Go to the movies or wait? In the old days, if you missed a movie premiere, there were few chances of seeing her later. The first option was to watch the film on cable television, either by paying for a channel that aired the feature film before the others or by renting the film at the “box office”, also via cable or satellite. The second alternative was to wait for its release on VHS or DVD. If you didn't want to buy it, you could always go to a video store and rent the movie for a couple of days. Today, the appearance of streaming platforms on the Internet has made this process much easier for us. Sometimes a movie can be stream even when it's still in theaters. And here some questions may arise: How long does a movie usually last? Is there a minimum number of days?
Average running time of movies
That a film lasts more or less time on the billboard is not something that is agreed before the premiere. The maximum broadcast time of a film on the big screen depends fundamentally on the influx of audiences that the film has.
Movie theaters usually adjust their billboards every week. The premiere of a new and long-awaited feature film can be the end point for other older films. These changes are made based on the data they are collecting, which are usually published in the middle of the week, between Tuesday and Wednesday. Based on this information, theaters renew their agreements with distributors, cancel a movie or even set up theaters with split hours in which two movies are shown at different times to make the most of space.
Each cinema negotiates separately
The duration of a film in a cinema can depend on the total number of rooms in that cinema. Some 16-screen multiplexes can afford to stretch out a Spielberg movie for two months, while another five-screen theater will try to run the most recent releases for guarantee the influx of public to your facilities. However, the data shows that on average, a film usually spends a few four weeks at the movies. From the first two weeks after the premiere, the audience that attends a specific film drops sharply. The cinema will keep the film in very reduced hours as long as better premieres do not arrive.
Is there a minimum amount of time that a film must be in theaters?
Well yes there is. If a movie is a flop, a theater may be forced to screen it in its theaters. This is once again due to agreements with distributors.
When a contract is signed so that a film can be emitted in a cinema, the minimum time agreed of two weeks. Once that time has passed, the cinema can decide whether to extend that contract or if it is more convenient to cancel it and try a new production.
The time also depends on the type of film
The more anticipated a movie is, the less it might last in theaters. Does this make any kind of sense? Well yes. The expected Marvel movies usually have a very specific and loyal audience. People usually go to the movies in groups during the first week or two of broadcast. The fear of missing out and the fear of seeing a spoiler They do the job of getting us to the movies quickly. Hence, the MCU movies see reduced its influx drastically after the first 14 days since the premiere.
It will not be the same in a less expected film, with an older target audience and which gradually gets its turnout thanks to word of mouth. Added to this is another important fact. Formerly, the cinemas they negotiated a margin with the distributors. They could set lower prices for movies that had already been in theaters for a few weeks, thus improving their profits. However, the sector has changed, and margins are currently usually fixed.
Why do the sessions in VOSE last so little?
Good question. If you want to watch a movie in original, you will have to do it during the first days of issuance. Preferably the first weekend.
If you usually go to the movies for these sessions, you may have noticed that they don't have as much traffic like the rooms in which the same film is broadcast in its dubbed version. This phenomenon is even more accentuated in small cities. For this reason, these sessions are not so profitable for the cinema. They have their public, but the play of occupying two theaters with the same film only pays off during the first week.
How long does it take from a theatrical release to streaming?
With the pandemic, the world of cinema has undergone many changes. One of them is that the time from when a movie is released in theaters until you can see it on the sofa at home has been significantly shortened.
disney productions
Disney does not have a fixed time marked from the time a movie is released in the theater until you can see it on Disney +. However, they do have a great track record behind them that allows us to get an idea of the times they drive.
Disney animated films usually premiere on Disney+ a few 45 days to be shown in theaters for the first time. However, there is many exceptions. For example, Red, Lucca y Soul they premiered directly on Disney+ during the pandemic. Encanto It also did not follow the plan to the letter, since it reached Disney Plus members only 30 days after the theatrical release.
Regarding the Marvel Studios productions, they usually take about 60 days from when they come out in theaters until they arrive at Disney +. Here too there are exceptions. Some have launched after solo 45 days and others have been put on the platform itself as a rental in parallel to its premiere on the billboard.
Warner Productions
When we talk about Warner we mean HBO Max, which is its digital content distribution platform.
WarnerMedia's strategy is very similar to Disney's. The objective of this company is that we can see its premieres on its streaming platform just 45 days after the theatrical release. Warner has also tried to experiment with simultaneous release on HBO Max and theaters, especially in late 2020 and early 2021. However, the company has struggled with releases like The Matrix Resurrections, because when it premiered on HBO Max, very few people went to the cinema to see it, thus ruining the other producers who could only recover their investment from the money raised in theaters.