Two Hundred and Eighty-Two Expansion Footsteps

Outstanding reputation, excellent single halls, concentrated focus, and continued popularity... "Buried Alive" has undoubtedly seized an excellent position, and everything is ready only due to the east wind.

What's more, next week's only new film "Chainsaw 3D" can be said to be the weakest competitor in the next two months.

This work is the seventh in the series. The box office results of the previous two sequels have been unsatisfactory, but because of the low investment cost and simple distribution strategy, Lionsgate has created it one by one. , but in fact, in terms of box office explosiveness, it can be said that the oil is exhausted. This time, relying entirely on 3D gimmicks, I hope to drive the box office.

This is undoubtedly the best opportunity for "Buried Alive". If you miss this window, you will face the next round of crushing by several powerful competitors. Just relying on the spread of word of mouth, the box office of "Buried Alive" is really difficult to create miracles, and the prospect is immediate. It dimmed.

But no one expected that Focus Pictures refused to expand on a large scale. In the fourth week of October, it only added ten theaters, from eleven to twenty-one, and it was still limited to two theaters in Los Angeles and New York. A city, for the second week in a row, a small-scale screening. Compared with the attention that "Buried Alive" received in the past week, the pace of such expansion is almost negligible.

The choice of Focus Pictures is really confusing, and it makes people wonder: Is it because Focus Pictures was not prepared enough and did not expect the huge response of "buried alive", so it missed the opportunity?

However, old fritters like Focus Pictures will not only conduct internal test screenings, collect information, and then formulate corresponding expansion plans; they will also make extensive preparations so that they can respond as soon as possible when unexpected situations occur.

So, this also means that Focus Films is proceeding step by step and following the plan for expansion?

If this is the case, then Focus Pictures is really scheming and strategizing!

Because, in the fourth week of October, the single-hall box office performance of "Buried Alive" not only did not decline due to the increase in venues, but instead increased counterattack, repeating the feat of "Blair the Witch" eleven years ago, and with fifty thousand The single-house data of $0,700 surpassed the single-house box office of "Smart: Ghost Recording" in the first week of last year, and ranked third on the single-house box office box office list of thriller horror movies!

In fact, this is not difficult to understand, can be summed up as: hunger marketing.

The more limited, the more out of print, the more precious and the more unavailable, the more eye-catching. After detonating a frenzy of praise in the first week, the word of mouth accumulated before Toronto and Telluride finally ushered in an explosion, and people's expectations for "Buried Alive" have skyrocketed, whether they like it or not, whether they agree or not, but people have Decided to go into the cinema and watch it in person, and it is up to you to judge whether it is good or bad.

and,

"Buried Alive" is not the kind of dull literary film that awards season. Although this film has received rave reviews, it is still a horror film. In other words, this is a popcorn film, which is attractive to ordinary audiences. rose further.

However, Focus Pictures went the opposite way, refusing to expand the screening on a large scale, and still limited the screening scope to Los Angeles and New York. The two cities have the strongest artistic atmosphere, the most high-end audience quality, and the highest artistic aesthetic ability. The outstanding city attracts a large number of senior movie fans to watch, and at the same time further spreads word-of-mouth.

The most intuitive manifestation is that the audience rating of IMDB has made a qualitative leap. The rating audience has directly exceeded 3,000 people. A total of more than 3,600 netizens voted, which is a full five times compared to last week. At the same time, the score has also dropped from 8.5 to 8.4. Although the average score has dropped, the drop is very slight. It is within an acceptable range, but it further proves that the fans of "Buried Alive" Quality is affirmed.

As we all know, on IMDB, senior users score a larger proportion, and Los Angeles and New York are undoubtedly two of the top gathering places for senior users. If the quality of "Buried Alive" is excellent, then the professional fans of these two cities More pertinent opinions will be given, and the film's reputation will be further confirmed; of course, if "Buried Alive" can't stand the test, these critical and harsh netizens will not hesitate to send it to hell.

This is the small abacus of Focus Pictures, but it can also be seen that they are absolutely confident in the quality of "buried alive".

As a result, "Buried Alive" ushered in a miraculous counterattack in the second week. Not only did the box office hit a new high in a single hall, but also the excellent reputation was further spread! This tightrope victory really made a name for "Buried Alive" and spread throughout North America.

Now, more and more people are comparing "buried alive" with "127 hours".

Although such a situation has been experienced in Toronto before, due to the congenital insufficiency of "Buried Alive", facing Danny Ball and James Franco's partner, and the quality of "127 Hours" itself has also won film critics The fanatical pursuit of the product, so this kind of talk is only lively and lively in Toronto, and after coming to North America, you can't find a market.

