Chapter 1085 1085 Art Film

For commercial films that are released to the public, the box office drop in the next week is crucial; for art films that are screened, the expansion strategy, expansion rhythm, and expansion results are life and death.

After "Before Sunrise" was screened in seven theaters in the first week and achieved an outstanding result of US$43,000 for a single theater, Columbia Pictures did not expand its screenings blindly, and still stuck to Los Angeles and New York. Screening in other cities is only the first round of expansion in fifty-three theaters in these two cities.

It can be seen that Columbia Pictures' strategy is very clear. They do not want to expand the film too quickly. First, they spread word of mouth in the two largest cities in the United States, and then seek the next round of expansion.

This is obviously a good choice, because "Before Sunrise" clearly has an innate advantage in these two cities thanks to the popularity of the "New York Times" and "Los Angeles Times", and San Francisco near Los Angeles also supports this time" "Before Sunrise", the "New York Post" hype took place in New York again. It is conceivable that the "literate youth" in these two cities are very happy to go to the cinema to find some inspiration for one of the hottest topics of discussion recently.

In the absence of strong rivals in the art theater chain - most art films were released before Christmas in order to grab the deadline for the awards ceremony, "Before Sunrise" relied on the strong topicality and hot word of mouth, and easily became a The most popular works in the art theater line.

In the second week of February, "Before Sunrise" once again scored an eye-catching result of $24,000 in a single hall, and grabbed a box office of $1.27 million in three days over the weekend, making it one of the most deserted winter seasons in North America this week. The top ten at the box office will hang in the tenth place! The two-week cumulative box office climbed directly to $2.08 million.

In just two weeks, "Before Sunrise" is within easy reach of the $2.5 million on paper cost, and of course, no one will forget the $1 million royalties that Columbia Pictures paid DreamWorks, so it's fair to say , at least the book cost has been recovered. Profitability is a matter of course.

Such a result is really not expected by everyone. Although many media speculate that the cost can be recovered "before sunrise", it is also possible to rely on Hugo's appeal to achieve profitability, but two weeks? This speed is really too fast, especially the Sundance background "before sunrise", it is even more incredible. It can be seen that it is only a matter of time before "Before Sunrise" breaks the box office record of "Crazy Clerk".

The New York Post was so loud that Colin was single-minded about seeing Hugo meet Waterloo, but this time it only lasted for two weeks, and that hope was officially dashed. But fortunately, this time Colin added insurance, and he didn't talk too much, and it wouldn't be as embarrassing as the "life and death" time. However, this result still disappointed Colin, and the "New York Post" once again fell behind.

The good news, of course, is that sales of The New York Post are starting to pick up, thanks to the strong topicality of "Before Sunrise." This also made Colin more and more firm in his strategy. Even if there is no way to defeat Hugo, it doesn't matter. He just wants to use Hugo to complete the breakthrough of the "New York Post". By the way, disgusting Hugo, this is enough.

So, seeing the results of "Before Sunrise" in two weeks, Colin had another plan, this time he put his goal in a more long-term place, "The box office trend of "Before Sunrise" is already good There are some bad signs. The strong rise of 'Pulp Fiction' has consumed most of Hugo's appeal. Obviously, 'Before Sunrise' cannot replicate the miracle of 'Pulp Fiction'. Perhaps, this time Hugo will His choice paid a price."

In fact, Colin's topic selection angle is very interesting. He quietly put "Before Sunrise" on the same level as "Pulp Fiction", in order to satirize "Before Sunrise". worry.

Although Colin's statement is not worth mentioning in the eyes of people in the circle, because people in the circle know that if everyone is focusing on the final box office instead of revenue, then almost all actors should not be mixed up. As a simple example, a movie invests 10,000 US dollars and ends up getting 1 million US dollars at the box office. Is this a success or a failure?

According to Colin's method, it is naturally a failure. A film with only one million box office is not worth mentioning in film history; but everyone in the circle knows that this is a huge success. Leaving aside additional factors such as the dividend ratio, this is equivalent to a hundredfold increase in cost, which is enough to make any company snicker.

But this is the art of news media reporting. Many media reported the news that "The Years of Love" broke 100 million at the box office, making all viewers feel that this work was a huge success, but in fact "The Years of Love" North American box office It is only more than 60 million, and it is the global box office that exceeds 100 million. At the same time, the investment of 30 million US dollars in the film cannot be ignored. In this way, the box office performance of "Burning Years" can only be said to be okay, and the film won a seat in 1994 more because of its artistic value.

The trend of public opinion and the thoughts of the audience are thus guided by the news media.

