The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 1160: Fighting Out of Chaos
Regarding judging and predicting the movie box office market, Roger Ebert admitted that he was not professional.

But what was happening before his eyes was real, and Roger believed it should mean something.

Roger is still cheering for "Master and Commander" and believes that the film can save the situation with its excellent reputation and still make a difference during the awards season.

At the same time, Roger also applauded "The Butterfly Effect" for becoming a hot topic through its excellent marketing methods. He believed that the box office potential of "The Butterfly Effect" was far more than that.

Step by step, Anson is building its own brand image——

Market appeal is gradually gathering.

Even Roger couldn't help but look forward to next week's box office charts. There was no need to wait for "Eternal Love" or "A Song of Love" to be released. They are now witnessing the rise of another superstar after Leonardo Dicaprio.

This year, the whole market has been caught in a storm of Johnny Depp fever because of the huge success of "Pirates of the Caribbean". After all, Johnny Depp has been in Hollywood for more than fifteen years, and it has been thirteen years since the glory of "Edward Scissorhands". Finally, Johnny is seen showing his charm again in the mainstream market, and Hollywood is going crazy.

However, Roger personally is more excited about Anson's prospects.

What is the hidden charm of this vase?
However, this is not easy. As mentioned before, all major film companies went crazy during this year's holiday season. The entire schedule was in chaos, with blockbuster works coming out one after another with no regularity at all.

The "Butterfly Effect" unexpectedly overturned "Master and Commander", but there are still many difficulties ahead——

No one is optimistic about the "butterfly effect".

To be precise, it’s not that we are not optimistic about the “Butterfly Effect”. No one is deliberately targeting the “Butterfly Effect”, but the chaos of the entire schedule makes it difficult for the “Butterfly Effect” to break through the siege.

Roger understood this.

But Roger believes that precisely because of this, things are more worth looking forward to:

Otherwise, Russell Crowe should have joined the 20 million club with "Master and Commander". Everything was expected and there was no fun at all.

So, Roger prepared red wine and cheese, as well as potato chips, and looked forward to a good show -

In the fourth week of November, "The Cat in the Hat" and "Ghost Man" hit hard.

"The Cat in the Hat", produced by Universal Pictures, has an investment cost of 109 million US dollars. For Universal Pictures, which has always believed in making a small investment with a big return, there may be only one or at most two quotas for investments of more than 100 million US dollars each year, and this year it is reserved for this special work.

The reason is not that actor Alec Baldwin wrote the film and starred in it, nor is it that the hot child star Dakota Fanning starred in it.

It’s about the motion capture technology that the entire Hollywood is currently paying attention to.

What is "motion capture technology"?
Simply put, Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" was played by actor Andy Serkis through motion capture technology.

Later, this technology matured and Smaug the dragon in "The Hobbit", the Pandora people in "Avatar", and all the characters in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" were filmed using motion capture technology.

In the film industry, there is always a group of filmmakers who are keen on researching technology——

3D, 120fps photography, motion capture technology, and so on.

The biggest contributor behind motion capture technology is director Robert Zemeckis. This famous director of "Back to the Future", "Forrest Gump" and "Cast Away" has long been interested in this technology and has devoted all his energy to the research of this technology since the millennium.

Unfortunately, he was never able to use this technology to shoot a perfect work. "The Polar Express", "Beowulf", "A Christmas Carol", "The Martian" and other works all collapsed to varying degrees.

He spent a full decade at the peak of his creative career, bringing motion capture technology to a mature stage, which gave birth to his later works. In 2003, motion capture technology was initially mature, and Gollum's lifelike performance in "The Lord of the Rings" successfully sparked a heated discussion on technological innovation.

This means that fantasy and magical films can develop comprehensively.

It was against this backdrop that Universal Pictures shelled out $100 million for The Cat in the Hat, hoping to get a head start on its competitors.

At present, "The Cat in the Hat" tells a family story with Christmas spirit, targeting the Thanksgiving and Christmas markets, and it is definitely coming on strong.

Even when facing "Master and Commander", "The Cat in the Hat" was not afraid, let alone "The Butterfly Effect" which had a fraction of its own production cost?

Meanwhile, there was another contender.

"Ghost Man", produced by Warner Bros., cost $40 million to produce.

This suspense film, which was supposed to be released on Halloween, was released a week before Thanksgiving. Warner Bros.' distribution strategy is really confusing; but the film's powerful cast lineup has warmed up the market early on.

Director Mattieu-Kassovitz is an actor. He is the shop assistant that the heroine has a crush on in "Amelie". In addition, he can also be seen in movies such as "The Fifth Element" and "Munich".

At the same time, he is also a talented director. As early as 1995, he won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival with "Young and Dangerous".

This time, "Ghost Man" is his first attempt at directing in Hollywood, and he has assembled a group of heavyweight actors, which shows the importance Warner Bros. attaches to it:
Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Penelope Cruz.

To some extent, such medium-sized genre works can bring surprises during the holiday season, and Warner Bros.' schedule arrangement cannot be said to be completely random.

A heavyweight and a middleweight, attacking from both sides.

Moreover, a family movie and a suspense movie catering to Halloween, both work together to divide the audience in the target mass market.

Especially for "Ghost Man", the target audience of this movie and "The Butterfly Effect" partially overlaps, and the threat is positive and direct.

From all aspects, market competition is fierce, and the "Butterfly Effect" is about to face a comprehensive siege. In addition, family audiences during the Thanksgiving period are unlikely to be interested in this movie. The situation is indeed very serious.

No wonder the media reacted like this—

They did not mean to attack "The Butterfly Effect", but the focus of attention has quietly shifted. Some praised "The Butterfly Effect" for entering the profit stage directly during its premiere weekend, while others were paying attention to the possible breakthrough in Anson's next work.

Although not stated explicitly, the subtext is:
This time, it may be the end. There is no need to continue looking forward to the "butterfly effect". Such an achievement is already worth celebrating.

Perhaps, views like Roger's are still in the minority after all.

Then, amidst all the attention, the North American weekend box office rankings for the fourth week of November were announced.

First, the “butterfly effect”, $39 million.

Second, "The Cat in the Hat," $38 million.

Third, "Ghost Man," $19 million.

Wait, what happened in the film market this week?
(End of this chapter)