Hollywood Road

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A film made for popular tastes, a film with a strong personal style, which one is more likely to attract ordinary audiences? The answer to this question is obvious.

Since Friday, "X-Men 2" has ruled this weekend, easily cutting down nearly 26 million US dollars in one day, fully reflecting the advantages of the sequel of the hit movie and the super commercial production. In contrast, the ink Faye and Miramax’s "Sin City", facing the impact of the super-large production of the summer archive, fully exposed the shortcomings of insufficient audiences. The single-day box office is less than the fraction of "X-Men 2", only less than five. One million U.S. dollars.

After consuming a large number of fan audiences and black cult film lovers, "Sin City" somewhat lacks stamina.

Faced with the impact of "X-Men 2", the only thing that can comfort Murphy and Miramax is that the audience and professional reputation of "Sin City" is generally better than that of "X-Men 2."

In particular, the film critics, as in the past, generally hold a derogatory stance on a comic film that has been heavily invested and produced. The evaluation basically contains the words "vulgar and boring", and the attitude of singing praises when "Sin City" was released. Create a sharp contrast.

In general, although the word-of-mouth of "X-Men 2" is not as overwhelming as "Sin City", it is not bad in summer popcorn movies, especially fans and comics of "X-Men". Fans are generally more expensive, and word-of-mouth is very important for a film. In many cases, it may not be a key factor in determining the box office of a film. Otherwise, the top ten films in the North American box office chart will not be basically popcorn-type films each year. Occupy has long since become the world of Oscars or other award-winning films.

Word of mouth can't make up for the inherent defects of a film, such as the audience of the film, why are niche films called niche films? It does not come from a small investment. Its audience may increase due to the overwhelming reputation, but there will be no essential change.

The most typical example is Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", which only looks at the film's reputation and status in film history. How can it be loved by the audience and the box office has exploded.

But the actual situation is that when "Pulp Fiction" was released, North America only had a box office of over 50 million U.S. dollars. Two years ago, after Miramax was re-screened in theaters, the North American box office barely exceeded 100 million U.S. dollars.

This kind of noir film is Murphy's favorite genre. This can also be seen from the type of film he chose to produce after he came here. He once felt uncomfortable with "Pulp Fiction" and thought such an excellent film was just There should be an overwhelming box office. After he came here, he realized how unrealistic and stupid such an idea was. Who stipulated that a good movie must have a good box office? The laws of the film market will not be changed by personal will at all.

"Sin City" is undoubtedly the same. It has been praised by the media and criticized by film critics, and it cannot make this film a popular work.

Under the impact of "X-Men 2", the box office performance of "Sin City" has been tepid the next weekend.

On Saturday, "X-Men 2" consumed a large number of fans and audiences, and the box office dropped slightly. The gross report that day was close to 23 million U.S. dollars. "Sin City" was not much better and did not take the opportunity to rebound. The single-day box office also fell, earning $4.3 million from 2,850 theaters.

Although the box office for the three days of the weekend is still unavailable, such box office performance has increased the difficulty of "Sin City"'s final North American box office exceeding 100 million yuan.

The new week is coming. Last weekend’s box office statistics are released. There is no suspense about the box office champion. "X-Men 2" sits firmly at the top of the box office chart with 68 million US dollars. It will be released for two weeks. "City of the City" came in second with a box office of $13.4 million.

This result is down 65% from the first weekend!

However, counting the box office of the previous four working days, the North American box office of "Sin City" has reached 63.5 million US dollars, which not only crosses the total cost line of the film, but also refreshes Murphy's personal highest. North American box office records.

In the following week, the weekday box office of "Sin City" dropped to a million-dollar level, with only more than 4.4 million US dollars in four working days. On the new weekend, many more films were added to the summer vacation. In the case of file contention, the number of theaters inevitably cut a large portion, plummeting to 2,100.

Under this circumstance, the film’s weekend box office will inevitably drop again. The third weekend has fallen by more than 60% compared to the following weekend, and it has received less than $5 million in three days of the weekend.

The North American box office of "Sin City" accumulated USD 72.9 million, setting Murphy's North American box office record.

However, such a box office trend basically confirms that the North American box office of the film is unlikely to exceed the $100 million mark.

