Media Banners are already active. National TV Broadcast launches next week (including Network and Cable), and an army of marketing support staff has been engaged both in-house and through outside service providers. National Official TRAILER premiere is next week.
Some SH's have asked if Oct. 30 is a "bad idea" because of Halloween. That's a fair question. But the logical extension would be that ANY weekend with ANY non-movie activity would also suffer from attention dilution. Movies therefore should NOT open on Valentine's Day weekend, or Superbowl or Christmas. But wait, maybe people go on dates for Valentine's Day - or maybe not everyone watches the Superbowl - or maybe a lot of people have time off for Christmas? What's the unique dynamic of Halloween that would make it the only holiday to NOT open movies around? Are some potential audience members attending a party on a Friday or Saturday night - and that's going to kill the other days of the weekend? If that's the case, then why are other studios opening films at Halloween? Does everyone in the country celebrate Halloween, and if so, does it involve house-arrest? The bottom-line is that HHSE was contacted by four of the nation's largest theatre circuits and strongly advised that Oct. 30 was the best date for "DANCIN' IT'S ON" because of its counter-programming value. It's NOT a horror film and it's something that appeals (primarily) to teenaged girls. Some of them will be at parties on one of the weekend nights, some of them will not. But enough of them will want to see the film that the smartest executives in the theatrical booking side all said to HHSE "move to Oct. 30, and you'll get better screens, more locations and a longer hold-over."
Watch here for daily updates, with our expanded in-house promotions and PR staff (under the direction of Desiree Garnier). Go HHSE!
(DANCIN' IT'S ON: CURRENT DIGITAL BANNER AD FOR THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER AND VARIETY):
