Why Did Fox Change Release Date for Ridley Scott's 'The Martian'?
After the succesful release of its first trailer, 20th Century Fox has decided to change the release date for Ridley Scott's sci-if thriller, The Martian.
Fox have simply switched around the release dates for The Martian and other Fox release, Victor Frankenstein. Now, The Martian will get its release on October 2, 2015 rather than its original planned November 25, with Victor Frankenstein claiming that date.
The Martian will go up against London Has Fallen and Robert Zemeckis' The Walk, with the latter being its main rival in the IMAX market.
It goes without saying that Fox see The Martian as a "potential" Oscar contender — which seems to explain the switch. It's a similar plan Warner Bros. implimented for their release of Gravity in 2013. Warner Bros. had great success with their release of Gravity in October 2013, that after its Oscars success, it was given a re-release early 2014. So, pushing The Martian forward to October allows it to breath in a fairly saturated market, with The Walk being its only real competition — a movie we all know what happens because most have seen the documentary, Man on Wire.
Victor Frankenstein, on the other hand, will now go up against The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 2), which opens five days before. Victor Frankenstein will have a niche target audience and it makes sense for it to be the alternative to Mockingjay. Fox most certainly don't want The Martian to be that alternative and by moving it to October will avoid the possibility of being crushed by The Hunger Games fanfare.
