As we all know, even in Hollywood, the market space for small-cost independent art films is not very large, and the difficulties of documentaries are even more difficult and difficult to attract attention.
The market is as cruel as a battlefield. If documentaries want to survive in theaters and be seen by more people, it is not easy to open up the documentary market.
At present, the box office record holder for the North American documentary film is "Fahrenheit 9/11". This documentary earned more than $119 million in box office in 2004.
It can be said that this documentary has somewhat improved the living environment of the documentary and increased the transaction volume and transaction price of the documentary market in the short term.
The second-ranked documentary is still the work of Michael Moore, a work about the shooting incident on the Columbine campus, with a box office of 21.57 million U.S. dollars, which is an overwhelming good result in the documentary.
There are very few other documentaries with a box office of over 10 million.
The future market for North American documentaries belongs to entertainment stars.
Starting with Michael Jackson’s "That’s It", singer-songwriter documentaries have become popular and have repeatedly achieved great results.
The current documentary is still a weak chicken in the movie market.
Besides, it is a film made by a Frenchman.
Embassy Pictures did not invest much in the promotion and distribution of "Emperor Penguin Diary". The advertisements were mainly placed on Discovery and Nature channels of some TV stations, and there were still some not-so-good times.
North American Dianying Kaihua has only four theaters.
For documentaries, the theaters actually don't have much confidence.
Perhaps it was the advertisements that played a role. Perhaps it was the posters and trailers that were hung in the movie theaters, which attracted a group of animal lovers. The attendance rates of the 4 theaters were not bad on the first day of screening.
North America has never lacked crazy animal lovers, let alone penguins.
The first weekend screenings ended, and the box office was unexpectedly good. The four theaters received 137,000 US dollars, and the average single theater exceeded 30,000 US dollars.
For Dian Ying, this can be said to be a success.
Entering the third week of screenings on the same weekend, "Chain Saw 2", the box office alone was less than 3,100 US dollars.
But thanks to the huge screening scale, this horror film received another 12.41 million US dollars in North America.
The North American box office of "Chain Saw 2" totaled US$86.48 million, and it is not a problem to exceed US$100 million.
The hot sale of the first part, coupled with the accumulation of outstanding achievements in the offline market, gave the second part of this series an explosive growth.
Only released in North America for three weeks, "Chainsaw 2" not only recovered all input, but also produced high profits.
In the overseas screenings that just started, the film also performed well. The first twelve overseas markets produced 17.89 million U.S. dollars in the first weekend, allowing the film's global box office to easily exceed 100 million U.S. dollars.
It is a bit surprising that some Arab countries, led by the United Arab Emirates, have also introduced "Chain Saw 2".
The Arab world does not reject this large-scale **** horror film.
At present, the main overseas film market in Hollywood, only South Korea refuses to release "Chain Saw 2".
The first one did not enter the Korean market.
These seemingly open film markets also have film reviews.
Due to the excellent box office of the first week, the number of theaters for "Emperor Penguin Diary" increased to 20 in the second week, and the attendance rate did not drop significantly, and the box office surged by 200% the following weekend, with a total of 410,000 US dollars. .
This documentary has already revealed a certain market potential. Although it has only been screened for two weeks, many theater companies have promised Embassy Pictures that they will continue to adjust and increase screens, and give them no less than 20 weeks. Show time.
For a documentary, this is already very rare.
France's Bonn-Piche Company directly called the Embassy Pictures to inquire about related promotion strategies.
Obviously, the producer did not expect that this documentary would have a certain market in North America.
You need to know that most French films basically only have one result in the North American film market-hit the street, hit the street, hit the street again!
Also this weekend, "Chain Saw 2" received another 7.98 million U.S. dollars in North America, plus the previous five working days, the North American box office officially crossed the 100 million U.S. dollar mark.
This series is running at a high speed in the direction of the film history.
Director Wen Ziren's reputation in Hollywood soared and became a hot horror film director.
Compared with other types of movies, horror movies have a higher chance of being small and big.
Many small production companies raise millions of dollars and often invest in four or five horror films. As long as one succeeds at the box office, they can often generate profits.
This is also the basic rule for survival of small Hollywood studios.
"Chain Saw 2" sold at the box office. As director Wen Ziren, his salary in the third part will naturally skyrocket. Even if Shahai Entertainment signs a long contract, it is impossible to violate the basic market conditions.
The most effective part of this long contract is to continue to maintain Wen Ziren's cooperation with Shahai Entertainment, and to prevent him from speaking out loudly.
Because Ronan completely delegated power, Wen Ziren held three positions in "Chain Saw 3", namely screenwriter, director and producer. The salary for these positions is packaged and the basic salary is 2 million US dollars.
