Chapter 293 Midsummer is coming
Summer is coming quietly.
The hottest, laziest and most comfortable time of the year. After the long and dreary winter and the lingering and wet spring, people finally can’t wait to leave the room, open their arms and dive into the golden In the sunshine, temporarily put down the stress of life and enjoy a short vacation.
For the kids, it's summer vacation.
For adults, annual leave should be used here.
Especially for areas such as the United Kingdom, Northern Europe, and Canada, which do not experience the blessing of the sun for many years, summer is the only expectation of the year, and they spend their days and nights looking forward to summer vacation.
Thanks to the inherent advantages of weather and holidays, summer has undoubtedly become the highlight of the year for major merchants. Every year from July to August, the discount season is crowded with people, and the movie market is also crowded. No exceptions.
"Jaws" in 1975 and "Star Wars" in 1977 came out one after another, tapping into the huge potential of the film market with shocking gestures and completely changing the position of films in the commercial market. The concept of "The Movie" has officially landed in North America. Market positioning, marketing, etc. have developed comprehensively. The North American film market has gradually matured and scaled up.
After more than 20 years of preparation, the positioning of the North American film market is becoming increasingly clear and the divisions are becoming more and more detailed. The concepts of spring, summer, autumn, holiday and winter have taken shape. Film companies, large and small, can arrange their schedules according to the positioning of their works and their target audiences.
Among them, the summer box office frenzy is undoubtedly the absolute focus of the whole year.
Judging from the numbers, the box office data of the summer season can account for 50% or even 60% of the annual box office revenue in North America. Whoever wins the summer season wins the world.
Naturally, the summer season has become a battleground for military strategists.
After "Iron Man" led the summer box office rankings in 2008, comic book adaptations have fully occupied the big screen and become the absolute king of the summer season.
The reality is that most of the adaptation copyrights of novels, comics, and games are in the hands of large film companies with higher risk-taking capabilities, so the summer schedule has gradually become the game for those at the top of the Hollywood pyramid. game.
But looking back to the year 2000, the summer film festival was also very lively, but it was not a game for a few people. Some small film companies and even independent film companies would also find other ways to choose to release their works in the summer film festival, so that Viewers are able to see more different options on the big screen.
A hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, which also makes audiences more willing to choose to go to the cinema in summer.
The summer season officially kicks off from the second week of May and lasts until the end of the first week of September.
To be precise, in North America, the second Friday in May is Arbor Day and the first Monday in September is Labor Day. Therefore, the summer season should range from Arbor Day to Labor Day.
During this period, you can see top commercial blockbusters with an investment of over 100 million almost every week. Sometimes you can even see three, four or even five anticipated works in one weekend. The competition is fierce and completely It can be described as hand-to-hand combat with a bayonet seeing red. This is a life-and-death war.
How to choose a schedule, avoid major competitors, choose direct competitors, and eliminate indirect competitors is a complex topic.
The game between the major film companies is full of sparks, overt and covert attacks.
This year is no exception.
In the summer of 1999, "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" made a strong debut, leading a group of strong opponents to set a new record for the summer box office total.
Amid high expectations, the summer season of 2000 came under huge pressure and performed mediocrely. The North American box office of the summer box office champion "Mission: Impossible 2" was only half of that of "Star Wars Episode 1", and the total cumulative box office of the summer season The number also fell by 5%. This is the first time since 1991 that the cumulative summer box office number has not shown an upward trend.
To be honest, a 5% drop is not a serious decline number, and it is far from a wake-up call, but it still gives the film market a yellow card. A warning.
The North American film market, which has been rising for ten consecutive years, is finally showing signs of slowing down, which is a wake-up call for major film companies.
So, after the 2000 summer season came to an end, major film companies have already begun to prepare for the next summer season in full swing. It is conceivable that the competition for this year's summer season has already started from the early stage of publicity.
In the bustling scene, "The Mummy Returns" made its debut, officially kicking off the 2001 summer season.
Subsequently, "Shrek", "Pearl Harbor", "Fast and Furious", "Tomb Raider", "Artificial Intelligence", "Jurassic Park 3", "Operation Swordfish", "Moulin Rouge" and other works have been introduced to the audience one after another. There are disappointments and surprises, successes and failures, upsets and hits. It is very lively.
In the midst of the hustle and bustle, "The Princess Diaries" produced and distributed by Disney made a low-key appearance and joined the party where everyone was having fun together.
To be honest, among the bombardment of top stars and blockbuster works, a featherweight work like "Princess Diaries" can't find its direction or focus at all, even if Even Disney had to lower its expectations.
Romantic comedies still have a loyal audience market in these years, but they are far from what they were in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In those years, there were a large number of new American sweethearts and traditional handsome guys. Romantic comedies were always able to achieve good results. However, these years still need to rely on the blessing of superstars, otherwise the genre of movies has suffered from aesthetic fatigue.
An intuitive statistic is that in the past three years, only three romantic comedies have surpassed the US$100 million threshold in North American box office, namely "The Voice of Women", "Runaway Bride" and "Notting Hill".
The first film starred Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt; the latter two starred Julia Roberts - no wonder she can become the first actress in the history of Hollywood's "20 Million Club".
And "Princess Diaries"?
Although Gary Marshall is at the helm and has proven himself again with "Runaway Bride", the cast is all newcomers, so that the focus of the film's early promotion had to be on Julie - There's not enough in Andrews for a romantic comedy.
What's more, this is a summer season, and there are strong enemies all around.
"Princess Diary" is finally scheduled to be released in the first week of August, avoiding the worst-hit areas in June and July, but still falling into a dangerous predicament surrounded by wolves:
The first week is the premiere of "Battle for the Planet of the Apes", the next week is the arrival of "American Pie 2", and the same week also requires a head-on confrontation with "Rush Hour 2".
Difficult. In one word, it is really difficult.
Disney said that it has sincerely tried its best. This summer's schedule is too dense and crowded, and it took a lot of effort to find such a schedule:
"Battle for the Planet of the Apes" is science fiction, " "Rush Hour 2" is action, and "American Pie 2" is comedy - and it is a "sex" comedy. The audience market of these works does not overlap with "Princess Diaries". Maybe "Princess Diaries" can win respite in such a predicament. Space, carve out a bloody path and write great achievements.
So, Anson, who finished the long filming of "Spider-Man" and took off his suit, didn't even have time to take a breath; on the other hand, he was already involved in the pre-publicity of "Princess Diaries" non-stop, like a spinning top. Can't stop at all.
For Anson, this is a whole new world.
(End of this chapter)