‘Tis the season for family, fun, and… advertising. With more time to fill than any other point in the year, companies amp up their marketing strategies to tell us just what to do to pass those hours. The movie industry utilizes this time in its full extent to release films that continuously break box office records. If a film has a high anticipated success rate, releasing it around the holidays will ensure that the amount of money the film is bringing in is maximized. Let’s analyze the most anticipated films and the trends they share.
Blasts from the Pasts
Jumanji and Star Wars: The Last Jedi are classic films that can bring in a wide range of audiences, but particularly cater to the family dynamic. How are you going to get dad into the theater with his family? Bring back a movie from his past so that he is just as invested in the film as his pop culture-concerned family. Star Wars and Jumanji are highly anticipated films because they are reinventing classics, making the following of the past combine with the following of the present to bring in the most revenue as possible.
Everybody Needs a Hero
In the past few years, the film industry has taken a liking to super hero films. It makes sense; there’s action, comedy, attractive people, the good conquers all mentality… there’s something for everyone. With high anticipation for these films, a holiday release means rolling in the big bucks. Similar to the blasts from the past, these films cater to the family dynamic and is something that everyone can agree is worth watching. Films such as Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League have the hype to bring in a large crowd and catering their release to around the holidays where families are together and looking for something to do makes their success escalate that much more.
Comedies
The holidays are a time to break from the chaos of life, and what better way to do that than through laughter? Films such as Pitch Perfect 3 and Daddy’s Home 2 offer an escape from reality without being too much for the brain to process. Comedies are a great film to watch with a friend you haven’t seen in a while or with your cousins to lighten the mood during the holiday season.
-Nia Crerar
IMC Hawks Blog 
I agree with the idea of bringing back classics to get older generations into the movie theater, but one problem of doing so, is that some people feel like the remake didn’t highlight/cover all of the parts the original did. How do you think personally that movie companies could resolve that?
It seems like the past couple of years have been driven by nostalgia. They are remaking super hero movies, star wars, star trek, etc. You are right when saying it attracts older crowds. Also the timing of releases are a major determining factor as well. If kids are on break, i.e. summer and winter, then they are more likely to drag their parents to the movie theater. Personally I enjoy seeing a lot of the blockbusters, however, I dislike how this is causing more creative films to suffer.
Never quite realized that big name movies come out around the holidays but thanks for making this clear! I also find it interesting that both Marvel and DC released their movies around the same time as if trying to compete with one another.
I love the idea that classic movies are so much more satisfying in our generation today then movies being made nowadays. I feel like when people try and remake classics in some cases they can either turn out terrible or somewhat okay but they are never to be compared better than the original movie.
I do believe if movies want to expand their demographics so the older generations will come to the movies by watching the classics they love the company can make it happen. But in mind, that they may not like it because its basically a cover for the first movie and wont be as good and some people believe it should be better than the first. Great idea but will definitely need to make sure the production is worth it.
It is so true that move theater attendance goes up around the holidays. I believe this is also because it is so cold outside that people have to find entertainment indoors. My family has a tradition where we all go to the movies after Christmas dinner. This allows us to extend our time together and also rest for a bit while all of our food settles. This marketing strategy makes a lot of sense!
Wow! I didn’t even realize how brilliant each of these ideas were to ensure maximum capacity at the box offices. A blast from the past is exactly what it will take to get some of my family members into the movie theater. In reference to the comment above by Mackenzie, I don’t personally think it’s a problem for the new movie to not highlight all of the parts that the original did. I mean, personally, I think that a remake will be so remarkably different that for the person who had only seen the original, it’s already going to be a big jump to see it portrayed by completely new characters in a completely new set.
The popularity of cape films in Hollywood’s landscape today is an interesting case not only because of how they set the trends for other action movies, but also because of how the studio’s have to shift the marketing of their movies to compete in an increasingly oversaturated market. “Justice League” is a great example of that; the previous DC films were criticized for their darker color pallets and subject matter, compared to the Marvel counterparts, so Warner Bros. responded by making this film more colorful, and adding more comedy… yet the film is under-performing. The box office can be pretty fickle (and, in my opinion, the quality of the final product doesn’t help!)
I really enjoyed reading this dissection/analysis of the movie industry during the holiday season. I have been victim to these marketing campaigns in the past, and I intend to still fall into the trap of Christmas time movie mania. The recurrence of Superhero movies, remakes/nostalgia trips, and comedies within December have been a reoccurring theme for a many number of years, and I don’t see it stopping any time soon. The only new avenue of cinema that was not mentioned that I have seen inserted into to the holiday season is that of Independent films. Movies such as “Lady Bird” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” are independent films that were just released and have relatively great reviews by critics. I wonder if Independent films during holiday season will become a more prominent and reoccurring theme for the years to come. Regardless, I really enjoyed this post!
I also like the idea that they are bringing back the classics to fill up the family holiday atmosphere. My only problem with some of these remakes are the fact that some of them seem out of touch. Maybe it’s because it’s catering to two different audiences (the old and the new), but it seems like their creativity and touch that the first movies had have lost their touch. But this only applies to a few movies. I personally loved the new Mad Max and Robocop.
I couldnt agree more that the movie industries are trying to reignite their audiences of old by incorporating their old work in with their new. And it is a great strategy to rake in the big bucks, especially during the holiday season like you mentioned. I personally have a poor mentality towards this type of movie production though! As much as I love reminiscing the old star wars movies, it feels like directors and film companies are just regurgitating old work and passing it off as new and creative. I personally feel like there is a lack of innovation in the film industry in today’s world, what do you think? Do you think they should keep making movies out of old and new books, or remastering movies to get an audience? Where’s the creativity and orignality?