So, a movie is released the weekend before Christmas...the Saturday of which is the busiest day of retail shopping of the year. It's already Chaunukah week. Holiday prep weekend is plenty to keep people busy. On top of that, while the die hard fans are going to see it Friday or Saturday, you have lots and lots of people like me, who aren't big on either trying to book seats in advance, or roll the dice that there will be seats available in the theater. Finally, there's a good chance that movie tickets to see the film are going to be exchanged as Christmas presents, so people are intentionally not seeing it until they go with the recipient of the gift of movie tickets.
All in all, I wouldn't be surprised if the timing for this movie means that it will do well on opening week as a whole, at the expense of a massive opening weekend figure. As far as I'm concerned, we can Monday morning quarterback the content and Disney's missteps if the numbers on 12/30 are still poor. Before then, the simplest explanation as far as I'm concerned is that 'people are busy', and the crowd will be more distributed than usual.
The simplest explanation: Timing (Score:2)
So, a movie is released the weekend before Christmas...the Saturday of which is the busiest day of retail shopping of the year. It's already Chaunukah week. Holiday prep weekend is plenty to keep people busy. On top of that, while the die hard fans are going to see it Friday or Saturday, you have lots and lots of people like me, who aren't big on either trying to book seats in advance, or roll the dice that there will be seats available in the theater. Finally, there's a good chance that movie tickets to see the film are going to be exchanged as Christmas presents, so people are intentionally not seeing it until they go with the recipient of the gift of movie tickets.
All in all, I wouldn't be surprised if the timing for this movie means that it will do well on opening week as a whole, at the expense of a massive opening weekend figure. As far as I'm concerned, we can Monday morning quarterback the content and Disney's missteps if the numbers on 12/30 are still poor. Before then, the simplest explanation as far as I'm concerned is that 'people are busy', and the crowd will be more distributed than usual.