Midweek Movies

Hollywood. You gotta love it.

It's the kind of place where summer starts the first weekend in May. Thanksgiving starts the first weekend in November.

And Friday starts on Wednesday -- at least in August.

This month, every Wednesday has brought a high-profile movie (or two) to multiplexes two days earlier than the traditional Friday opening day.

The smokin' stoner comedy "Pineapple Express" ignited the trend Aug. 6, along with the ultimate in counterprogramming: the female-friendly "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2."

Last week, the moviemaking satire "Tropic Thunder" rolled into theaters on Aug. 13.

This week, the rock comedy "The Rocker" tries to drum up two extra days of ticket sales through its Wednesday debut.

The terrorism thriller "Traitor," meanwhile, hits theaters this Wednesday, rounding out a month of Wednesday arrivals.

Midweek openings always have been part of the movie scene, but they generally occur around holidays -- from the Fourth of July to Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas Day.

This summer, however, distributors have used the midweek strategy as a way of separating big-buzz releases from the competition.

And time's running out.

After all, a new school year starts soon -- as soon as the end of August -- and movie distributors want to "capture every moment while school's out," explains Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony Pictures, which released "Pineapple Express." The comedy's Wednesday debut set a new record for a Wednesday August debut.

"It's not like every Wednesday of the year you have a big audience available," Bruer says -- especially for a movie that, like "Pineapple Express," skews to the sought-after young male demographic.

But, during the summer, Wednesday debuts "make a lot of sense," he adds -- especially when "opening it before the weekend (can) move the ball forward" in box-terms terms.

Overture Films, a relative newcomer to the distribution ranks, decided to shift "Traitor" from Aug. 29 to Wednesday to capitalize on positive audience reaction -- and separate it from other releases arriving Labor Day weekend, the traditional end of the summer movie season.

"We view the Wednesday opening as sort of like a rolling sneak preview," comments Chris McGurk, Overture's chief executive officer. "We've got the goods with the movie -- we want to get it out there" and "begin that word-of-mouth" two days earlier than usual.

In this wireless world, "word-of-mouth" means a lot more than telling your friends about the great new movie you just saw, observes Jeremy Devine, marketing vice president for Rave Motion Pictures, which operates the Town Square 18 multiplex.

"It's not just around the water cooler and the school locker," Devine says, citing Internet buzz as a major new factor.

With "can't-wait-to-see-it" audiences sharing reactions online following Wednesday screenings, studios can "create an awful lot of free advertising," he adds.

Those "can't-wait" audiences traditionally "drove Friday and Saturday evening" ticket sales, but Wednesday openings mean studios are "successfully capturing the 'can't-wait' audience on Wednesday and Thursday," Devine says.

That should be fine with theater owners, Sony's Bruer suggests, because "getting two more days of box office" also means exhibitors are selling two more days' worth of popcorn and sodas -- and "they see that as a good thing for them."

Even so, this month's spate of Wednesday openings is "driving us all nuts," confesses an official from a local movie exhibitor who asked not to be identified by name -- because he didn't "want to bite the hand that feeds us."

In addition to "trying to get every bit of summertime" business, this month's Wednesday openings reflect the fact that studios "didn't want to fight against the Olympics," he adds. "The Olympics have definitely hurt our business."

Wednesday openings may give studios five days to sell tickets instead of the usual three, but "it's not a strategy to break weekend box-office records," cautions Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Media by Numbers.

That's because, with a Wednesday release, "you burn off a portion" of the audience that otherwise would show up opening weekend, he explains.

The trade-off, however, is often worth it to studios, because audiences "go into the weekend already talking about your picture," Bruer says, citing "Pineapple Express' " $41.3 million five-day gross. (It wasn't enough to push the record-breaking "The Dark Knight" out of the top spot, but it came close.)

Then again, "if your movie doesn't play very well" with audiences, "it's probably not a great move" to open it on a Wednesday, Bruer adds.

Besides, some movies don't need the extra push a Wednesday release provides.

Overture's next release -- the Robert De Niro-Al Pacino crime drama "Righteous Kill" -- is scheduled to open on Sept. 12. A Friday.

With two big stars headlining, there's a lot of awareness, McGurk notes, so they are not planning a Wednesday release. Especially not with kids (and their parents) resuming a school-year schedule.

Because it's not in the summer, there's a smaller available audience on Wednesdays, he comments. "But never say never."

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.