Anyone remember what happened with Titanic. Yeah, I know, it struck an iceberg and sank. I'm talking about the overblown movie. It was long, long, long, and at the time was the most expensive movie ever made. Its first weekend gross was $28 million, not to shabby back then for a movie that long, but not that remarkable.
King Kong is also very expensive, and very long. The first day gross was only $10 million. Not that good when compared to previous Wednesday openers. But bad weather, school, and a lack of urgent anticipation kept away a lot of people from opening day. Never underestimate word of mouth. It'll be very interesting to see what kind of business Kong does over the next ten days.
I believe that Hollywood is intently watching the audience reception to Kong. If Kong fails, look for a big push to be made by the studios for the closing of the window between the theatrical release and the DVD release. The head of Disney has already been arguing that the DVD should be released simultaneously with the theatrical release, or at least some experimentation should be done in that regard.
King Kong is so important because it has been such a disappointing year revenue-wise for the studios. You can spin it however you want, but box office receipts should NEVER go down in a year that features both a Star Wars and a Harry Potter film. The future looks bleak, with the Star Wars franchise done, and only two Tolkien books left to mine (and I doubt that even Jackson could come up with a feasible film version of The Silmarillion). There are few cash cows to fall back on, which is devastating to an industry that has become so reliant on sequels instead of creating anew.
So will the studios make a radical change in the distribution system? I really don't care. I have basically stopped going to the theater. It's not worth the hastle and expense. While I have some affinity for the film medium, that attachment only goes so far. Gimme the DVD now, instead of making me wait. I won't be going to the theater anyway, so why make me wait?
Actually I will probably make it out to see some award contenders. But my comfy home theater is all I need.
