5 Awesome Emerging Cinema Trends and 5 That Suck

2. Awesome - Wider Release Date Strategies

This one falls under marketing trends more-so than specifically film-making trends, but it's still awesome. It used to hold that Memorial Day through the end of July was where all the biggest movies of the year landed, with the rest of the year being a dumping ground for lower budget garbage, or fall prestige pics. That's no longer the case, as films like The Mummy, Titanic, 300, Fast Five, Harry Potter and more have all shown that you can open big outside of those 10 golden weeks. Having said that, February and September are still normally dumping grounds, with September doing its best to shed that stigma. The reason this trend is Awesome should be obvious - the studios are scattering more films throughout the year, and we all love going to the movies. Yes, that means we're getting more tent-pole blockbusters per year, which some might see as a downfall, but I choose to look at it differently. It's a question of numbers - more attempts at grand cinema means a greater number of quality films - or if you want to use a sports analogy: the more shots you take, the more you'll make. For this strategy to work the studios are going to have to step up their game to ensure the larger amount of films they're making are what audiences want to see. And anything that makes the studio step up their game and give us more things like the upcoming #1 entry, that can only be an Awesome trend.