Chapter 789： Cliff type word of mouth

Peter Rogier is an English teacher at St. Monica Middle School, but he has another identity, freelance critics. Peter was obsessed with movies since he was a child. When he was studying at the University of California, he tried to deliver some film review articles to several newspapers. Fortunately, he was accepted and published. After graduation, when he discovered this extra work, he could make him upscale in Santa Monica. When the community supported a good house, it persisted. After more than a decade, it became famous in the circle and published several film reviews.

Sunday is Easter, Peter intends to accompany his wife and children at home, but temporarily received a "Golden Reporter" about the "first-level fear" filming invitation, "level one fear" is a R-level crime thriller, not suitable After watching the family together, Peter drove alone to downtown Santa Monica after dinner.

Stop the car and walk into the multiplex cinema that is constantly watching. The time is near nine o'clock. It is just the moment when the next screening is about to begin. Join the crowds who queue up to buy tickets. Peter remembers the recent "Seven Deadly Sins" and " Media discussion of Tier 1 fear.

Peter received an invitation to preview the new line. He had seen the Seven Deadly Sins two weeks ago. Although he did not like the desperate theme of the film, he also had to admit David Finch. The interlocking narrative technique made people scream, and in the film review submitted to the Hollywood Reporter, Peter scored 8 points for the Seven Deadly Sins.

As for "First-Level Fear," this movie seems to have increased its propaganda in recent weeks, and even eagerly wants to compete with the "Seven Deadly Sins."

In this circle for a long time, Peter certainly knows how stupid, although many newspapers have appeared in the "First-Class Fear" overwhelming the "seven sins" film review, but these are basically second-third newspapers with low credibility, Most mainstream newspapers did not stand so rashly. However, since Paramount dared to play the slogan of "First-Class Fear" beyond the "Seven Deadly Sins", this film must not be worse, Peter still has some expectations.

The team that was buying the ticket slowly moved forward, and suddenly there was a slight commotion before the ticket window. Peter looked over. It turned out that two pairs of young men and women had disagreement on which movie to watch. Under the urging of the conductor, the four people finally Divided into two dials, respectively selected "seven sins" and "level one fear."

Peter didn't care too much about this episode, but he was envious of the exuberant energies of several young men and women. The temperature in Los Angeles in April was still a bit cold. These young people wore thin clothes and their skin was faint. Sunburn, Peter judged that several people should surf at Santa Monica Beach during the day, because he liked the sport very much during college, but he looked down at his beer belly, maybe he couldn’t even climb the surfboard. Alright.

Didn't entangle the youth that had passed away, Peter got the movie ticket, bought another popcorn, and walked toward the auditorium.

I found the position to sit down and habitually looked around. The attendance rate was about 40%. Peter also unexpectedly found that the men and women who had just had a dispute with their companions sat in a place separated from themselves, the girl. I noticed that Peter looked over and politely bowed his head.

Peter also bowed slightly and regained his gaze, but he heard the girl say to her boyfriend: "Zach is just a movie. We don't have to separate them from Vincent."

The young man named Zach: "Michelle, I said it during the day, I am not interested in religious movies, and the newspaper seems to say that this film is better than the "Seven Deadly Sins" that was promoted by propaganda. More."

Michelle seemed to scream and said, "How do you know that this movie is not advertised?"

"But its reputation should be stronger than the Seven Deadly Sins. It seems that there is a very good actor," Zach said, holding his girlfriend, slightly lowering his voice, and laughing: "Not good with them." Ah, at least no one will bother us... um..."

Michelle pushed Zach and smiled and said: "Go away, hate."

Peter listened to these conversations and felt a little uncomfortable. He was thinking about whether to change positions. The lights in the auditorium were darkened, and the men and women were quiet. Peter dismissed the idea.

After several episodes of the ad, there was a title for Paramount Pictures.

The film begins with a discussion about whether lawyers should uphold jurisprudence or pursue justice. Richard Keel’s lawyer, Martin Weir, insists that lawyers should try to win court battles for their clients, whether or not they are really guilty.

If this is a film below the PG-13 level, according to the correct thinking of Zhengzhi, this dialogue is likely to imply that the film is about Martin Weir's transformation from a merciless indifference lawyer to a justice guardian.

Of course, since this is a R-level crime thriller, the theme is hard to predict.

The story took place in Chicago, where a bishop was brutally killed and a suspect named Alan Staples was quickly captured.

Because of some emotional entanglements with the prosecution lawyer Janet Venable, Martin Weil decided to serve as the defender of Allen. In the communication with Allen, Martin Weir gradually discovered that the other party may be a person with multiple personality disorders. The patient then applied to the court for a mental assessment of Allen.

The plot progressed here, and Peter, who was sitting in the auditorium, looked down at the watch and found that the time had passed 45 minutes. In the forty-five minutes, except for Allen, the important plot of the mentally ill, the movie did not give There is too much useful information, and even in Peter's opinion, many details are superfluous. The director seems to be laying the groundwork, but what is specific, but it is confusing, but there is no doubt that these lengthy preparations Will only make the audience gradually lose their interest in watching movies.

