In North America, the second box office week of the summer season from May 23 to May 29 ended quickly with the popularity of "Face/Off".
In the final first week, the box office of "Face" reached US$79.59 million in its first seven days. This result not only set John Wu's Hollywood first-week box office record, but also exceeded the expectations of most people inside and outside Hollywood. Prior to this, based on the first-day results, everyone generally believed that the first-week box office of "Face/Off" was just over 70 million US dollars, which was slightly lower than the first-week 76.15 million of John Wu's "Mission: Impossible 2" last summer.
Even though Simon had the same expectations for "Face" as the "Mission: Impossible" series, otherwise he would not have invested a huge budget of US$100 million, which was US$10 million more than before, but for the first week of "Face", he was still slightly disappointed. Surprised.
It is close to US$80 million in the first week. If the subsequent trend is slightly stable, it is not impossible to hit US$250 million or even US$300 million locally.
Of course, these are basically fantasies.
After all, in addition to creativity, the film itself is a relatively traditional action movie, not to mention it is still a fiercely competitive summer season. As long as it can reach 200 million US dollars in North America, Simon will be satisfied. In this way, Daenerys Entertainment will only rely on local and overseas box office. It is expected to achieve huge profits.
In any case, the revenue in the first week was close to 80 million, and the trend in the next week will become crucial.
On May 30th, the biggest competitor of "Face" is the science fiction blockbuster "The Fifth Element" directed by Luc Besson. This movie was once produced by Sony and invested by Disney, which is now controlled by Vivendi. Compared with the previous budget of just over 90 million US dollars, the film's expenditure this time also reached 100 million US dollars. Because it is an annual flagship project personally decided by Vivendi's new head Jean-Marie Merieux, the marketing aspect is also vigorous.
After the premiere was held one day in advance, the word-of-mouth ban on "The Fifth Element" was lifted the next day.
Although the comprehensive media score of 7.0 is far lower than the classic 9.2 of "Face", it is not considered a failure for a commercial film.
However, such a relatively mediocre score obviously cannot support Vivendi's ambition, and even predicts the film's box office prospects to a certain extent.
When the single-day box office data on May 30 was released, the overall situation was basically decided.
The much-anticipated "The Fifth Element" opened on 3,186 screens and only grossed $6.19 million on its first day, which is considered a failure. In comparison, the box office of "Face" on the first day of the following week was still as high as 11.34 million US dollars, almost twice that of "The Fifth Element".
As time enters June, from May 30 to the first week of June 5, the gap further widens.
Due to the mediocre performance of "The Fifth Element", "Face" retained its single-week box office championship without any suspense. The box office decline in the next week was well maintained at 36%, earning another US$50.93 million. After half a month of release, the cumulative box office easily exceeded 100 million. , reaching US$130.52 million.
Let's talk about "The Fifth Element". In the first seven days, this blockbuster, which is also a blockbuster with an investment of 100 million yuan, opened with a box office of only 28.27 million US dollars.
This is basically consistent with the North American box office performance of "The Fifth Element" in Simon's memory.
Before any movie is released, box office data is difficult to predict. However, by looking back at the results to deduce the reasons, you can often find too many signs.
In the past, "The Fifth Element" was not actually a failure. Although it failed at the North American box office and only made a total of more than 60 million US dollars, it sold 200 million overseas. Coupled with subsequent video tapes and other channels, Sony actually Good profits were achieved. However, the biggest regret is the failure at the North American box office.
As for why North American audiences don't like this movie, it probably starts with cultural differences.
Luc Besson is, after all, a French director. A major characteristic of this director was that the films he produced as a producer often sold well, while the films he directed personally had very unstable box office, and many of them even failed miserably at the box office. This is not to say that Luc Besson is not good enough, the main reason is that he likes to bring in all kinds of personal things of his own. "The Fifth Element" is quite typical in this regard.
The first is the casting of the film.
Disney originally extended invitations to many of Hollywood's top celebrities, but due to Simon's quiet interference, most of the celebrities close to Daenerys Entertainment chose to refuse. In the end, the leading actor of the film fell to the original version. of Bruce Willis.
In recent years, except for the "Die Hard" series, which have become increasingly expensive but failed to hit the box office, Bruce Willis has been relegated to a second-tier status, and his box office appeal is questionable.
