14 Dumbest Things In The Worst Summer Movie Season Ever

3. Releasing Detroit Outside Of Oscar Season

Detroit Will Poulter Anthony Mackie
MGM

Kathryn Bigelow's much-anticipated historical docu-thriller Detroit was released in the US in late July and the rest of the world throughout August, which probably wasn't the smartest idea in retrospect.

Why It's Dumb: Though the film was released in late July to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the 12th Street riot, it ended up getting lost awash a sea of new releases both the week before and after, ending up a box office dud as a result.

Given Bigelow's reputation and the strong critical reception to the film, it clearly should've been held for an awards platform release in October-to-December, and would unquestionably have been a much bigger financial success.

There's not much point releasing a movie on the anniversary of a historical event that most people watching the movie won't yet be familiar with, so that was clearly an epically foolish miscalculation on MGM's part.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.