Americans will awake on Christmas with lots of Hollywood presence.
Seven movies are set to open on Dec. 25, a flood of films that could be as difficult to digest as a fruitcake — and could leave some studios staring at a disappointing box office.
Last year, four movies opened on Christmas.
If film fanatics think the schedule is crazy and leaves little time to see their favorite flicks, you have company.
Many in the film industry think the timing is terrible.
“There has never been this many wide releases in a compact space of time and there’s historic movie spending in that period,” said one Tinseltown source.
“There just isn’t enough money to go around,” the source said.
Studio marketing departments have been tearing their hair out over the crowded field and shifting release dates.
“Two movies have already been moved — ‘Jack Ryan’ and ‘Monument’s Men,’ ” said Boxoffice.com’s chief analyst Phil Contrino.
“They were scheduled to air at this time,” he noted, but distributors can’t put everything out. They hurt each other, and they hurt their films.”
Fox Searchlight also switched the opening date of ’70s movie “American Hustle,” opening Friday.
That still leaves the following movies opening on Dec. 25: “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” “Grudge Match,” “August: Osage County,” “Labor Day,” “47 Ronin” and “Justin Bieber’s Believe.”
The end-of-year blitz comes as the film industry is riding high.
The US box office this year stands at $10.1 billion, according to Boxoffice.com, just under last year’s all-time high of $10.8 billion.
A strong finish could make this a second straight record high year — but that could be in danger if the Christmas glut doesn’t cannibalize the total box office.
Two releases on Dec. 13 — “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas” — could together gross $100 million on their opening weekend, taking some of the pressure off the Christmas openings.
The holiday rush is, in part, prompted by last-minute Oscar contenders from indie players and big studios, which must open before the end of the year to qualify.
“There is a prestige factor that goes along with a December release, and that often increases a film’s chance at scoring Oscar nominations,” Dave Karger, chief correspondent for the movie-ticketing service Fandango, told The Post.
Two movies, “The Hobbit” and “Anchorman 2,” have the biggest following on Facebook, said social media expert Jason Klein.
“Hobbit” has registered 3.7 million likes on the social network giant versus 3.2 million for “Anchorman,” said Klein.
“There’s a lot of concern on the specialty side,” one indie movie source said, “that they’re getting crowded out, with the exception of Justin Timberlake’s “Inside Llewyn Davis,” from CBS Films, which has done well in limited release.