And the heroine.
For such a blockbuster, as the first female lead in the film who has a bigger role than the male lead, she should have chosen a Hollywood A-list actress, who should at least have enough popularity. However, although Milla Jovovich I don’t know where Simon’s big butterfly slapped him. Luc Besson, who has considerable autonomy, still chose another newcomer according to his own preferences this time.
Apart from its beautiful and hot appearance, it has basically no characteristics, let alone its box office appeal.
Although blockbusters are not so dependent on actors, the result of a mediocre blockbuster that can be watched or not may be completely different if some top stars can participate.
In short, "The Fifth Element" lacks top Hollywood stars with box office appeal, and this is one of them.
The second is the plot.
According to Luc Besson, this original science fiction was conceived since his boyhood. Although the story is quite complete, the plot is really a bit of a hodgepodge and lacks the hearty feeling of a Hollywood high-concept film.
Speaking of which, whether it's "The Fifth Element" or "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets," which was considered a sequel twenty years later, the box office experiences in North America and overseas are almost the same.
Therefore, it can be seen that the failure of "The Fifth Element" at the North American box office is no accident.
Luc Besson's various private goods, relying on big productions and big scenes, are often able to achieve good results in overseas regions where the film market lags behind North America. However, in North America, which has gradually developed an appetite for blockbuster bombs, he wants to It's not that easy to get people to buy tickets and enter.
By extension, this has also become a common box office trend for many CG special effects blockbusters later on. They were mediocre in North America and sold well overseas.
Typical examples are the last few "Transformers" films produced by Bombshell. Although the North American box office of "Transformers 5" was only 130 million, it was still able to sell 470 million overseas. It can only be said that audiences outside North America are too easy to satisfy.
In any case, "The Fifth Element"'s box office failure gave way to market space that allowed "Face" to still be fully utilized the following week.
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Then on June 6, the first full box office week in June began, Daenerys Entertainment's first CG special effects blockbuster of the summer was released. In the end, "Tornado", which still cost $100 million, opened on a screen scale of It reached a new high, reaching 3,573 yuan.
It also had a large-scale premiere in advance. What is surprising is that the comprehensive media rating of "Tornado" hit a new low after "Face" and "The Fifth Element". Under the public relations of Daenerys Entertainment's publicity team , the film’s comprehensive media score was only 6.3, barely passing.
The review of Hollywood's "Variety" magazine can completely sum up the sentiments of most media: "A mechanical and rigid high-concept movie, the characters have facial makeup, and the plot can be guessed from the beginning to the end."
Things suddenly got interesting.
One of the reasons for the failure of the just-released "The Fifth Element" is that it was too complicated.
Now, the problem with Twister is that it's too simple.
Fortunately, the suspense did not last long. After June 6, the first-day box office was released quickly. The box office of 18.98 million US dollars was even more amazing than "Face". Obviously, the audience liked such a simple popcorn movie very much.
In its first full week, "Tornado" grossed US$86.31 million at the box office, easily winning the single-week box office championship.
Affected by "Twister", "Face" began to fall sharply in its third week of release. The box office dropped by 47%, nearly halved. In the third week, the revenue was US$26.99 million, and the cumulative box office in three weeks was US$157.51 million. It is obvious that , 250 million is unlikely, but it is stable to exceed 200 million locally.
The production cost of the film is 100 million U.S. dollars, with 50 million in promotional expenses and 200 million in the local area. According to the strong Daenerys Entertainment, it can currently obtain more than 60% of the box office share from local theaters, which is enough to recover most of the production costs. Overseas It can achieve quite substantial profits, not to mention post-production video tapes and other channels.
Then came The Fifth Element.
The US$28.27 million in the first week was not high, but it was crushed by "Tornado" the following week, and the box office dropped by 41%, with a revenue of US$16.69 million. The cumulative box office in two weeks was US$44.96 million. The total domestic box office is expected to be similar to before. .
The new head of Vivendi ambitiously announced its entry into Hollywood last year. Unexpectedly, the first highly anticipated blockbuster project ended with such a result. Not only the media in North America were ridiculed, but even reporters in France were very concerned. It was so weird that for a while, Jean-Marie Merieux was all kinds of disgraced.
The summer season in North America is still going on.
