625 box office call
When Focus Features announced that "Crazy Love" would be released in 2,337 theaters the next week, almost everyone thought that Focus Features was crazy. No, to be precise, it could be removed. "Almost", but everyone thinks so. This is a big gamble, and it is an irrational gamble. Ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent of people think that this is a gamble that is bound to lose..
But, a 0.01% miracle happened.
Eight thousand one hundred dollars for a single museum, what does this mean? There is no need to recall distant memories. Just last week, "Iron Armor" just premiered in North America, with 3,340 theaters and a single box office of 7,900 US dollars. Although, "Crazy Love" The base of venues is relatively small, but it does not mean that the fewer venues, the higher the price of a single venue. After more than 1,500 theaters, the historical list of single venue box office is discussed together. This also means that "love" The box office of "Crazy" even exceeded that of "Iron Fist" in a single theater when it was released.”.
One investment is 250,000 yuan, and the other one is 110 million yuan..
Nineteen million dollars over a three-day weekend, what does this really mean? This not only means that "Crazy Love" has become the only three works this week to have a weekend box office of over 10 million, but also means that "Crazy Love" has become the North American weekend box office champion in the second week of October 2011! An art film, an independent art film that started at Sundance, and an art film on par with "Blue Valentine", it powerfully won the weekend box office championship! shocking.
It's the first win for an independent film in two years since "Juno".
No one expected it, or even dared to predict it. However, Focus Features did it. The leap-forward expansion of more than 2,300 theaters reaped incredible rewards. It exploded, and even defeated "Iron Armor" and successfully won the weekend box office championship. Even though this is the lonely autumn season, this is still an incredible feat..
So, why?？
Let’s analyze it carefully. The reason is very complex if it is said to be complicated, and it is very simple if it is said to be simple..
First of all, "Crazy Love" is not "Blue Valentine". This work has a stronger story, is more approachable, and is more suitable for the general public. The "New Yorker" even associated this work with "When Harry Met." "Sally", both works are works that go round and round, get together and leave, and finally interpret the true meaning of love. The difference is that one has a comedy ending and the other has a tragic ending - strictly speaking, "Love Crazy" is not a tragedy. .But this does give "Crazy Love" a certain mass base..
Secondly, "Crazy Love" is a pure love story, not as cruel as "Blue Valentine", but realistic enough. This reminds people of "Brokeback Mountain". The two movies are completely different. But they all tell a realistic and true love story. Accurate publicity and positioning can always awaken the true emotions deep in the audience's hearts. This is the guarantee of box office.
Again, the combination of Jennifer Lawrence and Renly Hall. Although the heroine is Felicity Jones, there is no doubt that the topical effect of Jennifer and Renly attracted countless eyes; and after entering the cinema, Felicity The strong chemical reaction between Ti and Renly successfully conquered the audience again, their reputation soared, and they truly won the audience's recognition..
Finally, Renly Hall.
It's too early to say this, but no one can deny that the additional effect brought by the name "Renly-Hall" is indeed changing the audience's expectations for movies. Starting from last year's Emmy Awards, about Renly The words have been buzzing for a whole year. Every time when people are almost forgotten, this name will always appear again in a new way, leaving a deep impression step by step..
But what’s interesting is that “Buried Alive” was released before it had time to spread; “Fighting Cancer” has been in post-production and has not yet been finalized; “Crazy” was a hit at Sundance and Toronto They are making trouble, but they still hold the pipa half-hidden. In other words, people have been curious, but have never seen Renly's works. Some complain, some despise, disdain, look forward to, and are curious about. , there is also excitement. Invisibly, the expectations continue to rise..
Then, "Fast and Furious 5" appeared. The expectation value evolved into the satisfaction value, further promoting the germination and gestation of curiosity, and finally, evolved into an appeal. Although, this is only the most elementary appeal, because of curiosity The impulse generated cools down as time passes, and the expectation disappears as soon as it subsides; but on a solid basis, "Renly Hall" does have some appeal..
Focus Features saw the opportunity, seized it, and successfully converted. Complex? Simple? Still seasoned？
The fact is that "Crazy Love" expanded its screenings the following week, and the effect was amazing. With a weekend box office of 19 million US dollars, it won the weekend box office championship this week..
Such a result is comparable to the premiere result of "The Notebook". This work was released in the fourth week of June in 2004. It made 13 million in its opening weekend, ranking only fourth in the weekend..
Although film critics were not enthusiastic about "The Notebook", ordinary audiences liked it very much. This also made the movie go out of the divine curve. Except for the drop of more than 40% the next week, the drop has always been controlled at 100% since then. Under 40, which has been below 30% for four consecutive weeks. The box office accumulation rate is staggering. In the end, the total North American box office reached an outstanding 81 million US dollars..
