Lag Time

Remember when you've seen a trailer for a movie that got you all excited to see the flick, only to read that bad news bit at the end: 'coming Summer 20XX', where 'XX' is at least a year away?

Now what if you saw that trailer nearly every time you entered a theater, until the thing was finally released? Are you even more excited to see it?

Ok, so suppose when this film is eventually released, it's shown first somewhere in the world where you are not. The reviews flood in. You do your best to avoid them. And you avoid listening to the opinions of your friends, who somehow saw the movie while traveling in Outer Wozbekistan, or somewhere.

Eventually, and inevitably, as the days drag by, you give in to curiosity and read. And listen. Within no time at all you've learned everything, good or bad, about the film, except (hopefully) the exact script lines.

And then the fateful day comes - the showing of the film in your local bijou. Still care to see it? Perhaps, you tell yourself, you'll just wait and catch it on DVD, or better still HBO / Cinemax / Showtime / Starz/ etc, when it will be free (or seem so).

So there it is: Lag Time is bad news for box office. Which, I guess, isn't a surprise to most people - although it escapes the grasp of some movie marketers, apparently.

But it occurs to me this statement applies to other fields as well. Motorcycles, for example.

It's not been uncommon for a manufacturer to announce a new model to the press a year (or more) in advance of release to the showrooms. Then release the model everywhere BUT in the US market for another year (or more).

During all that time prospective American buyers are inundated with review after review. Eventually, the motorcycle is released into our local showrooms and we can actually buy one. Trouble is, that bike will likely be parked next to other bikes that have just been released. Ones we've only heard about for a few months.

And, by this time, the press has largely quieted when it comes to that long-delayed bike, which, when first revealed was touted as THE bike to own. Now the reviewers are all jazzed about something else.

So, when the dealer tells you the long awaited bike costs as much (if not more) than the newer models, do you plunk down your cash? Or do you tell yourself to wait and catch it on the used market?

Lag Time is a killer ...