Discuss: Is August No Longer Bad Movie Month?
Filed under: Summer Movies
It wasn't long after I became a critic that I realized how the month of August tended to collect bad movies, like dust. Every year, the studios roll the dice on stupid-sounding ideas and come up, surprisingly enough, with stupid movies. They know it and we know it, but they have to try to get their money back anyway, so these movies get released, and they generally get released in August. I could go back and list dozens of examples -- OK, here's one example: Gigli, in August of 2003 -- but suffice to say that the last of the eagerly anticipated blockbusters opens in July and then the junk opens in August, clearing the way for awards season in the last four months of the year.
Now, last summer in my humble opinion was one of the best movie summers of my life, starting with Iron Man and powering through things like The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Hellboy II, etc. Regardless, I expected things to slow down and get stinky in August, and indeed the month got off to a bad start with the godawful The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Then there was the latest from Ben Stiller, whom I generally can't stand, but I quickly signed up as a lifetime member of the Tropic Thunder fan club. Pineapple Express made me laugh just as helplessly, and Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona made #1 on my year's ten best list. We even got the exemplary horror film The Midnight Meat Train, even though I didn't get to see that until DVD.
This August is shaping up just as interestingly. The not-screened-for-the-press G.I. Joe seems to be pleasing everybody, and I enjoyed David Twohy's A Perfect Getaway. District 9 is even getting good notices, and then we've got two genuine cinematic events: Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, both of which are ten best-list contenders for me. The question is: what happened? Did studios finally realize that kids are still out of school and will continue to spend money throughout the month? (Whereas the early May summer season takes place during finals and graduation and other busy end-of-the-school-year activities.) Are the movies getting better? Or perhaps it's the equally awful January dumping season, which has been getting longer and longer and is now offsetting the August season?
What are your thoughts, readers?
Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams Reunite for 'Mission Impossible 4'
'Big Top Pee-Wee': The Original Benicio Del Toro Wolfman
Spin-ematical: New on DVD and Blu-ray for 2/9
Watch This: Brilliant Oscar-Nominated Short 'Logorama'
Chris Nolan to Lead 'Superman' Reboot!?
_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-15-2009 @ 9:37PM
tylercool85 said...
I didn't realize all those movies came out in August of last year unitl you mentioned it. August does seem to be a better movie month now. And in this summer movie season August may turn out to be a better month than May, June or July
Reply
8-15-2009 @ 9:55PM
Dirk2112 said...
Dude August hasn't been bad movie month since the Bourne Identity was released.
Reply
8-15-2009 @ 10:02PM
William Goss said...
The Bourne Identity came out in June of 2002.
The Bourne Ultimatum, however, came out in August of 2007 and got that month off to an awesome start.
8-15-2009 @ 10:06PM
William Goss said...
For me, I think that The 40-Year-Old Virgin's break-out success in August '05 was where things really turned a corner, followed by The Bourne Ultimatum and Superbad in 2007 and your mentioned double-header of Pineapple and Tropic last summer.
Then again, 2002's Signs and 2004's Collateral and Hero before them didn't hurt matters either.
Reply
8-15-2009 @ 11:50PM
wulff said...
I think we need to see an article comparing August releases over the last 30 yrs or so, to see if August is really as bad as we think it is, or if it just doesn't shine as brightly as May-July. Similar to the 'My Favorite Summer' series, but looking solely at August releases.
Reply
8-16-2009 @ 2:32PM
TheCritic28 said...
It's so strange, the more the month of August gets better, the worst the month of June gets. I mean, other than Hangover, June sucked this year. Defenitly the worst month of summer this year.
Reply
8-16-2009 @ 3:43PM
Thomas said...
The Fugitive came out in August of 1993. It was the 3rd highest grossing movie of the year and received seven Oscar nominations.
Reply
8-16-2009 @ 6:55PM
Jaded said...
I'm wondering if the shift to August has anything to do with the trend in people traveling more in the beginning of the summer than towards the end. I know for me it always chapped my ass, that all the movies I wanted to see were gone from theaters by the time I got back from that "family vacation" I was required to go on as a kid/teenager.
Reply
8-16-2009 @ 11:30PM
mike said...
August have been good for a long time movies like Rush Hour 2 , The Fugitive, Space Cowboys ,Blade,The Bourne Ultimatum,the oscar winning Unforgiven,Signs,the Sixth Scents not bad at all.
Reply
8-17-2009 @ 5:02AM
TheIdeaMan said...
1992's UNFORGIVEN is what made studios sit up and realize that August didn't need to be a complete dumping ground for films they didn't have faith in. Then in '93, you had THE FUGITIVE and in '94 came CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER.
Reply
8-17-2009 @ 2:48PM
Tyler Durden's cousin said...
They still have 'Stealth'
Reply
8-18-2009 @ 11:45PM
John said...
I saw District 9, August is now terrible move month
Reply