Marvel showed no fear in announcing ‘Captain America 3’ would release on the same day as ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’. Their hearts were either set on May 6. 2016 or they just wanted to see Warner Bros. sweat. In either case, both studios claimed they wouldn’t budge seemingly determined to let the films fight it out in the box office. Now it looks like Warner Bros. has finally folded and they’ve decided to release the film earlier on March 25, 2016 instead.
A March release is an unusual time for a tent-pole film of this size, but it might prove to be the best possible move. As far as competition goes for March of 2016 there is basically none and Marvel proved twice this year that releasing outside the typical ‘May, June, July.’ summer release will not break a huge movie. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is the highest grossing august film ever and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ came out around the same time of the year that ‘Batman v. Superman’ will release. Maybe this will clue big studios in that they don’t all have to blow their loads in the first three months of the summer. They can spread them out during the year and still do well and possibly better. The top 2 grossing films of all time were released in December because James Cameron was genius enough to know when he wouldn’t have to face any stiff competition.
When it comes to release dates it is like Warner Bros. and Marvel are playing an intense game of chess. Marvel has listed all the dates it will be releasing their next 11 films (8 of which are still untitled). The idea of staking a claim on a coveted summer release date years in advance is a brilliant marketing strategy that will undoubtedly scare other studios away who do not want to compete against guaranteed blockbusters. This was an aggressive move by Marvel that shows confidence in its ability to bully away competition by its prestigious reputation alone. It’s clear that Warner Bros. saw the benefit of calling “dibs” so they too have announced their slate up until 2020 including animated films. It’s interesting to speculate on what untitled movies will be filling these slots. It’s starting to look like ‘Shazam!’ starring The Rock will be a pretty safe bet.
NerdRageFilms 