Chapter 1608

The first week of 2014.

There are 155 selected cinemas, with a single box office of US $50000 and a weekend box office of US $7.75 million, ranking ninth in the North American weekend box office list, with a cumulative box office of US $20 million in five weeks.

This is the report card of "drunken folk song"!

Even if there is a lot of attention, even if the expectations are raised, even if there is a premonition, after the actual results are hot, there is still a cry of surprise: Sony classic planned the "dream back to the kerosene lamp bar" concert, and it really succeeded!

Entering the fifth week of screening, the box office data of "drunken folk songs" still maintain amazing vitality, especially in the case of creating miracles repeatedly before, so the single performance becomes more and more amazing, showing once again the continuous rising ability of this work in terms of topic heat and attention expectation“ The combination of "Cohen brothers + Langley" is undoubtedly the biggest contributor to the movie market; At the same time, it really shows people the market potential of art films——

Because the film is still in the screening stage, which also means that the general public has not entered the cinema for the first time. Now the main audience is still senior fans, or professional or fanatical or interested fans, who have the ability to appreciate art films and yearn for the charm of art films.

All along, the North American market has always recognized that this group of so-called "senior fans" is a minority group. It is not compared with the general public of commercial popcorn, but with the box office data of the art film market. The box office figures are always unsatisfactory, so that the entire independent film production market revolves around the award season, and the development of other art film industries is becoming more and more sluggish.

Awards season works, always with the label of Oscar; Many works of art, however, do not necessarily conform to the aesthetic standards of Oscar.

David finch is a typical victim of such a system. When he was interviewed at the triliuride Film Festival, when the reporter asked about the new film plan, David expressed his regret, "now Hollywood is surrounded by two kinds of tights, one is the summer superhero tights, the other is the winter little golden man tights, in addition to that, There's almost no room for other movies, and I'm just the other kind. "

Throughout David's career as a director, what he is good at is medium cost works, not small cost or high cost, but medium cost which needs a certain degree of investment, just stuck in a position of no higher or lower; At the same time, the image composition and sharp and compact editing style can often give the film wonderful author temperament, from "seven sins" to "fight club" to "Twelve palaces", from "Benjamin Barton wonder" to "social network" to "dragon tattooed girl", all of which are the same.

In short, David is not the style that the Oscar Department likes, but his works have undoubted strong charm.

The "social network" in 2010 is almost the pinnacle of his career. He found a delicate balance between his personal style and his college preference. The whole award season showed his domineering spirit, but he lost to the "King's speech" inexplicably. Even the best director lost to the mediocre Tom hob.

Hollywood industry has always believed that Tom Hooper is the most "water" Oscar Best Director in the past 20 years, and even extending the time period to the whole Oscar history is not controversial.

On the one hand, it is true that Tom Hooper has no style to speak of. In the "King's speech", you can see the script, the actors and the director, but you can't see the director all the time. The trace of the director is almost completely submerged in the film, which makes the film and TV film have little difference.

On the other hand, they are also arguing for David finch. Even "Brokeback Mountain" lost to "crash", at least Ang Lee still got the best director, while David finch lost to Tom hob in the best director award, which is really very sad. It also proves once again that David and the academic style are out of place.

In 2014, after David shot "the lost lover", he almost drifted away from the film industry - because he couldn't find investment in the projects he wanted to shoot. Yes, the famous David finch could not find the money for the film. In 2018, however, there was still no new film project online. He just shot a TV play "soul Hunter", which was highly praised, but it was a TV play rather than a movie.

Even David finch is in such a dilemma, let alone other directors?

As David said, Hollywood movies have been surrounded by two kinds of tights, and there is little room left for other movies.

It must be admitted that this is the problem of the whole industry. From the academy to the film company to the market feedback, a vicious circle system has formed in all aspects, which leads to the final result step by step. However, if the potential of the art film market is far beyond imagination, but the distribution company has not been able to tap it?

