1593 market potential
There are 45 screening venues, and the cumulative box office in the four weeks of screening exceeded 10 million.
“"Ballad of a Drunken Country" created a miracle, a miracle belonging to independent films. In just four weeks, it was still in the screening period, but it completely changed the sluggishness and silence of independent art films in the box office market..
Everyone knows that the box office of art films will not be comparable to that of commercial films. This is inevitable. "High quality and understatement" is the law in the art field. However, just like people underestimate the market potential of the autumn season, Hollywood's attitude towards the art market is also inevitable. Capacity cannot be accurately judged.
It can be understood that with the development and maturity of the commercial film industry chain, in the past thirty years, movies have gradually become a norm in the North American market, and can even be said to be a part of life. Watching movies has become a normal thing. It also means that the audience’s aesthetic taste is improving.
This is true for commercial popcorn, those simple and cliche routines can no longer meet the needs of the audience, they need more fresh or exciting things to open their eyes; the same is true for artistic works, audiences who are willing to watch and can appreciate these works The group is growing and so is the level of appreciation.
The most intuitive portrayal is the awards season economy surrounding the Oscars. Since December, the number of audiences willing to go to the cinema for award season works has been increasing, and major hotels and bars have even launched "Oscar packages" to allow The audience can participate in the awards season immersively; of course, the box office data of the Oscar-winning works can generally increase by about 30%, or even directly double, which is also more direct data.
Thanks to the existence and spread of the Internet, more and more obscure works of art are getting a lot of love. Even if the box office of theaters cannot be saved, the revenue from the video rental market and online streaming media on demand is rising..
In fact, such changes have always existed objectively, but Hollywood industry insiders have always turned a blind eye. Or to be more accurate, the growth momentum is far from reaching the level they expected..
Since "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, independent art films have always occupied a place in the market, but the moment they really entered the public eye was in 2006, when "Little Miss Sunshine", which cost only 8 million to produce, chose the summer release Screening - Fox Searchlight, who was responsible for the distribution at that time, did not expect the subsequent development curve of this work at all, which shocked the entire North America..
After the movie was released, it was well received and went on a counterattack. From its release in the last week of July to March of the following year, the strong market response ability astonished even the experienced Fox Searchlight. In the end, the film earned over 5,000 copies in North America. 9 million box office, and won two Oscars for Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars that year, as well as two nominations for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress. It can be said that it was the best in the entire awards season. The biggest dark horse.
Then in 2007, Fox Searchlight released an independent and fresh work with a production cost of US$7.5 million. They chose to release it in early December and did not place too many high hopes on it because of the subject matter of the entire work and the The themes were too "light" and not substantial enough to stand firm in the awards season, but I didn't expect that this work would once again explode..
First, it swept the box office of 143 million in North America, and then won four Oscar nominations that year for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay, and finally won the Best Original Screenplay..
This work is "Juno"”.
You know, in 2006 and 2007, there were still only five Oscar nominations for Best Picture. Everyone was fighting for the five seats. Even the Weinstein Films had to do everything possible to win a place. , but I didn’t expect that Fox Searchlight would easily enter the game for two consecutive years..
More importantly, the two works "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Juno" were also very popular in the box office market at the same time. Their excellent performance made other works in the same year jealous..
2008"Slumdog Millionaire" in 2009, "District 9" and "Up in the Clouds" in 2009, "Black Swan" and "The City" in 2010, and "The Help" in 2011”……
Since then, such works have emerged almost every year, with excellent reputation, excellent box office and excellent awards season prospects. Independent films are expanding their influence year by year, proving that works of art can also be Win your own place in the box office market.
But Hollywood never paid attention—at least not enough..
reason？
The success rate of artistic works in the box office market is too low, and publicity is too difficult, and the ratio of effort and return is unsatisfactory; the growth rate of the mass base of artistic works is too slow, far from being comparable to the expansion speed of commercial films, especially When the commercial series of movies headed by Marvel are exploding in the market, the improvement of artistic works is even more eclipsed..
2018In 2016, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences proposed that they establish a Best Popular Film Award to specifically honor commercial films with outstanding artistic achievements. This move was criticized by the entire industry, and people complained, "This is a trend that is heading towards teen choice awards closer.”
