Why do some movies take long to expand?

[BenedictL11]

Even though there are movies like Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook that have strong PTA averages in later weekends, how come studios do not expand more? Is it because they want until Golden Globes nominations (on the 13th) come out?I ask because Lincoln and SLP didn't expand last weekend. I know Disney/DreamWorks is trying really hard to book Lincoln so if it doesn't get expanded tomorrow, I don't want to hear any complaining. Here's proof:

"Lincoln" is marching to more movie theaters.Disney, which distributed the DreamWorks film, is making additional prints of director Steven Spielberg's historical saga starring Daniel Day-Lewis to meet an unexpected demand that has left some moviegoers in Alaska out in the cold.Disney, which distributed the DreamWorks film, is making additional prints of director Steven Spielberg's historical saga starring Daniel Day-Lewis to meet an unexpected demand that has left some moviegoers in Alaska out in the cold."To say that we're encouraged by the results to date or that they've exceeded our expectations is an understatement," said Dave Hollis, head of distribution at the Walt Disney Co. "We're in the midst of making additional prints to accommodate demand and will have them available to our partners in exhibition by mid-December for what we hope will be a great run through the holiday and awards corridor."Disney said "Lincoln" opened Nov. 9 in 11 theaters and expanded to additional theaters Nov. 16 and 21 in North America. The film, which has earned $83.6 million in the U.S. and Canada so far, has been unavailable at some smaller venues, such as the Gross Alaska theaters in Juneau.But the extra prints are coming a little too late to fit the movie into the five-screen Glacier Cinemas theater during the holiday season, said Kenny Solomon-Gross, general manager of the Gross Alaska, which runs two theaters in Juneau and one in Ketchikan, Alaska."When we had the room for `Lincoln,' Disney didn't have a copy for us," Solomon-Gross said Monday.His film lineup is pretty booked through the end of the year, and he probably can't screen "Lincoln" until after the first of the new year. Yes, the excitement over the film will have dimmed, but then the Academy Awards season will be stirring up, he said. That should kick up the buzz.In the meantime, Solomon-Gross plans to head to Las Vegas this week and catch the film there.

http://www.huffingto... ... 36611.htmlIt's already a success but I believe some theater owners need to get rid holdovers that aren't doing well and replace them with Lincoln since it has potential to cross $200M (slim chance but not impossible)

[Ezen Baklattan]

Studios use this as a strategy to build up word of mouth by the time a film reaches a wide release. The reason that The Master dissapointed at the box office was that in its immediate expansion, it recieved troubling WOM, soon falling out to a total of under 15m. With some easier sells, it's probably fine to expand quickly, (Lincoln makes for a perfect example) but many smaller films can be tougher sells, so WOM can really help these movies. It's one of the reasons that Moonrise Kingdom and The King's Speech did as well as they did.

[BenedictL11]

Thanks, Spaghetti. I want to learn more about box office. One of my family members think I should teach a class over box office but that would be too complicated.

[Alpha]

I was just about to say what Spaghetti said...

[Jonwo]

Certain films like Lincoln and TBEMH could have gone wide straight away but I think for smaller films like Moonrise Kingdom and TKS, starting small then expanding works in their favour. I'm surprised Les Mis didn't opt for a platform strategy rather than a wide release as it would be able to build on WOM before going wide.

[Jessie]

^{When things get hot, they expand so it usually depends on the weather.}

[CoolioD1]

TBEMH

?

[Jake Gittes]

?

Marigold Hotel

[Webslinger]

The reason that The Master dissapointed at the box office was that in its immediate expansion, it recieved troubling WOM, soon falling out to a total of under 15m.

Yeah, but in all fairness, it's not like the movie would have done much (if any) better if the Weinstein Company had gone with a more conservative expansion approach. The movie is so bizarre, divisive, and anti-mainstream that it was never going to make much outside of arthouse theaters and metropolitan areas.I'm really surprised that Lincoln hasn't gone wider yet. It's the kind of movie that's so well-made and so easily accessible that it's going to play as well with small town audiences as it will with those in the bigger cities. And it's, y'know, LINCOLN, quite possibly the most highly-regarded president in American history, and it's directed by Steven Spielberg, the most widely recognized director name for the past several decades.Silver Linings Playbook is a different case, though. I loved the film (it's probably my favorite of the year to date, and could emerge as the champ in my book when all is said and done; we'll see what the December releases can do) and it's definitely a crowd-pleaser, but it's still not the easiest mainstream sell (if you sell it as a romcom, some audiences will be really surprised to see so much of the early portion of the movie focus on Bradley Cooper's mental illness) and it wouldn't hurt to take it wide with the "Nominated for x Academy Awards, including Best Picture" proclamation. And it's only going to get great word of mouth from the audiences that do see it before it goes wide. But on the other hand, I do think it could have made a decent dent this weekend, especially given that the #1 movie is going to be a movie that has been out for a month now.