Two Thousand Two Hundred and Thirty-One Wait and Wait

From Sundance to Venice, from Toronto to New York, from January to December, the release journey of "Bumper" is very long, which makes the audience's anticipation build up bit by bit, even without any publicity means, But it has also surpassed countless commercial films and has become an annual expectation throughout the year.

Objectively speaking, the upsurge of attention driven by the "Assaulting a Reporter" incident is really limited, because before the incident, the expectations of the "Boom Drummer" have easily exploded. Will be affected by unexpected events, not to mention the Don Quixotes.

In front of the curiosity and expectation of "Booming Drummer", the "beating incident" is nothing at all. What the audience is really looking forward to is the release of the movie. Months later, the mystery of the movie is finally about to be revealed, and this is the event of the year, okay?

No need for publicity at all, when the official Twitter account of Sisyphus Pictures officially announced after the New York Film Festival that "Boom Drummer" will be screened on December 5th, all the fans couldn't wait to start raving about it. The heat wave broke out with an intensity comparable to the summer vacation.

Incredible!

If it is a commercial movie such as "Interstellar", then it is understandable. The box office figures prove that the audience of the movie is very broad, and the Internet frenzy is natural; Word of mouth has become the focus of the Internet, which is completely the far-reaching impact of the "Renly Effect".

In addition to senior movie fans, professional movie fans, and avid fans, there are actually countless ordinary movie fans who like movies.

In addition to commercial movies, these ordinary movie fans also like to find art movies that suit their tastes - unique movies such as "Fight Club", "Pulp Fiction", "A Clockwork Orange" can always conquer the audience, the only problem That is, they lacked the study of movies and lacked enough time to dig out movies slowly, and more need to be recommended by others, or authoritative lists, which is also an important reason why good word-of-mouth works can also create box-office miracles.

Now, Renly is the best "signboard".

So far, in addition to the polarized word of mouth "detachment", all of Renly's works have been recognized by the market - the lowest box office in North America is "Buried Alive" with $52 million, and the box office figures of other works are all over 100 million. This also means that, in addition to superb performance and charisma, Renly's artistic taste and unique vision have also been unanimously affirmed, which not only makes Renly the first choice of film producers, but also the general audience. An important weather vane for selecting works.

This is true of commercial films, and the same is true of art films.

As a result, "Booming Drummer" has become a rare sight in the awards season at the end of the year: although it is a small-budget art film, its box office expectations are not inferior to that of commercial blockbusters! It even surpassed "The Hobbit 3" and "Super Marines" and became the most anticipated work in the Thanksgiving schedule after "The Hunger Games 3 (Part 1)".

Finally, December 5th has finally arrived!

In the last life, Sony Classics won the North American distribution rights of "Boom Drummer". Because of the lack of publicity stunts, Sony Classics took a different approach to choose a small-scale public release, starting from the point release, and then all the way to film festivals around the world, Constantly accumulating word-of-mouth for the works, but never entering the stage of large-scale full release.

It was only after entering the second stage of the awards season and successfully entering the sights of the Golden Globes that the number of theaters was expanded to more than 400; but even so, Sony Classics has always controlled the number of theaters to 500. In the following, I will persistently spread word of mouth in a small area, completely abandon the goal of chasing the box office, and more often endorse the works through professional fans and senior fans. Awards season has made some gains, and then the video market is used to seek commercial success.

Facts have proved that Sony's classic strategy of taking a sideways strategy has been successful - "Boom Drummer" not only won three Oscars, but also successfully accumulated thirteen million US dollars at the box office during the small-scale release, compared with three. With an investment cost of one million, they have already achieved profitability; then, after returning from the Oscars, the film went offline in theaters, but it flourished in the video market, winning more than ten million in profits for Sony Classics.

In this life, Sony Classics and Sisyphus Pictures have teamed up, but the North American distribution promotion strategy is still dominated by Sony Classics, and the situation has changed subtly because... Renly Hall.

