Film Term of The Week: Tent-pole

Tent-pole

1. In broadcast programming and the motion picture industry, the term tent-pole programming is for a production expected to hold up (as is the function of a tent pole) and balance out the financial performance of a movie studio or television network. In the movie business, “tent-poles” are sometimes widely-released initial offerings in a string of releases and are expected by studios to turn a profit in a short period of time. Such programming is often accompanied by larger budgets and heavy promotion.

Source: Wikipedia