The same is true for the focus of the "New York Post" this time. The audience will not analyze what is going on in the "downturn" of "Before Sunrise" like insiders, they will only see the result: "Before Sunrise" The box office is indeed not successful, let alone "Pulp Fiction", let alone Hugo's works in the past three years, and even compared with "Dead Poets Society", it is a lot inferior.

As a result, Colin's wishful thinking succeeded this time. The sales of this issue of "New York Post" soared by 30%. Only since last year's box office gambling, it has been the best-selling issue in eight months.

Rick, who noticed the opponent's static for the first time, knew that the "New York Post" couldn't get rid of it. Colin Myler was like a gangrene attached to the bone, and he would never let Hugo go easily.

However, for Rick, he is not worried about these things. It is his job to deal with the media. What's more, one of the advantages of being Hugo's agent is that he can always speak upright and confidently. The box office results of "Before Sunrise" are the best facts!

Two weeks after the release of "Before Sunrise", the cumulative box office crossed the threshold of 2 million, which caused countless discussions. The worries led by the "New York Post" are gradually fermenting, and it has become the talk of New Yorkers after dinner. At the same time, in order to further promote the film, David Geffen led the "Before Sunrise" crew to Berlin, Germany to participate in the 45th Berlin Film Festival, and was successfully selected for the competition unit and joined the final Golden Bear Competition for prizes.

Far before the "before sunrise" of the European campaign, good news came again. The European land, where art films are popular, is fond of "before the sunrise", and the praise far exceeds that of the North American media. The comprehensive score of the major European media has reached incredible. Ninety-one points of the work, which has bravely passed the threshold of ninety points, which shows the love of European professionals for this work.

In star-studded Berlin, "Before Sunrise" still stole countless eyes, and Richard Linklater, Charlize Theron and Hugo Lancaster still stood out and won praise. In the Berlin soil filled with austere styles such as politics, military affairs, beliefs, and social issues, "Before Sunrise", a restrained, boring, and profound love movie, has obviously won the unanimous love of film critics and audiences.

For a time, there was a lot of noise about the prospects of "Before Sunrise" in awards such as Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, etc.; and for the further breakthrough of this work, the discussion of competing for the Golden Bear Award may also be possible. see. This shows that Berlin loves this work.

In the end, the Berlin Film Festival, which lasted for 12 days, came to an end, and the French film "Appat, L'" beat the crowd and won the Golden Bear Award, becoming the biggest winner. The work "Smoke", a collaboration between Germany, the United States and Japan, won the Special Jury Award, and among the three awards of the Silver Bear Award, three different winners belonged to each other.

The Silver Bear Award for Best Actor was finally awarded to the old and strong Paul Newman, an elegant gentleman who has occupied a place in the history of American films and world films. Relying on the wonderful performance of "No one is a fool", he won the award. Arrived at his first Berlin Best Actor trophy, and also added weight to the upcoming Oscar competition.

The Silver Bear Award for Best Actress belongs to Xiang. Hong Kong actor Xiao. Fangfang, she won the award for her splendid performance in the movie "Woman, Forty (Summer. Snow)", and also opened the director's talent for the film. saddle. Hua's long journey of overcoming obstacles at international film festivals.

In the fierce competition for the Silver Bear Award for Best Director, in the end Richard Linklater relied on "Before Sunrise", an independent masterpiece with an exceptionally strong experimental nature, to stand out and win his first important award. , can be described as stunning the European film market in one fell swoop.

Although Hugo and Charlize missed the competition for the best actor and actress, and because Berlin did not set a separate screenwriting award, the original script of "Before the Sunrise" that has received numerous accolades did not have the performance to defeat the heroes; but "Before the Sunrise" "Won the Silver Bear Award for Best Director still received a lot of attention, and it also made people feel the excellence of this work once again, starting from Sundance to the North American media, and now it has spread to Europe, where art films are blooming. With the recognition of the European media and the Berlin Film Festival, the attention of "Before Sunrise" has reached a new level in an instant.

Originally, the influence of the Berlin Film Festival on the North American film market was very limited, not only because the Berlin Film Festival was held too close to the Oscars, but also in the cold winter of February; also because the aesthetic standards of the Berlin Film Festival have always been too cold , remote, not much in line with North America. Therefore, works that are praised at the Berlin Film Festival are often ignored by the North American market.

But this time it was a little different. "Before Sunrise" was born at Sundance and was led by Hugo. It attracted a lot of attention from the very beginning. Now the award at the Berlin Film Festival is the icing on the cake. As an art film, in The praise at the artistic level has reached a whole new level, so the North American film market "reluctantly" gave corresponding feedback.