The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 1119: Attack from all sides
Everyone says that the fall season is the slow season, and the movie market in September and October is sluggish. This is true and a truth recognized by Hollywood.

However, cinemas are open all year round, and even in the lowest period of the year, you can still see a variety of film genres in cinemas in autumn.

What's more, don't forget that Halloween is coming in the last week of October, which also means that the carnival of horror movies and the party of holiday movies are about to come. Therefore, the downturn in the autumn season is often limited to September, and in October, the cinemas may become lively again.

This year, that's it.

In the second week of October, "Kill Bill", Quentin Tarantino's first work after six years of idleness, was released.

In the third week of October, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was remade from the classic horror movie of 1974; and, it was the first time that Jessica Biel played the leading female role. Because of Chris Evans, Anson personally attended the premiere to cheer for Jessica, which caused quite a stir.

In the fourth week of October, "Scary Movies 3", a spoof movie, was released. The fact that the series was able to be filmed to the third part proves its extremely high popularity.

Gather together!

A large group of people gathered together! It was very lively!
Although all of them are thriller/horror movies with small and medium-sized investments, the competition is even more intense precisely because of the high degree of homogeneity in scale, type and subject matter.

After all, there is only a small piece of the horror movie market, and with the same type of movies now booming, perhaps the final outcome will be mutual destruction.

There is a little good news. There are no noteworthy premieres in the first week of November, which is Halloween weekend. New Line Cinema also avoided it and abandoned the plan of debuting "The Butterfly Effect" this week.

reason?

First, on Halloween weekend, young people are all out partying, and families are abandoning movie theaters because their children are trick-or-treating.

Second, the weekend after Halloween, there are sharks.

In the second week of November, "The Matrix 3", the final chapter of the series, will be released. This summer, the release of "The Matrix 2" has already raised expectations to the maximum. Then, at the end of the year, the series finale finally arrives. It is easy to guess that fanatical fans will vent all their enthusiasm to welcome the arrival of the third part of the series.

No one wants to encounter such a monster.

To be precise, this is a series of works in the current film market that can be compared with "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings", and its influence is even more far-reaching.

However, there is one exception -

“Elf” is a New Line Cinema release.

Edgar spread his hands: I've already told you, New Line Cinema is unreliable.

"Elf", with an investment of 33 million US dollars, is considered a small-to-medium-budget production, led by "Jason Bolton" member Will Ferrell and directed by actor-turned-actor Jon Favreau, who later directed "The Avengers".

From the perspective of New Line Cinema's market distribution, "The Matrix 3" is a science fiction movie, and "Elf" is aimed at the Christmas market, and the two have nothing to do with each other; therefore, deliberately choosing such a schedule may be able to take advantage of the popularity of the other and draw attention to "Elf" when more audiences enter the cinema.

I don’t know whether this release strategy is smart or stupid.

Therefore, "Elf" deliberately avoided the first week of November and chose to collide head-on with "The Matrix 3". This arrangement made people shout-

can't read!
To be precise, the first week of November is the only breathing space between this year's fall season and the holiday season. After the shining debut of "The Matrix 3", the fierce competition slowly begins.

In the third week of November, "Master and Commander" was released. This movie is starred by Russell Crowe, who has become very popular in the past two years. After reaching a new peak in his career with "A Beautiful Mind" and "Gladiator", Russell is ready to take a step further and build his reputation like Tom Hanks. "Master and Commander" is a solid step for him. This work cost 150 million US dollars and was directed by Peter Weir, whose most famous works are "Dead Poets Society" and "The Truman Show". This is also the third time that Russell has cooperated with an Oscar-level director after Ron Howard and Ridley Scott.

A big deal, undoubtedly a big deal.

In the fourth week of November, "The Cat in the Hat", with a production cost of 109 million U.S. dollars, was released with full confidence, targeting the Thanksgiving market.

In the fifth week of November, "House of the Damned", a film targeting the Halloween market, was released during the Thanksgiving period, avoiding the densely populated area of ​​horror movies. The distribution strategy should have been carefully considered, and the production cost of up to 90 million US dollars made it stand out among the usually low-cost horror movies.

In the first week of December, "The Last Samurai", a film that cost 140 million US dollars, is undoubtedly the biggest focus after the summer season this year, because the leading actor is the one and only Tom Cruise.

Not only is it targeting the box office market, it is also the focus of this year's awards season and is hailed as this year's "Gladiator."

And then?
"Lord of the Rings 3" is ready.

One blockbuster after another, big productions with a budget of around $100 million are creating a lively scene that is recreating the grand occasion of the summer season during the holiday season.

reason?

It's all Anson's fault.

Last year, Warner Bros. strategically shifted its strategy from the summer season to the holiday season. However, despite the good performances of "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings", they were still far below expectations and ultimately failed to shake up the market. Instead, the "cat and mouse game" devastated the box office, and all the major Hollywood film companies were excited.

Then, this scene appeared.

Major film companies have adjusted their strategies and are no longer putting all their eggs in the basket of the summer season. The strategic position of the holiday season is on the rise.

As a result, not only is the schedule crowded, but heavyweight players are also emerging.

There are dangers everywhere and competition is fierce.

In this case, the release schedule and distribution strategy need to be more careful and cautious.

As a result, what about New Line Cinema?

Not only was it released in the third week of November, one week after "Elf", and was caught in the shadow of "The Matrix 3", but it also faced off against "Master and Commander", and had a long list of powerful opponents behind it.

Edgar: I don’t understand.

Edgar sent an email to New Line Cinema in the name of Anson, asking why New Line Cinema did not schedule the release date in the first week of November. Even if it collides head-on with the Halloween schedule, wouldn't it be more reliable than the third week?
Because Anson is the producer, the person in charge of the distribution department of New Line Cinema responded cordially:
This year's holiday season is chaotic. Thanks to the success of last year's "cat and mouse game", major film companies have been testing the waters, making the overall situation difficult to judge.

This is muddy water.

Not to mention New Line Cinema, Warner Bros.' distribution strategy is also risky. "The Matrix 3" is the work of Warner Bros., but it ended up fighting with New Line Cinema, and they didn't care.

"This release date is the result of our discussion with professional opinions. We have confidence in the film and in Anson."

(End of this chapter)