As one of the most powerful independent studios in North America, Sony's classic awards season is rich and rich, and they know exactly how to carry out academy PR based on the attributes of the work, although "Boom Drummer" has the strong appeal of Renly , the expectations were always high, but they still kept their cool-

The bubble of the Internet boom can be the key to fueling the momentum, but it is difficult to convert it into box office data; the controversy caused by the film during its screening in Toronto has caused physical discomfort, which also means that the horror and horror elements of the film need to be improved. Pay more attention; in addition, when Sundance Film Festival works are tested in the market, they often need to take into account the difference in taste between Park City and the rest of North America.

And so on, these factors cannot be ignored.

After comprehensive consideration, Sony Classics formulated the final release strategy: the opening of the screening, a total of six theaters in Los Angeles and New York.

"Not fair! Why is LA and New York again! I live in Atlanta, am I forgotten? Hey! Atlanta residents have the right to watch movies too!"

Not surprisingly, protests on social networks began to rise. Waiting and waiting, but still not able to wait for the full release, only Los Angeles and New York will be able to enjoy the "Boom Drummer" first, and this long wait in other cities will continue.

It was also fun for William Taylor to appreciate those protest tweets.

"Can those netizens living in Seattle, Chicago, Washington, and Toronto be a little quieter? Citizens living in San Francisco say they have no love for life. We are not like New Jersey, and we can reach New York by crossing the river; but we are not like Like you, being so far away from LA puts us in an awkward position - even if we drive six hours to LA, we won't necessarily be able to get a movie ticket, okay? Shouldn't San Francisco be in Do you have a name on the first round of screenings?"

"It's Dallas that's really sad, okay? The Midlands were never on the hit list, why, aren't we allowed to like trendy movies? It's not the thirties, please?"

"Chicago residents don't want to talk. The title of 'the third largest city in the United States' is a decoration, right?"

"So...what should the fans who live in Little Rock do?"

"Come on, New York residents are helpless. There are only three theaters in total, and those fanatical Don Quixotes started queuing forty-eight hours in advance. What should we do? We are helpless! We know the movie is on the way. We can't see the premiere here, do you understand that feeling?"

Then William saw a series of crying complaints from New York and Los Angeles, and couldn't help laughing. Although "Boom Drummer" was screened in Los Angeles and New York, each city has only three theaters, which also means that seats are also limited and you can't see it if you are not careful; compared to other cities , the unattainable frustration is undoubtedly stronger, and their pitiability is more and more highlighted.

"Don Quixote is happy because 'Boom Drummer' is coming out; Don Quixote is sad because the competition is too strong and too fierce."

When reading this tweet, William burst into laughter. This is definitely the true mood of every Don Quixote. Only true movie fans can appreciate the "happy troubles" hidden in it. William couldn't help but miss the year when Renly was just born. He and Hope and the others were always able to get in close contact with Renly. Every day was like a dream, and every time he thought about it, he was still immersed in it.

"William! Come on! The line is starting to form now."

The voice of Graham Hughes came from the living room, which made William in a trance for a moment, as if he had returned to his college days. They were always eager to go to support Renly, and time seemed to never flow.

"William!" Graham didn't get a response, and appeared directly at the door of the room, knocking on the wooden door heavily, expressing a strong urging, "Hurry up, hurry up! Slow down, maybe we will miss it, tell me You, if you miss this screening, I may not have the heart to work for the next month."

At this time, William came back to his senses. They all left the campus and became professionals. After all, things were different.

Graham is still based in Toronto, working for an independent publishing company. Last month, he took a leave of absence to participate in the premiere of "Super Marines", but this time it was not a leave, but a normal holiday - in order to cater for the awards season, their company had no holidays on Christmas and New Year's Day, so Bringing up the holiday also allowed Graham to return to Los Angeles, where he unexpectedly got a chance to be part of the screening of "Bloody Drummer."

"Didn't you already watch 'Breaking Drummer' in Toronto?" William recalled the tweet he had just seen, smiling brighter, stood up and walked towards Graham.

Graham shook his head very seriously, "A film festival is a film festival, and watching it in a movie theater during the screening period is another feeling. This is a movie worth watching again and again. You know I'm waiting for the movie to be comprehensive. How hard is the release? I had a dream about Andrew last week."

"Ha." William Pi smiled and made an expression without smiling, and then complained with disgust, "At least you can dream of Andrew, but I haven't seen this work, even if I want to dream, I can't dream. !"