Summer doesnt seem an ideal time for people to sit in a dark room – wouldnt winter be better? More generally, why are some times of year seen as more auspicious for a film release?
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Because schools out for summer. Parents more likely to take their kids on weekdays, college students have the time to go with friends or family. People usually take annual leave in summer too; you aren’t in the dark room all day and it can be a good way to do something fun whilst escaping the heat for a while.
Actually most movie theaters are air conditioned where I live, and I live in canada so when it gets hot the movies isn’t the worst place to be
It’s generally considered that _Jaws_ (1975) invented the summer blockbuster; before that it was indeed a bad time for a movie to be released. This article goes into more depth but the key things seem to be a massive, front loaded marketing campaign and an extremely wide release from the very start. https://boldentrance.com/jaws-the-monster-movie-that-invented-the-summer-blockbuster/amp/
Summer was more of a time to sit in a theater when movie theaters were one of the few public places air conditioned. Even now, people may want a break from the heat. Also, teens/college age kids are off from school and have more free time/free evenings to hang out with friends, people take vacations which means even adults might have more free time for things like movies. And on the flipside, while people may not care enough to see some run of the mill movie during the summer, they’ll be more enticed by some EPIC blockbuster, helping theaters keep themselves full when the weather is nicer out.
Everyone here is giving good reasons for why the summertime blockbuster was a thing. What I think is interesting is how Marvel/Disney have shown you can release a big movie whenever you want and if people want to see it, it will be a blockbuster.
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_opening_weekend/
9 of the top 10 movies with the biggest opening weekend all time (not adjusted for inflation so yes, recent movies do better, couldn’t find a list like this adjusted for inflation) are Disney/Marvel movies (actually it’s 16 of the top 17 are Disney/Marvel). The interesting thing though is 3 of the top 5 and 4 of the top 10 had winter releases, 3 in December and 1 in February. The other 6 were from late April to July.
In 11-20, there’s another December and a November, but 6 of the 10 are more in that May-July window. The other 2 not mentioned were released in March.
So yes, it could be said that 12 of the top 20 opening weekends of all time were from movies released during that typical May-July “summer blockbuster” window. But given that 6 of the top 20 opening weekends of all time were in the winter, imho what we are seeing is that rather than the “movies will earn more if they are released in the summer” we are seeing that it’s “movies that studios want to earn more are released in the summer, but fans will go see a movie they want to see regardless of when it is released.
i always feel like this is son and dad bonding time. Hey son lets go see that high budget bang bang of a movie and smile and laugh and then talk about it at home.
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