In the golden June schedule, after "Tornado", three new films will be released on June 13, two of which are blockbusters with an investment of more than 50 million US dollars. Unfortunately, they failed to pose a threat to "Tornado".
In the week after its release from June 13th to June 19th, "Tornado", which had an amazing start, once again saw a box office decline that was beyond many people's expectations. It was only 26%, with revenue of 63.86 million US dollars. You know, "Tornado" is not a literary film that relies on long-term word-of-mouth, but a typical popcorn. Coupled with a saturated distribution strategy, a mere 26% drop in the second week is very rare, if not a miracle.
As a result, in just two weeks of release, the cumulative box office of "Tornado" has reached 150.17 million US dollars, which is equivalent to the cumulative volume of "Face" in the three weeks of release.
Looking at this situation, "Tornado" is very likely to become the first local movie in 1997 to exceed 300 million US dollars in box office.
Then, on June 20, "American Pie" produced by New World Pictures, a subsidiary of Daenerys Entertainment, was released.
This film, which was once known for its small fame, did not disappoint this time. The production cost was only 10 million U.S. dollars. Although the publicity budget reached 10 million U.S. dollars, and the total investment was 20 million U.S. dollars, it quickly spread through word of mouth. With good reputation, the film opened on 2,773 screens and grossed US$34.61 million in the first seven days.
According to the rules of tiered accounting, it is equivalent to directly recovering costs and starting to make profits.
However, "American Pie" did not win the box office average for that week. "Tornado" still dominated the list. The box office decline slightly expanded in the third week, reaching 35%, and the revenue was still as high as 41.5 million US dollars. The cumulative box office in three weeks was 100 million. 91.67 million US dollars, and is about to exceed 200 million US dollars.
In addition, after earning another US$15.39 million in the fourth week with a 43% decline, from June 20 to June 26, the single-week decline of "Face" narrowed to 28% in its fifth week of release, earning US$11.86 million. The cumulative box office for the week was US$183.99 million, which is only US$16.01 million away from the threshold of 200 million US dollars. It can basically be avoided in the future.
As June is coming to an end, more and more people are discovering that this summer, from the release of "Face" on May 23 to June 26, for five consecutive weeks, the box office champion was a film produced by Daenerys Entertainment occupy. Moreover, the three movies Daenerys Entertainment has successively released, whether it is "Face", "Twister", or even the latest "American Pie", even if they do not reach the top spot at the box office in a single week, they are still firmly on the list. Top five ranks.
Not only that, some media have also noticed that compared to previous years, there are significantly fewer films from other studios this summer. Even though there has been no shortage of new films in recent weeks, they are all the kind that have not made too much splash. The mediocre work of Splash. This obviously confirms a certain trend. Other Hollywood studios are unconsciously reducing film production under the continuous squeeze of Daenerys Entertainment.
Let's talk about Daenerys Entertainment's three new films. "Face" is calculated at 200 million, and "Twister" is almost the same even if it is less than 300 million. In addition, "American Pie", which is expected to exceed 100 million, these three films, The total local box office is expected to reach US$600 million. Based on the industry's annual box office expectations of US$6.5 billion to US$7 billion in North America in 1997, these three movies alone are equivalent to nearly 10% of the box office share in North America.
The momentum is overwhelming.
At this time, the summer vacation is only halfway over.
While the North American summer season is in full swing, on the other side of the ocean in China, Jiangsu Satellite TV's singing talent show "Super Girl" launched on June 7 has also begun to attract more and more attention.
The first "Super Girl" will start on June 7. Throughout the weekend, Jiangsu Satellite TV will be broadcasting the audition clips of this reality show. During the day, there will be ordinary auditions, and in the evening there will be a two-hour audition with judges' comments. Choose the scene.
The ratings statistics in China are still quite rough at this stage. However, in Jiangsu alone, "Super Girl" created 41% and 56% of the ratings respectively in the two evening selections on the first weekend in the province. All other large and small city-level and county-level TV stations squeezed out of the way and quickly showed their talents.
In the following two weekends, the ratings of "Super Girl" continued to rise, and because Jiangsu Satellite TV had become a star, it began to attract nationwide attention.
In the recent two episodes on June 21st and June 22nd, the provincial ratings of this reality show have reached a high of 76%, and it has gradually become a hot topic discussed by thousands of households.