Lead times for getting big movies into theatres are getting longer. “The familiar proclamation ‘Coming soon!’ no longer means what it once did. Indeed, the film biz is a long way from the comfortable days of picking a release date with a finished film in the can. The studios’ battered parent companies, desperate for predictable revenue, find plenty of virtue in long lead times, but it isn’t an easy adjustment for film execs accustomed to procrastination.”