The emergence of "drunken folk songs" raises such questions.

Some people are bound to say that "drunken folk" is a typical work of the award season, which is still a change of soup, its box office performance has no reference value for other works of art, and it will not improve the situation of David finch; But the truth is, it's not a work that the Academy likes.

First of all, this is not a real biography, but a story based on the experience of real people.

Secondly, it's not an inspirational story or a story that reflects social problems. Strictly speaking, the Cohen brothers just present a state, which has no appeal to the College - the difference between Los Angeles and New York is the best evidence.

Thirdly, this is a small pattern work. All the weight of the story falls on Levine Davis. Even the end of the story has not been sublimated or refined. The Cohen brothers' sharp irony of social reality with black humor has become mild, lacking some weight.

Finally, it's a musical movie. The Golden Globe awards set up the category of comedy music film, but the era of song and dance film has long been left in the past. The last Oscar nominated music film was "Chicago" in 2000 and "Moulin Rouge" in 2001, which was the final glory; The next Oscar nominated musical film is the city of love in 2016, but it's about Hollywood's own story——

As we all know, the college is the most narcissistic group of old scholars. They always love movies that reflect Hollywood. This is true of "artists" and "city of love".

Considering comprehensively, "drunken folk songs" are the most easily overlooked works in the award season, and even the blessing of the Cohen brothers can hardly turn the situation around.

In the last century, "drunken ballad" won the nominations for best musical comedy film, best musical comedy actor and best original song above the Golden Globe Award, won the nominations for best original script, best photography and best sound effect above the British Academy Award, and only received the nominations for best photography and best sound effect above the Oscar——

Step by step down the slope.

As a matter of fact, "drunken Ballads" are the top ten films of 2013 in magazines such as "film review", "voice of the village", "New York Times" and "empire"; Besides, it also ranks in the top ten among the major authoritative professional magazines in Europe, including the "film manual" of France, but its Oscar prospects are still deplorable.

In essence, this is not the type of award season. It is more like the type of frustrated artists who are immersed in their own art and dreams. Just like the difference between Dave van Loong and Bob Dylan, New York, Paris and London are crazy about it. They can't put it down and are infatuated with it, but it's not Los Angeles.

The same is true in this life.

When the "drunken ballad" won a round of applause in Cannes, the industry was generally not optimistic about the prospect of the award season of this work, and the Cohen brothers admitted that they did not shoot for the award season. At the beginning, they also encountered difficulties in looking for investment funds, just like David Finch.

Sony classic has always been cautious in planning the expansion of "drunken folk songs", and even a little too restrained. The side also proves the view that if they want to push "drunken folk songs" into the vision of the award season, they need to plan more carefully and comprehensively.

As a result, the box office curve of "drunken folk songs" has created such an excellent performance, which can trigger so many discussions.

If the market potential of art films is far beyond imagination, and those senior fans are still willing to go to the cinema to support these works of art, then the box office data and the subsequent video rental market are more worth looking forward to, which also means that it will be easier to recover costs and even realize profits, and major film companies will be more willing to invest in those works of art.

Even if not for the award season, but also to be able to expand their market share.

Then, directors like David Finch, David Lynch and the Cohen brothers, who hope to make distinctive works, will be able to find more living soil.

By the way, this is the difference between European films and American films.

European films are still willing to set up a variety of sponsorship funds to support this kind of art films. After landing in theaters, art films can always find their own audience and realize profits. Therefore, different styles and types of art films can be seen in France, Italy, Germany and Northern Europe all the year round.

American films are market-oriented. The summer season and award season have accounted for more than 90% of the market, and even more. This makes other films have little room for survival, and the development of the film industry has gradually fallen into a dead end. Only then can Disney become more and more dominant.

Now, first, gravity breaks the shackles of autumn; Then there are "drunken folk songs" to break the shackles of the award season. How can people in the industry not pay attention to them?