Why is every new movie considered to be the #1 movie in america?
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No. 1 movie can mean many things. Maybe it’s the highest grosser at the box-office for the last week. Maybe it’s the highest rated on Rotten Tomatoes (or any other rating authority) for that week. Maybe a critic from the Albuquerque Gazette called it the No. 1 movie. There are many ways to be number 1.
They’re usually referring to that week’s box office. The highest grossing film of the week is the #1 box office. We split the box office into domestic and global, so if it’s #1 in all countries they could say “#1 movie in the world.” If it stays the #1 spot for a handful of weeks (as many blockbusters will) then they could say “#1 movie in the world/ America for X weeks!”
Because meaningless marketing terminology is effective with the target customer demographic.
I think it’s just marketing, if you say the new movie is the 4th best one out, would you still see it over numbers 1 ,2, or 3? It seems like they just make up categories for every movie… I feel like they’d say “this movie got a 1st place award for movie released on a Tuesday in March after 4pm before it rained” just to give it a number 1 to try to boost ticket sales
(Remember captain marvel? That got the award for 1st female led super hero movie to pass 1 billion dollars… true sure, but can you find anyone saying it’s a number 1 movie in anything relevant?)
Marketing, it literally doesn’t have to mean anything. It could mean the number one movie as quoted by the head of the PR department.
Part marketing and part confirmation bias.
If a movie isn’t a #1, it’s ranking is never mentioned in the marketing, and so you only hear about movies being #1
In the old days when films had to printed from the master negatives and were expensive, they would make a hundred to exhibit first at downtown theatres, then suburban, back to the city in the smaller neighborhood ones (called Nabes) and eventually to the rundown 3 or 4 films all day for a buck. While most theatres only had one big room, there were big and small theatres everywhere, in a city you had a choice of over a dozen if you could travel there.
Then they got into making thousands of prints so multiplex theaters could all show the same half dozen movies. Originally the idea was they could show a variety, the theatre wouldn’t be stuck for a month with a turkey, maybe the other rooms would take up the slack, kids could go to this movie while mom saw something else.
Now with digital, they can show the same movie over and over on as many screens as they can sell seats for.
So each week the newest big promoted/anticipated movie is the #1 movie in America and/or the world. Next week the next movie is the biggest.
I kinda miss the old slow roll out. There were many times I saw a movie again because the friends I was with hadn’t seen it yet, stuff I might not have.
I think something similar to new York times best seller. They have many many categories and if the book tops in either one its called NeW York times best seller and we buy it like sheep
I’m the number one dancer in the world technically when compared to all the other people in my empty room.
People are assuming that it’s marketing nonsense, but in this (rare) case, the marketers could very well be communicating with complete honesty.
The reason is that the studios avoid each other’s flagship releases, so it’s rare that there’s any real drama over which movie will be #1 on a given weekend. So up to 52 different movies per year can safely prepare their marketing materials under the assumption that “we’re number 1!!!!!”
Meanwhile, a studio will simply emphasize other selling points if they are aiming a movie at a niche market, or dumping a known turd on an unsuspecting public.
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