The peak of romantic drama movies was in the 1980s and 1990s. There are countless classic masterpieces, such as "The Last Days", "Sweetheart", "The Bodyguard", "Titanic", "The Bridge", "Angel" "City", "The English Patient", "Dirty Dancing", "Grease", etc. These works have been both critical and box-office hits, and have always been one of the most popular genre films..
But after entering the new century, romantic comedies began to gain the upper hand, while romantic dramas gradually declined. After entering the new century, only one romantic drama film has exceeded the 100 million box office threshold in North America, "Pearl Harbor", and this film also It is not a love movie in the strict sense, but more like an epic, disaster, and war movie connected by love like "Titanic" and "The English Patient".
Apart from "Pearl Harbor", the box office performer with the best performance is "Cold Mountain", with 95 million. This work has a similar theme to "The English Patient", it is still the shell of love and the core of war..
But even for "Pearl Harbor" and "Cold Mountain", the box office results of both works were not ideal compared to their high investment, especially "Pearl Harbor", which is known as Michael Bay's best movie since he started his career. The biggest failure. After that, Michael was on the road of "selling copies" and never returned..
“"The Notebook" and "Brokeback Mountain" are the most outstanding romantic drama movies after the millennium. Unfortunately, the North American box office of both works failed to exceed 100 million. This shows that the overall decline of romantic drama movies is golden. Era will eventually be lost in the long river of time.
Now, "Crazy Love" has appeared, and it can even be said to have come out of nowhere. The box office performance during its opening weekend was exceptionally good. Although it cannot be compared with the last box office bomb "Titanic" in the late 1990s, it still easily broke The data for the same period of "The Notebook" once again allowed people to see the recovery momentum of romantic drama movies..
Faced with the insane box office results of "Crazy Love", all other works this week were defeated..
“The week after the release of "Iron Fist", the box office during the opening weekend was not ideal. It dropped 40% the following week. It finally did not collapse completely. After earning 16 million US dollars, it ranked second in two weeks. The cumulative box office reached 51 million, exceeding the book cost line is destined to become a luxury.
Ranked third is a remake of a movie, "Full of Energy". The original film was released in 1984, starring Kevin Bacon (Kevin-Ba), and was well received and became a classic youth movie. But the remake in 2011 The 2016 version failed to regain its glory. It only made 15 million US dollars in its opening weekend. It was not a success, but it was not a disappointment either. After all, the production cost was only 24 million, and all the leading actors were newcomers..
Also occupying fourth place is a remake of the movie, "The Thing". The original film was released in 1982 and was directed by horror master John-Carpenter. The version shot this time is not a remake, but a remake. It is the previous film. Universal Pictures spent 38 million to create it. Unfortunately, the finished product was not satisfactory. It only earned 8 million US dollars over the weekend. The final result is likely to be that even the book cost cannot be balanced..
Whether it is the old works blessed by superstars or the new ones that are coming fiercely, in the cold and lonely autumn season, they are all dead and lifeless, but we can only watch the "dark horse" that emerged from the sky and shined on the list. "I'm crazy about love." I climbed to the top unexpectedly, which attracted the attention of some onlookers. I was surprised that there could be some ripples in the dead silence of autumn..
Last year it was "Buried Alive" and this year it was "Crazy Love". Maybe, Renly and the autumn season are indeed destined. However, I don't know if this year's "Crazy Love" can replicate the route of last year's "Buried Alive" and once again give Renly an award. Winning a spot in the middle of the season is hard, even harder.
No matter what, the premiere box office of "Crazy Love" is still surprising. At the Sundance Film Festival, Focus Features bought the distribution rights of the film for US$5.5 million. Many people I still wonder in my heart, is this a loss-making business? But now, in just two weeks, Focus Features will not be able to recoup its capital, but it is also making a profit! More importantly, the door to awards season is also knocking. No matter from which point of view, this is an amazing deal..
However, a very small number of people know that Weinstein Films was once extremely close to the distribution rights of "Crazy Love", but unfortunately missed it. Now, they are watching "Crazy Love" explode into such amazing box office results. , I wonder what the two Weinstein brothers feel in their hearts..
If you think about it carefully, these two brothers have been in Hollywood for more than ten years and have seen countless storms. "Crazy Love" is simply insignificant and not even enough to fill their teeth. They will definitely not care. However, there are rumors in the industry that Harvey While playing golf, I lost three golf balls in a row, and then broke two poles. As for whether there is a connection between the two things, it is a matter of opinion..
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