Because of the disappointment of the film, Peter did not consciously start to go to God, the couple in the vicinity had been quiet, and he was somewhat surprised, so he looked at the past and found that the girl named Michelle fell asleep on the boy's shoulder.

Peter smiled. For most people, the slow pace of the film really makes people sleepy.

The plot of the movie continued. Although many signs on Allen proved his possibility of mental illness, the doctor Molly did not find conclusive evidence. Instead, Martin, he accidentally discovered a box of bishops who forced Allen to In front of his face as a videotape of love, this videotape immediately became the key evidence for Allen’s motive to kill the bishop. Martin’s angry geology asked why Allen concealed it from himself, and unexpectedly inspired another personality in Allen’s body. Roy.

Peter, who had already lost interest in the film, looked at the sinister and even stuttering Allen on the screen and suddenly became a fierce and fierce villain. He finally got up and there was a commotion in the cinema. Someone gave a slight praise.

Regrettably, the process of Allen's multiple personality disorder was not filmed. In order to prove his judgment, Martin made some means to inspire the other side of Allen at the court scene, and finally the court judged Ai. Lun’s illness, canceled Allen’s allegations and sent them to a mental hospital.

When the incident seemed to be over, the plot of the movie reappeared again. Martin and Allen met for the last time. They accidentally noticed the flaws in Allen’s words and found that Allen had no multiple personality splitting, all of this, It’s just the result of Allen’s subtle camouflage.

In the end, Martin looked out of the prison in confusion, and the stagnation of the scene in the square seemed to be a mockery of Martin's own argument at the beginning of the film.

As the subtitles rose, the audience in the auditorium began to get up and left, and Peter could hear some people’s comments.

"It's too boring, I wasted more than two hours for such a movie."

"I knew that I went to see "Seven Deadly Sins", at least in that movie, Diane Kruger can be eye-catching."

“Isn’t the newspaper saying that this movie is better than Seven Deadly Sins? If both movies are of this level, I would rather stay at home to watch TV on this Easter.”

"The guy named Edward Norton did a really good show, but it wasn't as good as the media."

"I almost fell asleep."

"..."

Peter waited for a while, stood up, and the couple on the left hand also got up and walked out, and could see the girl sleeplessly leaning against her boyfriend and blinking.

Walking down the crowd and leaving the cinema, Peter accidentally discovered that the four people he met had walked in front of him, as if they were going to the parking space not far away.

"This movie is really exciting. Kevin Spacey has used himself to complete the last two original sin punishments. Moreover, Diane Kruger is really beautiful, and he has been killed recently. Unfortunately, there is no head. close up……"

A tall and thin youth eagerly described the feeling of watching the Seven Deadly Sins. The girl holding his arm smiled and interrupted: "Hey, Vincent, the tone of your words is too much." ”

"Okay, baby," Vincent converted the topic and asked his companion: "How about "level one fear"?"

Zach did not answer, his girlfriend Michelle did not hide, smiled: "It is very stuffy, anyway, I am asleep, Zach, what do you think?"

Zach hesitated, saying: "At least, the guy named Edward Norton is very good at acting."

"Oh," Michelle consciously used Zach’s words as a hard mouth, and said to his companions: "Or, let’s go back to the Seven Deadly Sins tomorrow."

Vincent waved his arm and said: "Of course, you should really go and see, what is "level one fear", let it go to hell."

Time is already eleven o'clock. Peter has no intention of eavesdropping on the conversations of several young people and soon got into his car.

Driving on a slightly empty street in the middle of the night, Peter began to consider the film review of "First Fear."

He felt that he could only score 6.5 points for this film, of which 0.5 points was the performance bonus of Edward Norton. However, although Edward Norton’s performance was amazing, it was not enough to make up for the overall mediocrity of the film.

In order to pursue an Ou Henry-style unexpected ending, the director deliberately added a large amount of unnecessary details in the early stage of the film.

Although many of the comments in the media these days have been relished in the reversal of the film's ending, in Peter's view, this deliberate pursuit of flipping is the biggest failure of the film.

If the film abandons this flip from the beginning, then the director can tell a more compact horror suspense based on Allen's multiple personality disorder, rather than spending a lot of space on the final reversal.

Under these redundant cushions, until the film began more than 70 minutes, the film appeared a plot conflict that could make people feel refreshed, but 70 minutes was enough for 90% of the people to lose patience with the film. This can be seen from the girl who just called Michelle sleeping in the theater.

Conceiving a film review article, Peter also felt that the media’s manipulation of the "Fear of First Level" on this day seemed too obvious. Even Peter felt that Paramount might have raised his own feet this time. .

During the Easter season, the entire Hollywood film market, which can attract people's attention, is only the "Seven Deadly Sins" and "First-Class Fear". Due to the influence of the media in recent times, the popularity of the two films is very high.

However, after the large-scale release of the film, many people found that "level one fear" is far from being as good as the media commentary. At least, it is far from being comparable to the "seven sins" that are closely related to the plot.

