The claiming of release dates years in advance for major blockbusters has become standard practice now in the Hollywood, but it did lead to one of the more hotly debated issues in the industry this year: the dispute over the May 6th, 2016 release between Warner Bros. and Marvel Studios. Both Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America 3 were scheduled for release on the same day, and many fans wondered which studio was going to back down and move to a new date.
The issue has since been resolved, with Dawn of Justice shifting to March 25th, 2016. But since the move, we haven't heard much from the filmmakers on either side. Sitting down today with Cinema Blend, the Russo Bros. were quizzed on how they reacted to both the practice of date claiming and the showdown between the two blockbusters, with Joe Russo saying that "We knew when they announced that it was somewhat of a placeholder, that it was a game of chicken to see if Marvel really had a film that was going to land on that date or not. We knew it was never going to happen. We knew those two films would never stay on that date. So we knew somebody was going to move."
Expressing non-confrontational sentiments about the whole ordeal, they wished success on all of the films in the genre, while also talking about the importance of social media in the modern film industry:
"We’re filmmakers. But we’re also comic-book geeks and movie fans. I want to go to the theater and be excited and see shit that inspires me, and gets me excited as a filmmaker. And so we wish success on everybody! Now that we’re in the sort of heyday of comic-book films, you don’t want anybody sort of spoiling the party. This summer was actually great because boy did we get treated to some pretty great movies this summer. So you keep hoping that’s the case moving forward."
"And it seems like studios – and I think a lot of this has to do with social media. Social media is so quick to identify when something isn’t working. You know, on Friday night by like 6 p.m., whether a movie is in trouble. And I think you can’t hide anymore. You have got to show up with a great movie, or you are screwed. I think you are finding that it’s happening less and less, that something that is not that good is doing very well. It’s forcing everyone’s hand, and really pushing people to do very good work."
Captain America 3 is scheduled for release on May 6th, 2016.