Chapter 504: 600 million US dollars in North America
A question, what is the level of the North American box office of 500 million US dollars?
With the appearance of "Titanic" in 1997, the first film with a box office of US$500 million and the first US$600 million in North American film history made its debut. Almost everyone believed that the film market would enter the market from then on. In the new era, reality is not like that.
In previous lives, it wasn’t until 2008’s “Batman Begins: The Dark Knight” that there was a second North American movie with a US$500 million; it wasn’t until 2009’s “Avatar” that there was a second US$600 million movie in North America. works.
During this period, three works including "Star Wars: The Prequels", "Shrek 2", and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" each reached the box office threshold of US$400 million in North America, but they all stopped before the $500 million barrier. Able to write history.
In other words, the North American film market did not truly enter the "North American 500 million" era until 2009 and then continue to create peaks.
And now, a small butterfly flaps its wings and slightly rewrites history in a parallel time and space. Although it is impossible to know whether this will completely change the entire film market structure, at least -
" "Titanic" is no longer alone.
"Spider-Man", with its cumulative box office easily exceeding US$300 million within three weeks of its release, has been making rapid progress, demonstrating its strong appeal.
Four hundred million.
Five hundred million.
Easy, no suspense.
The entire North American market is witnessing the meteoric rise of "Spider-Man". What is really exciting is whether this neighborhood hero movie can break the box office record held by "Titanic":
North America US$600.68 million.
And, to top the box office record in North American film history?
Involuntarily, everyone stared with bated breath.
The trend of the World Cup will eventually hold back the footsteps of "Spider-Man"; in addition, all the major film companies are working hard this summer, and all kinds of blockbusters will be released, and the competition will be fierce. The empty market has delayed "Spider-Man"'s subsequent impact on historical records.
When the cumulative box office figures of "Spider-Man" in North America staggered past 595 million US dollars, that set of data seemed to have stalled, moving at a snail's pace. Little by little growth.
Obviously, this is really frustrating.
Industry insiders can only lament that, just like "Titanic" back then, box office growth in the final stage is almost impossible. It is entirely up to the film company to pay for it out of its own pocket, and it is a special screening and a movie viewing event. The box office figures have been struggling to cross the $600 million line, and now "Spider-Man" is in the same situation. This also proves that the current North American box office market does not have such capabilities, and $500 million is the ceiling.
However, Sony Columbia, like 20th Century Fox back then, was unwilling to miss the opportunity to leave its name in history and operate again.
Sony Columbia not only extended the film's release cycle by one month from 22 weeks to 26 weeks, but also organized screening events in conjunction with Anson's other starring film "Cat and Mouse" to stimulate the box office market.
In the end, "Spider-Man" also slowly crossed the $600 million line. The cumulative box office in North America was fixed at $60.238 million, lagging behind by a slight disadvantage. "Titanic" currently ranks second in North American film history.
Although it is very, very regretful that it was not able to set a new record, "Spider-Man" still became the second US$600 million film in North American film history. Coupled with the countless brilliance written in the first three weeks of the film, it is no doubt that it was not able to set a new record. There is no doubt that this work has left a mark in history.
At this time, looking back at the past, before "Spider-Man" debuted, people generally believed that US$200 million in North America was probably the highest limit for a movie, and US$300 million was simply a nihilistic fantasy.
As a result, "Spider-Man" surprised and embarrassed all those who despised this work. The film's achievements far exceeded imagination.
Of course, Sony Columbia’s production cost of US$139 million and promotion costs of more than US$10 million are really shocking; but their North American box office performance of US$600 million still makes them fierce Make a fortune——
Although Sony Columbia did not announce the detailed dividend income of the movie, according to insider information from Forbes, the movie brought Sony Columbia at least US$100 million in profit.
And that’s still not all. The movie also has overseas box office!
As mentioned before, in 2002, the global film market was not fully explored and developed, and its maturity lagged far behind that of the North American film market.
At the same time, the distribution channels of the seven major Hollywood film companies in different countries and regions are not sound enough. They often cooperate with local distribution companies. Different distribution strategies may also lead to deviations in box office performance.
In addition, there is another important point that cannot be ignored:
The difference between aesthetics and culture.
Some movies are blockbuster hits in North America, but not necessarily in Germany and Northern Europe; some movies are mediocre in the UK, but are widely loved in the Asian market.
This is the norm.
This is a typical example, "Spider-Man" and "Star Wars" are the same.
"Star Wars" is a series that has North American cultural characteristics, and its box office performance in overseas markets has always been inferior to that of North America.
The same is true for "Spider-Man". As a set of otaku comics, its popularity is far less than that of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman; the current superhero movie market has not yet opened, and overseas market audiences are obviously not interested in it. The film lacks enthusiasm and has absolutely no North American fandom.
Sony Columbia Pictures has also been mentally prepared and does not have too much hope for overseas markets; but reality still brings small surprises——
Although the Internet has not penetrated into people's lives as fully as social networks, it has made great progress since the millennium.
When the movie set off a craze in the North American market, other countries and regions had also heard about it.
On the front foot, "Star Wars: Episode II" took in US$345 million in overseas markets. Twentieth Century Fox was obviously relieved. At least it performed better than the North American box office. This is good news. .
On the back foot, "Spider-Man" was released in 69 countries and regions around the world, and also exploded with amazing energy. From summer to autumn and then into winter, the autumn wind swept away the fallen leaves and won numerous box office titles. Almost every country and region where it is released is a champion, and two and three consecutive championships are even more common.
Surprise!
Absolute surprise!
Obviously, this surprise cannot be compared with the blowout in North America, but it still gives people hope-
Superhero movies can win wider resonance around the world.
Perhaps, there is no need for movie adaptations of comic books to be limited to the low-cost B-level genre film framework. Increase investment and scale to find more room for development in the A-level genre film market.
After all, even Sony Columbia was successful, wasn't it?
In the end, "Spider-Man" won a box office of US$670 million in overseas markets!
Boom, boom boom boom!
(End of this chapter)