cars 2 were both a month and as said The Muppets 3 months. It annoying but I can see why they do it.
Super 8.
Great job preventing piracy.
May God have mercy on us all.
Indeed. And it is well-known that the reason for the change to almost simultaneous release on each side of the Atlantic was piracy. As noted above, the gap in TV shows has shortened for the same reason.