Chapter 326 Can’t Stop the Car
In 2001, the North American film market was still growing and expanding, but it had entered a relatively stable stage, and all release strategies had gradually matured, from promotion to release. set of plans.
Generally speaking, the number of theaters for commercial movies released at this stage is generally stable at around 3,000. The number of theaters is not always better, because a greater number means rising costs, which also means Since more dividends need to be distributed to theaters, three thousand is a standard number -
"Pearl Harbor", "The Mummy Returns", "Rush Hour 2", etc. are all around three thousand.
The film with the largest number of theaters released this summer is "Shrek". It was released in 3,600 theaters, which shows the confidence of DreamWorks. It is also targeting family audiences with comprehensive coverage.
"Princess Diaries" lacks some confidence. Although it also targets the family market, Disney only arranged for it to be released in 2,600 theaters.
In general, the screening strategy of a movie is formulated in advance after professional discussions. Although it will be adjusted based on the box office performance after the release, such adjustments are often small-scale.
For example, "Princess Diary".
After the excellent opening weekend box office performance, Disney added 26 theaters on a small scale in mainstream cities such as Los Angeles and New York.
However.
After the box office figures for "The Princess Diaries" came out the next week, Disney aggressively added more than 400 theaters to further expand its release range. This move is very rare in the North American film market.
Not only in large cities, Disney has finally developed more ambitions for the family market of "Princess Diaries". It continued to expand its screenings in the third week of its release, and even made the headlines of the entertainment pages of major newspapers and magazines——
While "Rush Hour 2" and "American Pie 2" both faced the shackles of word-of-mouth, "Princess Diaries" bucked the trend and showed strong confidence.
Facts have also proven that Disney’s strategy is not a reckless and impulsive adventure.
On the third week of August, as the summer season was about to come to an end, things suddenly changed, triggering the most astonishing and exciting scene of the 2001 summer season.
This week's North American weekend box office rankings have been completely reshuffled.
Winner, "The Princess Diaries," $24 million.
Runner up, "American Pie 2," $21 million.
Third place, "Rush Hour 2," $19 million.
The first runner-up, "Desperate to seize the treasure", US$11 million.
——There are so many shortcomings and highlights that I don’t know where to start.
In 1990, "The Last Day" defeated "Pretty Woman" to become the annual box office champion in North America. A full ten years later, Jerry Zucker, the director of "The Last Day" -Zucker) once again faced off with "Pretty Woman" director Gary Marshall in the summer season, but this time the result was a reversal of positions.
"Dead Man", from Jerry Zucker, brings together comedy superstars, including "Mr. Bean" Rowan-Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg -Goldberg) and Cuba-Gooding Jr. (Cuba-Gooding), etc., costing 70 million US dollars to create, looking forward to making the audience laugh at the end of the summer season -
After all, comedy is in the summer There is always a place for stalls.
Unfortunately, this was a squib and a complete failure. The opening weekend box office figure of 11 million US dollars made Paramount unable to cry.
No one expected that "Death and Treasure" would end up like this, completely failing to bring any impact to the box office market; the North American weekend box office rankings are still a showdown between several old rivals.
However, each one is more crotch-stretching than the other.
“American Pie 2” dropped as much as 53.2% the next week, even worse than “Rush Hour 2” last week. "Rush Hour 2" continued to decline in its third week, falling 42.6%. It suffered serious blood loss and saw its North American box office target of US$200 million in jeopardy.
In this situation, we can only say that we are not strong enough. Our opponents don’t even need to use their strength. They have already abandoned their martial arts skills and failed to form effective competition. This has also become the "Princess Diary" Take advantage of the opportunity to turn the situation around.
"Princess Diaries", in its third week of release, once again proved the power of fairy tales. Even if the reputation was lower than expected, the correct positioning and excellent publicity still succeeded in getting the audience to buy tickets and show incredible stamina. We can see the wisdom of Disney’s expansion of theaters.
A decrease of 17.8%.
In the third week of its release, the weekend box office decline of "The Princess Diaries" actually narrowed further. It took in a box office of US$24 million on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, not only pushing the cumulative box office over the top in one go 130 million U.S. dollars, and incredibly topped the North American weekend box office!
Overtaking "American Pie 2" and "Rush Hour 2" in one fell swoop, it won the box office championship in its third week of release, causing awe throughout North America.
This, this is really incredible!
People did not expect that the box office of "Princess Diaries" would exceed 100 million, nor did they expect that "Princess Diaries" would surpass "Runaway Bride" at the box office, nor did they expect that "Princess Diaries" could actually write a book while going on a low-key campaign. Such a magical box office curve.
Amazing, really amazing.
For a while, people didn’t know how to react. How did all this happen?
However.
This is still not the end.
Amid shock and dismay, "Princess Diaries" has undoubtedly become the hottest topic in August, eclipsing even "Rush Hour 2"; in addition, the summer season is coming to an end, and the competitiveness of subsequent works has dropped significantly, making it difficult to It launched an effective impact, so that when people went to the cinema, "Princess Diaries" became the first work to come into view.
Three consecutive championships!
"Princess Diaries" not only topped the box office championship in North America, but also held the title for three consecutive weeks. It continued its topical effect with an absolutely strong and absolutely popular attitude, completely reversing the disadvantage of being not optimistic before its release. .
Although it is hard to believe, "The Princess Diaries" did successfully alleviate Michael Eisner's dilemma at Disney. The film is becoming a popular phenomenon, replicating Gary Marshall's "Pretty Woman" "The miracle.
“From Julia Roberts to Anne Hathaway, Gary Marshall once again completes the feat of turning a sparrow into a phoenix.”
"Anne Hathaway: The next Julia Roberts?"
"As a young girl, Anne Hathaway shows unparalleled big-screen charm."
Everything, just like Gary -Marshall predicted that Anne's big-screen charm would be recognized, and the newcomer actor who debuted on the big screen would skyrocket; at the same time, just as Gary predicted, Anson was becoming a chemical reaction that would change the quality of movies from quantity to quality, and also set off a media frenzy.
“Everyone longs for Anson Wood.”
“The boy behind the mask, Anson Wood is becoming a new generation of Prince Charming.”
"Actor or a vase, Anson Wood is knocking on the door of Hollywood."
Just in time, Sony Columbia is also preparing to launch the pre-publicity of "Spider-Man". They are very happy to hear about it. They just need to add fuel to the fire. Overnight, Anson’s news could be seen all over the sky——
Everywhere!
Amid all kinds of expectations, "Princess Diary" still has unabated momentum after ending its three consecutive championships. The heat wave of the summer season has invaded the autumn season, becoming another scenery in the deserted autumn season.
(End of this chapter)