Notable that two high-profile films premiered at Cannes in the last two weeks are opening almost immediately in the US and/or UK. Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom is already showing in both countries while Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share opens in the UK on June 1. Used to be that major festival screenings would often come months before commercial release, as part of a gradual process of establishing critical/artistic credentials for indie, art or other speciality films of this kind. Strategy here is moving in the same sort of direction as mainstream studio releases in recent years, towards quicker and wider openings. The reason’s not hard to see, such films seeking to capitalise more immediately on the large amount of free publicity they can gain at prestige festivals. Why have all that coverage and then wait months before having to crank it up again? But maybe this will only be the case with what are seen as the more commercial of such titles, or early openings in particular markets for particular films (such as Loach in the UK). Distributors might be slower generally to roll out the likes of the critic-splitting Holy Motors, for example, a French production the only current release dates for which are July in France and Belgium and Russia in October. We might have to wait a bit longer for our own opinions on that one!
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