Why are Woody Allen films so poorly released?

Question

His new film has three top-list actors in Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johannson. It's also getting excellent reviews. He's widely considered as one of the best filmmakers of all-time. So why haven't i been able to see his last three films or so in the theatres cause there was not one playing near me?

Answer 1

Most people either love Woody's films, or they hate them.  The same goes for him.  My ex-wife will never see a film of his because of that whole "sleeping with his daughter" thing from the early 90s.  I guess the studio feels that when they release his new movies that word-of-mouth will spread the news among his fans and he'll find a niche in the indy/art theaters.  That's where you'll often find his films: in the theaters that show foreign, independent, and art films.

Answer 2

simple answer:

Woody Allen films are risky for investors,

critically acclaimed or not...they don't tend to make a lot of MONEY

so they get limited releases

Answer 3

Woody Allen's films aren't in as high demand as they used to be.  Yes, his classics are considered classic, but he's an acquired taste nowadays.  His films are considered "art films" to most studios, so he doesn't get wide releases.  Shame.

Answer 4

I'm a huge Woody Allen fan, but I also know that I'm one of a very small but loyal group of people.  Allen almost always uses big names in his films because every actor in Hollywood knows they should jump at the chance when they can.  If you've noticed, some of his latest films have taken place in Europe instead of New York.  That's because he stopped getting the support in NY that he needed to get his films released.  They still appreciate him in Europe, so he's taken his films to Europe because that's where the financial backing is going to be.  He's recently said that the reason he puts out a film every year is to keep himself busy so that he won't sit around thinking about how he's going to die.  He's always had a weird thing about the existence of God and his own mortality.  Anyway (I started rambling, lol), you can't see his movies where you live because he doesn't get the same kind of distribution as other film makers.  Part of that is because he puts them out so frequently, part of it is because people can't handle him being married to Mia's adopted daughter (even though they're totally cool with the fact that Roman Polanski almost assuredly drugged and raped a 13 year old girl b/c "The Pianist" was so great), and still another part of it is because his films as of late haven't been up to par with his other really great films.  I LOVED "Matchpoint," but I personally haven't been thrilled with any of them besides that one since "Small Time Crooks."  They're good one timers, but so are a lot of other films...that I'd rather rent than go see at the movies.  I've also heard a lot of critics talking about how he just plagiarizes his OWN works, which I tend to agree with to a point (he has, afterall, practically stolen from Felini on a number of occassions).  His recent films just haven't been as good, and they're not the type of big blockbusters that sell seats.  With all of that said, I'm with you.  It's frustrating to know that every year that's at least one movie I definitely want to pay to see in order to support the artist, and I've always got to go out of town to do it.  My husband and I have to drive about an hour to a city that's playing it, and we have to go to the upscale part of town to find the one lone theater that has it, which means parking and eating are expensive to boot.  It's annoying.  But unless he ONLY makes movies as great as "Matchpoint" and stops using Scarlett Johannson in all his films (she's annoyingly obvious about her "comedy" in his films), he's not going to get enough financial assistance to release his work on a larger scale.