Sneak previews (surprise) and release dates

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Hi folks
there is a movie that will have its official release here in January 2020, but I know for a fact that several theaters are showing it already as sneak previews in late September / early October. How to deal with the release date there? Which is the correct one?
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Horst

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Posted 10 months ago

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Ed Jones(XLIX)

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If you know an actual release date and have the URL proof, submit a release date update contribution submission.
Here is how...........
Release dates
Guidelines Release Date Attributes.  How to add/update a Release Date  ... Read more.

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Nikolay Yeriomin (Mykola Yeromin), Champion

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Sneak preview or even work-in-progress special screenings are still eligible as release dates. It causes dismay with some filmmakers, but earliest known/confirmed public screening is the way to go, as written in guidelines Ed linked.  
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Ed Jones(XLIX)

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And lets be clear here. Sneak previews exist. Therefor it IS a screening, A pre-release. To say that a public viewing does not qualify based on wording is shall we say...........??????????????
IMDb may not have a specific description of it. That hardly means that we should ignore this common practice and terminology that has been in use for over 60 years.
Sneak previews have been happening for as long as I can remember. my earliest recollection is 1960.

From the Merriam Dictionary.

sneak preview noun

Definition of sneak preview

: a special advance showing of a motion picture usually announced but not named



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Ed Jones(XLIX)

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Ed Jones(XLIX)

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So 80+ Years
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Marco

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As sneak preview is an early limited release. =. One in the same.

A sneak preview isn't necessarily limited. I live in the Netherlands and in every city there are movie theaters and almost all of them have sneak previews weekly. So it's very well possible a film gets a sneak preview in a great lot of cities, making it a non-limited release.

And, as I've before in this thread, Will explicitly stated that sneak previews have been "purposefully omitted from the guide".

I'm not sure why you point out that sneak previews have been around for over 80 years. I don't believe anyone has stated that they haven't been around for quite a while.
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Marco

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As sneak preview is an early limited release. =. One in the same.

A sneak preview isn't necessarily limited. I live in the Netherlands and in every city there are movie theaters and almost all of them have sneak previews weekly. So it's very well possible a film gets a sneak preview in a great lot of cities, making it a non-limited release.

And, as I've before in this thread, Will explicitly stated that sneak previews have been "purposefully omitted from the guide".

I'm not sure why you point out that sneak previews have been around for over 80 years. I don't believe anyone has stated that they haven't been around for quite a while.
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Peter, Champion

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You may be able to add early screenings with the attribute (preview).

There was some discussion of preview screenings in this thread and in an earlier thread that I referred to:
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topi...
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Marco

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There was some discussion of preview screenings

Unfortunately, nothing definitive has been said by IMDb about this. Will did say this: "The sneak preview case is an interesting one, it is entirely dependent on the type of preview screening and the specific example in hand. As such this was purposefully omitted from the guide update to prevent any ambiguity in the guide."
So to me, it's not clear what IMDb wants with sneak previews.