Objectively speaking, movies such as "Avatar", "Titanic" and "The Dark Knight" that have achieved great commercial success have still received unanimous praise from everyone and have also won their own place at the Oscars. This also means that the Academy has always paid attention to commercial films, but now it has added a "Best Popular Film Award" in an extra step. It is obvious that it hopes to create a popular topic and attract the attention of teenagers. The ridicule of the "Teen Choice Award" It's also appropriate.
Of course, the background behind the college’s choice to make such a decision still needs to be understood.：
With the interest in online streaming media, the number of viewers of TV stations has dropped rapidly. Even the ratings of rugby, the number one sport in North America, have inevitably declined. Among the top 50 total ratings in North America for the whole year, rugby The event can occupy more than thirty-five or even forty seats - not to mention the awards ceremony? Grammys, Emmys, Oscars, Golden Globes, all major award shows have seen ratings decline across the board.
In order to increase the ratings and influence of the Oscars, the Academy chose to establish the "Best Popular Film Award"”.
But the most ironic thing is that shortly after the Academy announced its decision, the ratings and viewership of the Teen Choice Awards collapsed, setting a record low, even for "Star Wars", "Avengers 3", "Jurassic Park 2", etc. All the main creative staff of a series of super commercial blockbusters were present, but they still could not save the collapse of ratings..
Someone immediately stood up and ridiculed, "Even the original Teen Choice Awards collapsed, so what should we do with the Oscars after copying and pasting them?？”
Soon after, the Academy officially announced that due to various considerations, the plan to establish a "Best Popular Film Award" was temporarily shelved..
In other words, even in 2018, the Academy is still struggling with the influence and return on profits of the Oscars, let alone the current year of 2013.？
It's not that the Academy doesn't pay attention to the box office of independent art films, but because the return rate of independent art films is too low. On average, only one "Juno" or "The Help" appears every year, which is a drop in the bucket and really cannot attract them to spend more. More energy. In the final analysis, even the Oscars, which are in the name of art, have to put profits first.
Not long ago, "Gravity" broke the fixed prejudice of the North American market towards the autumn season..
Now, "Drunk Country Folk" has broken the North American market's inertia of awards season works..
So far, the box office data of "The Ballad of Drunkenness" is only 10 million US dollars. It seems that there is no need to make such a fuss, but this work is different from "Juno" and "Little Miss Sunshine".
“"Little Miss Sunshine" had a box office of US$53,000 per theater in its first week of screening, which is not a surprise. It was expanded to 700 theaters in the fourth week, and the cumulative box office in the first three weeks was US$5.6 million..
“"Juno" had a box office of US$59,000 per theater in its first week, which also did not create a miracle. In the third week, the number of theaters expanded reached 300, and in the fourth week, it directly entered the stage of large-scale screening in 1,000 theaters. The cumulative box office in the first three weeks was US$6.4 million.
In other words, the box office curves of "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Juno" are similar. They relied on the accumulation of word-of-mouth in the early stage and intensive publicity in the later period, which then detonated the box office. The subsequent curves became stronger and stronger, especially for "Juno" ", the box office decline has been controlled within 30% for fourteen consecutive weeks, and it also made a strong counterattack on Christmas and New Year's Day, fully utilizing the momentum of the awards season craze..
To put it simply, this is the curve that all art films look forward to during the awards season, and major distribution companies also make layout arrangements based on such expectations. This is a cliché and there is nothing new about it. The rise of "No" comes more from the work itself, that is to say, the pattern has been figured out. All other works are copying such a curve, but it is difficult to create glory again, so it is impossible to make waves again..
Now "Drunken Country Folk" has gone through a unique box office curve: in the first four weeks, the number of screening theaters has always been controlled at less than 50, but it has gone out of an incredible curve, and the cumulative box office in the four weeks has exceeded 10 million. , and the single-venue box office data has repeatedly broken historical records. Such achievements have never occurred in the entire North American market..
Just like "Gravity" is to the autumn season, this is a feat that breaks the rules and patterns. So, is this a coincidence or a necessity? If it is inevitable, can it change the current situation of art films in the box office market? What is its research value and reference value?？
This is the real creation of history！
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