Chapter 1160 Breaking out of the Chaos
Regarding the judgment and prediction of the movie box office market, Roger Ebert admitted that he is not professional.
But what was happening before him was real, and Roger believed it should mean something.
Roger is still cheering for "Fighting" and believes that the film can save the situation with its excellent reputation and can still make a difference during the awards season.
At the same time, Roger also applauds "Butterfly Effect" for relying on excellent marketing methods to occupy hot topics. He believes that the box office potential of "Butterfly Effect" goes far beyond that.
Step by step, Anson is building its own brand image -
The market appeal is gradually gathering.
Even Roger can't help but start to look forward to next week's box office list. There is no need to wait for the release of "Warm Within" or "Walking with Songs", they are witnessing Leonardo DiCaprio right now -Another rising star after DiCaprio.
This year, the entire market has been plunged into a storm of Johnny Depp fanaticism due to the huge success of "Pirates of the Caribbean". After all, Johnny Depp has been in Hollywood for more than fifteen years. Thirteen years have passed since the glory of "Hand Edward". Johnny was finally seen blooming in the mainstream market again, and Hollywood went crazy.
However, Roger personally looks forward to Anson’s prospects——
What charm is hidden in this vase?
However, this is not easy. As mentioned before, major film companies went crazy during this year's holiday season. The entire schedule was in chaos, with blockbuster films coming one after another with no rules at all.
The "Butterfly Effect" upset "The Fight", but there are still many difficulties ahead -
No one is optimistic about the "Butterfly Effect".
To be precise, it’s not that we are not optimistic about the “Butterfly Effect”. No one is deliberately targeting the “Butterfly Effect”, but the chaos of the entire schedule makes it difficult for people to understand. The difficulty of the “Butterfly Effect” to break through has always been the highest. Too high.
Roger understood this.
But Roger believes that precisely because of this, things are more worth looking forward to:
Otherwise, Russell Crowe should rely on "The Fighting" to join the 20 million club, everything It's all predictable and no fun at all.
So, Roger prepared the red wine and cheese, as well as potato chips, expecting a good show——
The fourth week of November, "The Cat in the Hat" and The "Ghost Man" is coming in force.
"The Cat in the Hat", produced by Universal Pictures, has an investment cost of US$109 million. For Universal Pictures, which has always believed in small and big, there may only be one quota left for investment of more than US$100 million every year. Two, this year is reserved for this special work.
The reason is not that actor Alec-Baldwin serves as the screenwriter and stars in it, nor is it that popular child star Dakota-Fanning stars.
But it lies in the motion capture technology that is currently attracting the attention of the entire Hollywood.
What is "motion capture technology"?
To put it simply, Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" was played by actor Andy-Serkis through motion capture technology.
Later, this technology developed and matured. The dragon Smaug in "The Hobbit", the people of Pandora in "Avatar", and all the characters in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" were all shot using motion capture technology.
In the film industry, there are always a group of filmmakers keen on studying technology -
3D, 120-frame photography, motion capture technology, and so on.
The biggest contributor behind motion capture technology is director Robert-Zemeckis, the famous director of "Back to the Future", "Forrest Gump" and "Cast Away" The director has long been interested in this technology, and after the millennium he devoted all his efforts to the research of this technology.
Unfortunately, he has never been able to use this technology to shoot a perfect work. "The Polar Express", "Beowulf", "A Christmas Carol", "The Martian" and other works are all different collapse to some extent.
It took him ten years of his creative peak to allow motion capture technology to truly enter a mature stage, and only then were the subsequent works born. In 2003, motion capture technology began to mature, and Gollum's lifelike performance in "The Lord of the Rings" successfully aroused heated discussions about technological innovation.
This means that fantasy and magic movies can be fully developed.
It is against this background that Universal Pictures paid $100 million for "The Cat in the Hat", hoping to be one step ahead of other competitors.
In front of you, "The Cat in the Hat" tells a family story with Christmas spirit, aiming at the Thanksgiving and Christmas markets, and it is absolutely aggressive.
Even in the face of "The Cat in the Hat", the "Cat in the Hat" is not afraid, let alone facing the "Butterfly Effect" where the production cost is only a fraction of its own?
Meanwhile, there is another contender.
"The Shadowman", produced by Warner Bros., cost $40 million to produce.
This suspenseful work that was supposed to be released on Halloween was released a week before Thanksgiving. Warner Bros.’s release strategy is really confusing; but the work’s strong cast has warmed up the market early.
Director Mattieu-Kassovitz is an actor. He is the clerk who the heroine has a crush on in "Amélie". In addition, "The Fifth Element", He can also be seen in movies such as "Munich".
At the same time, he is also a talented director. As early as 1995, he won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival for "Youth".
This time "Ghost Man" is his first directorial attempt in Hollywood. He has assembled a group of big-name actors, which shows that Warner Bros. attaches great importance to it:
Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr. , Penelope Cruz.
To a certain extent, such middle-weight genre works can bring surprises during the holiday season. Warner Bros.’s schedule arrangement cannot be said to be completely random.
A heavyweight player and a middleweight player, attacking from both sides.
Moreover, a family movie and a suspense-type movie catering to Halloween will divide the audience in the target mass market in two ways.
Especially for "Ghost Man", the target audience of this movie and "The Butterfly Effect" partially overlap, and the threat is frontal and direct.
From all aspects, the market competition is intensifying, and the "Butterfly Effect" is about to face a comprehensive siege. In addition, family audiences who are scheduled for Thanksgiving will not be interested in this movie. The situation is indeed very serious.
No wonder the media reacted like this -
They did not mean to attack "The Butterfly Effect", but the focus of attention has quietly shifted. Some people praised "The Butterfly Effect" for entering directly during its opening weekend. During the profit-making stage, some people are paying attention to the possible breakthroughs in Anson's next work.
Although it is not stated explicitly, the subtext is:
This time, it may be over. There is no need to continue to look forward to the "Butterfly Effect". Such an achievement is worthy of celebration.
Perhaps, views like Roger's are still in the minority after all.
Then, amid much attention, the North American weekend box office rankings for the fourth week of November were announced.
First, "Butterfly Effect", US$39 million.
Second, "The Cat in the Hat," $38 million.
Third, "Ghost Man," $19 million.
Wait, what happened at the movie market this week?
(End of this chapter)