plant the flag
v. phr.— «With an average of nearly 12 movies opening every week, claiming prime big-screen real estate as far in advance as possible is crucial.…“We had to ask ourselves whether it made sense to open against another comedy—albeit one that skewed a little more female—or against an action movie that felt more urban and ethnic and had less star power,” said Rob Moore, Paramount’s president of worldwide marketing and distribution.…In Hollywood jargon, the scheduling practice is known as “planting the flag.”» —“The movie dating game” by Josh Friedman Los Angeles Times March 19, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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