After all, it’s a summer file. In addition to "X-Men 2", there will be super masterpieces such as "The Matrix 2: Reloaded" and "Finding Nemo" in the future. The number of theaters and schedules of "Sin City" The rate will only be further compressed.

No matter how much work Miramax does, this inevitable law cannot be changed. Let alone other things, if the cinema is allowed to work between "The Matrix 2: Reloading" and a film with a limited audience. Choose, fools know who to choose.

In two weeks, Murphy also carried out routine publicity activities in some large and medium-sized cities in North America in accordance with the publicity plan formulated by Miramax. After "Sin City" received a good first week of box office in North America, The Disney label Bowei International, which is in charge of overseas distribution, also introduced the film into several major overseas markets. The main actors, led by Robert Downey Jr. and James Franco, also started an overseas promotion trip.

But Murphy didn't go, and the publicity was still based on actors.

Compared with North America, the overseas response of "Sin City" is much worse. Frank Miller's comics influence is mainly concentrated in North America. The number of overseas fans is limited, and the scale of the film is too large, and it has been rated in some countries and regions. Restricted level, these will significantly affect overseas box office performance.

The UK’s box office in the first week was only 2 million US dollars, France was a little better, but it was just over 2 million US dollars. Another major European film market, Germany, was worse. Perhaps the strong personal style does not fit the German aesthetic. , In the first week in Germany only a million dollars in early.

The overseas market that has already opened the best performance is Australia. The birthplace of large-scale plasma films is Australia. People here are more receptive to large-scale dramas, and unexpectedly broke out 4.8 million U.S. dollars in the first weekend.

Overall, the overseas screenings of "Sin City" were not outstanding.

When the North American box office of the film exceeded 75 million U.S. dollars, "Sin City" was already opened in 26 overseas markets, but it received more than 16 million U.S. dollars.

"The overseas box office is definitely not as good as the North American box office,"

By the pool in his backyard, Murphy sat under a parasol, a large black super concealing half of his face, "I'll be content with 50 million dollars."

He stretched his waist, "Bill, how much of my share has been paid?"

"Everything should be here." Bill Rossis said nonsense, and then said in detail, "Fox Searchlight has paid off all the dividends of "Saw Cry", and the dividend of "Planet of Horror" Miramax. Basically, the payment is in place, and the remainder of these two projects are long-term small-proportion dividends."

"Oh, yes." He added, "There are also mandatory divisions set by the union, but this is very small for you."

Murphy nodded. Although he quit the directors' union, he is still a member of the screenwriters' union.

With these shares in the account, plus the profits from investing in "Chain Saw 2", he can be said to be a veritable multimillionaire.

Where is the best place for this money? It must be to buy the movie rights of the superheroes in Marvel Comics, and finally let them fight together.

After the premiere of "X-Men 2", Murphy did not give up completely and continued to contact Marvel Comics. Unfortunately, the results were very unsatisfactory. Marvel Comics had an unusually determined attitude and seemed to have absorbed the influence of "Spider-Man" and "X-Men". A lesson, say nothing to sell the film rights of its famous heroes.

For those not-so-famous comics, if Murphy's price makes them tempted, you can consider cooperating with Stanton Studios.

For well-known heroes like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Black Widow, Marvel Comics also offered Murphy a price of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, which shows that they are determined not to sell.

Not to mention the value of this money, just such a large sum of money, Murphy has no place to collect it.

But Murphy didn't give up completely. He found a lot of information about superheroes to see if he could find the type that made him remember from the unknown ranks.

"Marvel Comics is very difficult. They have already got the investment. Now they are not short of money. It is said that they are also preparing their own superhero movie." Bill Rossis gently tapped the arm of the chair and reminded, "Surprise. The lack of distribution channels for comics!"

Hearing this, Murphy sighed. Her own movies have to rely on other companies for distribution. What can we do to impress Marvel Comics?

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that even if Surprise wants to sell itself, it will be like DC Comics, and will only be sold to large companies with broad distribution channels and complete industrial platforms.

What can an individual like him or a company like Stanton Studios bring to Marvel Comics?

"Murphy, Harvey and Frank Miller talked to me yesterday," Bill Rossis suddenly changed the subject, "I want to put "Sin City 2" into the preparatory stage as soon as possible."

"In such a hurry?" Murphy took off her sunglasses and asked, "What do you think?"

Bill Rossis said without hesitation, "I think it's best to get rid of it!"