However, the situation is different now.

Although the professional film critic's comprehensive media evaluation is only 69 points, it is estimated that it is difficult to compete with "127 Hours", but for horror movies, this is already second only to "The Exorcist". The masterpieces such as "The Sixth Sense of Spirituality" and "The Shining" are even higher, which also means that the door to the awards season has slowly opened.

What's more, the audience's enthusiasm is on the rise, and under the desperate situation of the secret room, they only relied on a one-man show to perform an ups and downs of Acura. They don't think that "127 Hours" can be done better than "Buried Alive". Even better, and I don't think James can perform better than Renly.

"127 Hours" is about to land in the North American market next week, and it will be the first to show in four theaters, which is exciting.

Fox Searchlight realized that such a showdown could instead attract more attention to the movie, so the resources quietly began to tilt, and the confrontation between "Buried Alive" and "127 Hours" was hyped. Coupled with the start of Focus Pictures, the two films The movie has indeed become the focus of discussion, and it is unknown who will die.

New directors, new actors, new screenwriters, new teams, and even, before "Buried Alive" landed at the Toronto Film Festival, no one knew about the film. But now, "Buried Alive" has quietly entered the attention of the awards season, and has launched a showdown with "127 Hours". Such expansion steps are possible.

With a new high of US$50,700 for a single venue, "Buried Alive" achieved a weekend box office of US$1,060,000, making it into the top 15 of this week's North American weekend box office rankings, temporarily ranking No. 1 Twelve!

As one might expect, "Chainsaw 3D" was indeed weak at the box office, only earning 22 million over the weekend, narrowly beating "Smart: Ghost Story 2", whose box office plummeted 60% the following week, excerpted Down the fourth week of October the North American weekend box office crown.

Of course, compared to the cost of the movie 20 million, there should be no pressure on the cost of "Chainsaw 3D" to recover the cost, but if you want to make a profit, you need to work harder.

There is no doubt that among the top 30 of the box office list, the only "Buried Alive" that has made a counter-attack at the box office, once again took the most attention in the bag. This is definitely a fantastic victory for a work that is still in the screening stage. This also makes people have more expectations for the follow-up box office trend of the movie.

In the following week, Focus Pictures finally opened its screenings in other cities, and expanded screenings in a small area in Seattle, Chicago, and Houston. In addition to the previous Los Angeles and New York, the number of screening theaters reached 53.

However, this week's North American box office market is a scuffle. All three new works will be screened in more than 3,000 theaters. The creative team of DreamWorks' "Super Villain" and "The Hangover" teamed up with Robert Jr. - Downey's "Date of Birth" and "Rainbow Half the Sky" launched by Tyler-Perry, a famous black director specializing in spoof movies, are coming. The fierce competition is unimaginable.

What's more, in addition to this, the four art films including "127 Hours" will be screened in a small area. The craze of the awards season has finally kicked off, and the next awards season will only become more and more intensive. , the competition will only become more and more fierce, and it is definitely not an easy task to stand out in the dazzling awards season.

In this way, the position of "Buried Alive" is a bit embarrassing. In terms of awards season works, it is too commercialized, the connotation is not deeply excavated, and thriller genres are not welcomed by the Oscars; In terms of works, it is too niche. "A one-man show in a secret room space?" This sounds like a stage play style, and the market may not buy it.

In the face of competition, "127 Hours" perfectly digested the topic effect of the previous week. The point-screening of four theaters, with a single-house box office data of 66,000 US dollars, successfully converted the audience's attention into a substantial box office. The overtake of "buried alive" was easily completed; at the same time, the media word of mouth did not accidentally complete the crushing.

The media comprehensive review score is 82 points, the Rotten Tomatoes Fresh Index is 93%, and the mass media score is 8.3 points.

Not only is it ahead of "Buried Alive", it can be said to be an overwhelming advantage. In the face of the reputation of "127 Hours" sweeping thousands of troops, "Buried Alive" has no power to fight back.

So, what does this mean? Does it mean that "Buried Alive" can't compete with "127 Hours" in the competition of awards season? Does it mean that in the competition at the North American box office, "127 Hours" will also stand out?

The awards season is inconclusive for the time being, but in the confrontation at the box office, this is obviously not the case.

"Buried Alive" delivered surprising single-hall box office figures for the third week in a row. With the support of 53 theaters, it earned an average of $41,100 in single-hall results and reaped two hundred and one. $180,000 weekend box office! Blast strong!