Welcome to the Weekly Movie Thread, where we discuss the wonderful world of motion pictures. Come here to discuss new movies you discovered on streaming, old classics, or any thoughts you’ve had about the world of film! Do you have recommendations of discoveries that are new to you? Or are you watching old favorites just to forget the world for a while?
Personally speaking I saw a ton of movies this week since everyone had little else to do. I look forward to chatting with you about them in the comments!
The big news this month in film is what’s not being released. Films are being delayed. Production is shut down. Everything from David Copperfield to James Bond to the next Fast and The Furious movie are shifting release dates because theaters everywhere were closed due to an international pandemic.
Endless delays could be a sign that the film is in trouble. Hi there, Catwoman. Or, in the case of Sonic The Hedgehog, the delay may be the secret of turning a sure-fire flop into an actual hit. Word is still out on the street whether the long in gestation Avatar 2 will be worth it or if it will even be made.
Then there’s a curious case of The New Mutants. I was excited about this film when it was announced — a superhero horror movie? Sign me up! But the film kept getting pushed back thanks to outside forces beyond its control. Eventually reshoots became impossible because the cast was all visibly older.
Today’s prompt: What delayed movie was worth the wait?
Pictured in the header is Titanic, a film original scheduled for a July 2, 1997, release. Production delays caused the film to be pushed back all the way to December. Theater critics posted article after article that this was the sign of a sure-fire disaster (and the subject matter just made making a certain analog all too easy).
As it turned out, though, the delay was a massive blessing in disguise. December meant less competition than the competitive summer slate (where it would have to compete against well received films like Men In Black, Contact, and Air Force One). Titanic had the post-Christmas audience all to itself.
Titanic sat on the top of the box office at number one for 15 consecutive weeks, became the first film to gross over $1 billion, and become the highest grossing film of all time until Avatar. (In a weird thing that will probably never happen again, its highest grossing day was Feb. 14, 1998… EIGHT whole weeks after the opening day.)