The World Can't Wait for 'Indy'? It Won't Have To

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The 61st Cannes Film Festival

A look at the latest from the annual, glitzy film festival on the French Riviera.

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"The world is becoming smaller," says Joe Drake, a chief operating officer of Lionsgate film company. "There is now massive awareness internationally" of every big movie, Drake says, and studio marketers stoke that awareness with Internet campaigns, doling out updates, photos and trailers as movies move down the assembly line.

Another factor behind the worldwide openings is the desire to limit risk. Multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns can drive people into the theaters on opening weekend, before word of mouth (if the film is mediocre, or worse) cuts into ticket sales.

Going global "is definitely the way to open these big pictures," says Peter Bart, the editor of the Hollywood trade newspaper Variety. "If a picture isn't working, word gets out very quickly. If it's a good picture, you ride the wave of enthusiasm. But if a picture doesn't work, you get it out there before everybody tears it to pieces. This is the way for Hollywood to get the most of this marketing muscle."

"Indiana Jones" producer Kennedy remembers that when "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was released, it played in theaters for months. In some cities it played for a year. Now movies are out of the multiplex within weeks. "In three weeks, it's essentially over. That's it," Kennedy says.

So a movie's financial fate depends on the opening weekend. "The risks are greater. There's so much more money on the line now and you find out in a few days how it will go," she says.

So far, so good. When "The Da Vinci Code" premiered here two years ago, critics booed the film, which went on to earn $758 million worldwide. The screening of the fourth "Indiana Jones" received polite, somewhat tepid applause at the Palais.

But one thing the marketers of these mega-films agree on is that critical response is probably less important than what kids are text-messaging one another after they see the film.

"I'm not afraid at all. I expect to have the whip turned on me," Ford said at the news conference after the screening. "It's not unusual for something that is popular to be disdained by some people, and I fully expect it." He added, "I work for the people who pay to get in. They are my customers, and my focus is on providing the best experience I can for those people."