Chapter 625

Generally speaking, the distribution modes of art films and commercial films are quite different. The reason is very simple. The audience groups and market potential of the two films are different, and the audience's expectations for the works are also different.

Imagine that blue Valentine's day, like Pirates of the Caribbean 4, will be shown in 4000 theaters in the first week, but the ordinary audience won't buy it at all; But the art audience refused to enter the commercial cinema to watch, the word of mouth could not spread, and the final result was a fiasco. The distribution expenses and dividends needed by 4000 cinemas are enough to make the distribution company suffer internal damage.

Art films always follow a certain distribution mode. First of all, in a small number of art theaters, we can check the reputation of critics and audience; Then, gradually expand the film, and further test the market reaction. If the response is not so good, then we should shrink as soon as possible, change the strategy, focus on the dissemination of minority groups, and operate in the way of award season. If the response is not bad, then we should further expand the film, and develop in the direction of fame and wealth. The public relations strategy of the college also needs to be adjusted accordingly.

Therefore, some works from the show to the next show, showing the cinema line has always been less than 500; Some works, it seems, were shown in more than 500 theaters last week and 2500 next week. The seemingly casual screening mode is actually strategic. The same is true of last year's "live burial.".

Don't underestimate the expansion process. There is a set of process and mode. It needs to have accurate judgment on the trend and trend of the whole market, and has strong adaptability to emergencies. The most important thing is to have strong foresight on the box office potential and market positioning of the works, which is also the embodiment of the ability of a distribution company.

Almost every year, there are several works, because of the wrong expansion strategy, the effect is not satisfactory, and finally quit the competition of the award season.

In Hollywood, Weinstein film, focus film and Fox Searchlight are undoubtedly the best among them, with a keen sense of smell; Comparatively speaking, Warner Bros., paramount classic and other independent distribution companies always make big and small mistakes, and the error of expansion is even more common, which is directly reflected in the nomination list of Oscar and Golden Globe Awards.

But now, "crazy love" has only been shown for a week. After the "Memoirs of geisha" landed at the Toronto Film Festival, it has received a lot of praise. Hollywood reporters, Hollywood weekly, vanity fair and other media are all vying for this work, believing that it is expected to compete for the best picture of the year, which also makes Sony Columbia film's confidence expand, Then a series of publicity was launched.

In December, the film was officially released in North America, with eight cinemas, creating an amazing achievement of 85000 US dollars for a single Museum, which was even comparable to "Brokeback Mountain" released in the same year, and aroused a lot of cheers. However, after the official screening, the comprehensive evaluation of the media has plummeted, with only 53 points. It's hard to say that it's outstanding. For the awards season, the competition is weak.

However, the awards season has never been that simple. The high comprehensive evaluation of the media does not mean winning the prize. The comprehensive evaluation of the media in the "Youth" scored 100 points, but lost to "Birdman" in the Oscar; In fact, Zhang Ziyi is very close to this goal. She has received a series of nominations from the sentinel of film critics, the Golden Globe Award for best actress in drama, and even the American actors union award, It is no exaggeration to say that she has only one last step to make history.

However, this is the last step, she fell on the threshold, was Kayla - Knightley with "Pride and Prejudice" the last moment to complete the counter attack, the latter was only 20 years old, received the first Oscar nomination of his career!

Later, when people review the whole process of the award season, they can see that the fatal mistake of Sony Columbia Pictures in its distribution strategy has become a turning point. After the excellent performance of the screening results, Sony decided to expand the next week from eight theaters to 52 theaters.

This move made "geisha memoirs" win 1.3 million at the weekend box office and 2.3 million at the cumulative box office with a single performance of 25000 US dollars, which is beyond our expectation. Then, Sony decided to go all out and skip the step-by-step expansion process. It went from 52 theaters to 1600 theaters.

However, the performance of "geisha memoirs" is a disaster. Although it made $6.7 million at the weekend box office in the single week of the expansion, the performance of the single library has dropped to 4300, which is really unsatisfactory; What's worse is that ordinary audiences are disappointed when they walk into the cinema full of curiosity, and it's even harder for art audiences to reach their expectations when they are full of expectations.

Instant burst, instant annihilation, like fireworks in general, burst out the last gorgeous and bright, and then quickly disappeared. After that, the box office of the film went from bad to worse, and the negative effects of media reviews and audience word-of-mouth began to affect the feedback of the industry, and then dragged down the follow-up college public relations, and it was difficult to open up the situation any more.

The final result is that the powerful and ferocious momentum gradually weakens, and the voice of Zhang Ziyi's movie queen is also getting lower and lower. Finally, the "Pride and Prejudice" completed the counterattack in the sprint stage, and was unable to create history.

If we say that the media reputation of "geisha memoirs" has more or less affected the expansion effect, but in the past ten years, the media comprehensive review and rotten tomato index have performed extremely well, and even the IMDB score and popcorn index have gained affirmation. However, the box office performance after the expansion is still unsatisfactory, which is not rare.

The running in of the art film and the broad film market is not completed simply by relying on a few figures. Otherwise, marketing will not become an enduring science.

Now, "aicrazy" seems to have embarked on a road of arrogance and recklessness, and is likely to follow the "Memoirs of geisha". However, the problem is that the "Memoirs of geisha" in those years has been very powerful for at least some time, but "aicrazy" has just risen, and the Toronto Film Festival has just ended, There is no time to spread the momentum; What's more, there are still four full months to go before the Oscars, so we can jump forward boldly in October. What's the matter?

Is there a better answer to that?

However, focus pictures is not Sony Columbia. Over the years, focus pictures has been able to compete with Weinstein pictures and Fox Searchlight. Their public relations department, distribution strategy and publicity plan are among the top. Focus film can also make mistakes, but such an obvious, such a stupid, such a low-level illusion? That's almost impossible.

The only explanation is that... The focus film industry's positioning of "crazy love" has changed. It's not the art film of the award season, but the commercial film of the award season, just like last year's "weakness", 2007's "Juno", 2006's "Sunshine beauty" and 2005's "Brokeback Mountain". The common points of these works are as follows:

The award season has a distinctive attribute, but it also has the affinity to the people attribute. Unlike the "blue Valentine's Day" or "bomb disposal unit", it has a distinctive artistic style, which keeps the ordinary audience away from thousands of miles. In the end, these works have made outstanding achievements at the box office in North America, often getting 60 million or even more box office figures, and breaking through 100 million is also common.

That seems to be the best explanation. At least, this answer is much more reliable than "brain water". But can "crazy love" really shoulder such expectations? In other words, can Langley hall really continue its box office appeal? In other words, does the focus film industry really have no misjudgment?

In the second week of October, "crazy love" was shown in 2337 theaters. At last, the answer sheet was handed in. The box office of a single theater was $8100, and that of a three-day weekend was $18.9 million. After adjusting the data, the exact number just exceeded the whole number, reaching $19 million!