Wen Ziren refused the basic salary when filming the first film. He only wanted the post-box office share, but Ronan refused. At that time, he did not have any capital to continue negotiations with Shahai Entertainment.
Newcomers open their mouths to get a 9% box office share. Isn’t that funny?
In the third film contract, Wen Ziren fulfilled his wish to take a share of the box office in the later stage. The three positions of screenwriter, director and producer have earned Wen Ziren a five percent share of the North American box office profit.
Shahai Entertainment will definitely fulfill the contract, and Wen Ziren is also worth the price.
It is not just Wen Ziren. The directors or actors of many films that have cooperated with Shahai Entertainment have either increased their pay by a large amount or participated in the later box office profit sharing.
This is the current market situation in Hollywood. On the one hand, the late-stage box office split can effectively reduce the initial investment, and on the other hand, it can inspire the creative enthusiasm of the creative staff.
The higher the market value of the film, the higher their income.
If you want a horse to run, it is impossible not to graze the horse.
Even the unreliable brother Bo, because "Death Haunted House" and "Dungeon Siege" succeeded successively, in the "Vampire Lane" project, they began to share 3% of the box office profit.
Wubao has never lacked creative enthusiasm, and the cooperation with Shahai Entertainment has been full of energy.
Near Thanksgiving, Uvi Bauer, who has been leading the crew to film "Dracula" in Bulgaria, ended all shots and returned to Los Angeles.
After came back, Uvi-Bauer came to his Bole Ronan for the first time to report.
Although I have been filming in Bulgaria for several months, Uvi-Bauer looks very good in spirit.
Ronan asked someone to bring coffee and asked, "Is the budget enough?"
“It’s only half the cost at the moment.” Uvi-Bauer touched the hairline that was getting higher and higher, and said: “I persuaded the Sofia City Hall in Bulgaria to provide tax refunds.”
Ronan knew about this, and it was because of this that Uvi-Bauer led the team to shoot in Bulgaria.
Uvi-Bauer continued: “When I arrived in Bulgaria, I continued to lobby the Sofia City Hall to make them feel that after the film was released, it could boost Sofia’s tourism industry, so they provided a lot of convenience for the crew to shoot. All shooting venues are free to the crew. Open, even let some municipal staff act as extras."
Ronan is not surprised: "This is the influence of your first two films."
The Bulgarian government is not stupid. If an unknown guy went to Sofia to film, would he provide such treatment?
"Yeah." Uvi-Bauer was quite emotional: "Famous directors and ordinary directors are completely two kinds of existence. Ronan, you know, I am in Bulgaria, one is the director of "Death Haunted House" and "Dungeon Siege" Uvi Bauer, the attitudes of those people have all changed."
Ronan nodded slowly: "Uvi, this shows that you succeeded."
Uvi-Bauer touched his head and smiled: "The main reason is the success of your operations."
I have been in Hollywood for a few years. Although Uvi-Bauer is a rough guy who can't be rougher, he has a certain degree of recognition.
"You are also capable." Ronan told the truth: "Not everyone can do the Bulgarian tax refund and the Sofia City Hall to pay for the crew."
Uvi-Bauer did my part: "That is, I went to his home and office to talk for a week in order to lobby a key person."
Ronan believes this is true, because Uvi Bauer really has this kind of perseverance, such as dealing with Blizzard and "World of Warcraft".
Even if it is filming in Bulgaria, Uvi-Bauer has to return to North America twice a month, not to invest in Ronan, nor to date a woman just go to Irvine to talk to Blizzard about life ideal.
This is a very persistent German man.
Ronan asked, "When will post-production start?"
"It's the Thanksgiving holiday." Uvi-Bauer thought about it, and said: "It's mainly editing. There are not many parts that require special effects. Post-production will be completed in February next year."
The investment scale of this film is placed here, where will there be any high-end special effects.
Uvi-Bauer has perseverance, but the filming is also in line with his character as a rough man. Before the filming of the crew, the heroine Christana Loken did not even perform basic movement training. It is said that in order to save money, Uvi-Bao Er did not hire an action director, he himself took the post of action director directly, and all the action scenes were completed under his guidance.
You can imagine what the action scene in "Vampire Lane" looks like.
The two chatted for a while, and Uvi-Bauer asked: "Ronan, the Blizzard game is "World of Warcraft", how are you playing?"
Ronan forgot about it a long time ago: "I haven't had time to play."
After throwing that account to the housekeeper Nikia, he didn't even ask.
Uvi-Bauer was somewhat disappointed, as if the treasure he shared had not been recognized by Ronan.