Why are reviews sometime available after the day of theatrical release?
Some films are not previewed for the press until it’s too late to make a print deadline. Some are not screened for the press at all. Others are previewed only for the largest major dailies. Most films are available for review by the press in time to meet your deadlines. These movies will get mixed or positive reviews and this does help sell tickets. Some films are so awful that the studios don’t want across the board negative reviews on the day of release. In these cases, the studios prefer no press screenings. Many of the independent films (indies) live or die on positive reviews because they have little or no budget for TV and four color print ads in magazines and billboards. The actors in these films don’t show up on the morning and late night talk shows. But the films they are in are often the ones that show up on the critics ” top 10″ lists at the end of the year, though you may never have heard of them. Even in large cities, these indies play at only a few venues and tend to stay
