I’d bet that next to The Godfather, Will Ferrell’s Anchorman may be one of the most quoted movies of all time.  And the super highly anticipated sequel, Anchorman 2, is set to open at a theater near you on December 20th of this year.

Wait . . . we interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you this breaking news . . . Anchorman 2 will now premier two days earlier . . . December 18th.

That’s right, Paramount Studios moved the opening UP two days, from a Friday (movie night) to a Wednesday (Prince Spaghetti Night).

Huh.

This unprecedented kind of move is interesting to me for two reasons:

1.  I love me some Will Ferrell.  I was lucky enough to produce Will in You’re Welcome America on Broadway and his nicknaming sequence still makes me laugh (click here to read some).  So I’m just excited that I get to see this flick two days earlier!

2.  Here’s the real meaty reason why I’m interested.  Some are saying that the studio is moving up the opening because the marketing machine (which is doing a heavy social media push) is reaching its peak earlier than expected. Others are saying that vacation for many may start mid-week, which gives them a chance to get more holiday audiences.  But what I’m saying is that Anchorman 2 is opening in one of the busiest movie seasons we’ve had in awhile . . . and they don’t want to get lost in the competitive shuffle.

Christmas week is becoming more and more a movie week with each passing year.  There are six movies opening on Christmas day alone this year as opposed to four last year.  Opening two days before the Christmas fray gives them two days to own the market and have more time to establish fantastic word of mouth, before the competition comes around.

Each year our spring Broadway season becomes more and more like the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays for Hollywood.  Conventional wisdom has always said, “Open in the spring as close to the Tony deadline as possible!”  But maybe now’s the time to take some advice from the Anchorman.

Sometimes, when everyone is doing something, you should do something else.

P.S.  Remember when there was that crazy rumor of Anchorman 2 as a musical?

 

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