The greater the expectation, the more disappointing it is.

The Internet has not yet been widely popularized, and it is difficult for ordinary people to express their opinions. However, after the large-scale release of the film, media comments are no longer manageable.

"A long plot of failure, Edward Norton's performance is wonderful, but it can't reverse the mediocrity of the film. I can't see this compared to the tight plot setting of "Seven Deadly Sins". Where is the highlight of the film?"

“The director indulged in creating an Ou Henry-style unexpected ending, but ignored the audience’s patience to wait for two hours, just for an ending that would not bring them any surprises.”

“It’s hard to imagine some people actually comparing this mediocre work with the Seven Deadly Sins. The Seven Deadly Sins is undoubtedly the most outstanding horror suspense film in recent years since The Silent Lamb, and the first-level fear "With the exception of Edward Norton's remarkable performance, it did not bring any surprises to the audience."

"..."

At the same time of the outbreak of media commentary, Firefly also stopped all the small movements of word-of-mouth manipulation in "First-Level Fear" and lost a lot of support from positive film reviews. "First-level fear" originally began to suppress the reputation of "Seven Deadly Sins". Sliding down. Even some media that were originally optimistic about Edward Norton’s performance, because of the hype of “First-Level Fear” before the film’s release, also caused a rebound, and the comments on the film were more demanding.

The two films were released simultaneously on April 5, and the first three days of the week, "Seven Deadly Sins" won the box office of the week with a box office of $13.9 million. Although "First-Level Fear" quickly fell, but with the topic of "seven sins", the first weekend still achieved more than 11.2 million US dollars at the box office.

Subsequently, in the full week, the "seven sins" box office reached a total of 18.4 million US dollars. Although the reputation of "First-Level Fear" began to collapse, "the first week's box office still reached more than 15.5 million US dollars. Compared with the scale of the screens of 600 screens on both sides, the average attendance rate of "First-Level Fear" is no worse than the "Seven Deadly Crimes". How many.

Paramount originally had some fears that the collapse of the word of mouth would affect the box office of "First Fear", but after seeing the first weekend of $11.2 million and the total box office data of the first week of $15.5 million, I immediately settled down. At least, the previous topic of speculation still played a very important role, Paramount originally expected the film's first week of the box office is only about 12 million.

Most film practitioners understand the truth. The marketing scale of a movie determines the starting point of its box office, but the reputation of a movie determines the length of the box office curve.

Although with the "Seven sins" joint propaganda, "First Fear" first week box office is not much worse than "Seven sins", but as the word-of-mouth of the two films began to differentiate rapidly, the subsequent box office curves of the two films also It started to be very different.

With a strong reputation, the "seven sins" week-to-box decline was only a very weak 9.7%, reaching $16.6 million. The collapse of the movie "First-Level Fear" has caused a 46% drop in the box office of the same type of thriller. Compared with the $16.6 million second-week box office of the Seven Deadly Sins, "First-Level Fear" only harvested. 8.37 million, only half of the "seven sins."

Time came to the third week, the "seven sins" box office decline is still only a magical 15%, the box office reached 14.11 million US dollars, and at this time, "first-level fear" weekly box office data has been far away, fans From anticipation to disappointment, the film attendance rate has once again dropped sharply. In the third week, only $4.77 million was harvested, which is almost a fraction of the Seven Deadly Sins. Edward Norton’s wonderful performance is also under the influence of the film’s reputation. There is not much left to be diluted.

In May, the box office of the fourth week of the Seven Deadly Sins has been maintained at 10 million, reaching $11.32 million. Although the box office decline of "First-Level Fear" began to shrink, the $31.9 million weekly box office also indicates that the film has entered the edge of the next painting.

In the four weeks of screening time, the "Seven Deadly Sins" accumulated box office reached 60.43 million US dollars, while the "first-level fear" total box office was only 31.83 million US dollars, which was able to break through the cost line.

With the current box office curve, "Seven Deadly Sins" is destined to survive the hot summer file, and it is not difficult for the box office to break through 100 million yuan. "First-level fear" can only stay in the theater for up to two weeks.

At this point, the two films are better and worse, and there is no suspense in winning or losing.

It is worth mentioning that in the course of the "Seven Deadly Sins" and "First-Level Fear", "Hong Fan District" silently persisted in the North American theater for six weeks, eventually accumulating a total of $43 million at the box office. Unfortunately, it failed. Nearly 50 million, however, the box office data is also very satisfied with the company. The new line has invested only 10 million US dollars before and after the film. The company will get more than 100% profit only by box office.

"Hong Fan District" also received a good evaluation in the media, Jack Cheng has got the title of one of the most cute action actors.

Subsequently, the new line also applied for the best fight scene nomination for Jack Cheng at the MTV Film Awards to be held in June. However, in view of the embarrassment in the release of "Seven Deadly Sins" and "First-Class Fear", Jack Cheng wants to get this award, and the success rate is almost no.

After all, MTV is the media of Viacom, and the two sides have just torn apart. How can others give you the trophy?

What, fairness, don't make trouble.