The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 503 The birth of a superstar
To a certain extent, Hayden is right—

"Star Wars: Episode II" missed its moment.

After waiting for the premiere box office data to be released, if they follow up with the "Operation Ticket Stub", their intention to gain popularity will be too obvious. Not only will they not be able to achieve the publicity effect, but they may also become the target of complaints from netizens, and may even cause further resentment, which is self-defeating. to push the audience outward.

It is better to maintain the posture and continue the consistent posture and stance since the premiere, at least not to end up in the dilemma of Zhu Bajie looking in the mirror and not being a human being.

Twentieth Century Fox had the same idea.

By the time they calmed down and were ready to follow up on the "Operation Ticket Stub", the trend of public opinion had quietly changed, and they realized that they had missed the opportunity and fell into passivity.

Obviously, there are too many weird things happening in this summer's season, and it cannot be judged based on common sense. Twentieth Century Fox is not fully mentally prepared.

And, to make matters worse, the 2002 World Cup is coming as scheduled.

Although the impact of the World Cup on the North American continent is limited, rugby is the number one sport in North America. As for football, not to mention comparing it with rugby, it is still incomparable with baseball, ice hockey, and basketball; but no matter what, the World Cup is still four years old. A once-in-a-lifetime carnival.

Naturally, the number of people in movie theaters will inevitably be affected. Not only "Star Wars: Episode II", but "Spider-Man" is also unable to avoid market turbulence. The summer market, which has just recovered, has been hit again.

then--

On this side, "Star Wars Episode 2" was limited by its own reputation, and its subsequent box office performance was significantly lower than expected. Although there was a small wave of movie viewing frenzy during the Memorial Day weekend, the box office decline in the second weekend was controlled to a good level. position, but then the impact of the World Cup forced the movie's weekend box office to collapse, and its vitality was severely damaged and never recovered.

The decline was far greater than expected and completely deviated from market forecasts.

20th Century Fox made one mistake after another, blindly believing that the miracle of "Star Wars Prequels" could be copied and pasted into the second part of the series:

Even if the reputation collapses, it can still sweep thousands of troops.

But they made the mistake of seeking the sword in a desperate situation and ignored the objective fact that the market has been changing.

The poor reputation of the first part of the series did not stop the audience from entering the cinema, because they were affected by the filters and feelings of "Star Wars" and bought tickets to enter the cinema without even noticing the reputation of the movie.

However, now after the second part, the situation is completely different.

Back then, after buying tickets and entering the theater, they shouted that they were fooled. This time, passers-by and ordinary movie fans did not act too hastily. Instead, they patiently waited for word-of-mouth to come out and refused to pay for their feelings.

In other words, only the target audience such as die-hards and diehards are still willing to enter the cinema and are happy to do so.

When passers-by and audiences realized the poor reputation of the movie, their enthusiasm for buying tickets was blocked. And 20th Century Fox missed the opportunity to promote and failed to open up the situation. Therefore, the subsequent box office trend of the movie suffered an all-round blow and could not be replicated. The unexpected trend of the previous game.

To be precise, "Star Wars: Episode II" has lost its halo and has become the same as other ordinary summer commercial movies. There is no difference. From the discussion popularity to the box office data, everything has been synchronized by the summer craze and has become a million-dollar movie. Wanwuwuwei is a member of the ordinary genre film.

By the time 20th Century Fox realized the predicament and tried to fix it, it was already too late. Apparently this was the result of a series of mistakes.

In the end, "Star Wars: Episode II" accumulated a box office of 2 million US dollars in North America, barely and thrillingly crossing the 2 million threshold; including other countries and regions, the global box office settled at million US dollars. US dollars, continuing the lack of enthusiastic box office performance of the "Star Wars" series in overseas markets. Of course, the movie is still a success. The production cost is controlled at million US dollars. Coupled with Twentieth Century Fox's careful promotion budget, "Star Wars Episode " still easily achieves profitability, and the production of the third part of the series has been completed. Put it on the agenda as soon as possible.

However, there is no harm without comparison. Compared with the box office performance of "Star Wars Episode 1", which set countless records, the performance of the second part of the series dropped by two levels, and it even became the subject of ridicule and ridicule on major talk shows. This is definitely not what th Century Fox wants to see.

Can this be regarded as the turning point in the fate of "Star Wars" that fell from the altar?

Rumor has it that George Lucas was under tremendous pressure, had trouble sleeping and eating, and even seriously considered giving up the development of the third part of the series.

The same is true.

Although George Lucas still directed "Star Wars: Episode III", this was his last directorial work. He has entered semi-retirement since 3 and has never been in charge of a director. He still works more as a screenwriter, Active behind the scenes as a producer and technical advisor.

The pressure under fame is evident, and even a boss of George Lucas's level is no exception.

Twentieth Century Fox was also in a gloomy situation. When they were preparing to produce the "Star Wars" prequel series, they had the idea of ​​making easy money, but they never expected that it would be a roller coaster ride, and their hearts would almost burst. .

Until the year-end box office data of 2002 was released, looking back, there were many reasons why the box office performance of "Star Wars: Episode II" was far lower than expected, such as the work itself, publicity strategy, encounter with the World Cup, etc., but it is undeniable that The thing is, "Spider-Man" sniping.

This work was once considered to be a suicide squad that pioneered the way during the downturn. Even if it is not cannon fodder, it is estimated that it will be difficult to make a difference; but it unexpectedly breaks out of the way and overturns the entire summer movie with great brilliance——

It not only withstood the pressure to write history and broke the shackles of the North American box office market in one fell swoop; it also faced "Star Wars Episode II" head-on and did not fall behind.

To be precise, it’s not just that it won’t fall behind. “Spider-Man” used the traffic of competitors to turn it into an opportunity for itself to break through the ceiling. It once rubbed hard against “Star Wars Episode 2” and completely got rid of the entanglement of the number one traffic in North America. , incredibly fast, running at full speed.

History is written like this.

No one expected "Spider-Man" to have a good start, no one expected "Spider-Man" to overturn "Star Wars Episode 2", and no one expected "Spider-Man" to catch up with the historical record.

Exclamations came one after another, and even in the World Cup, "Spider-Man" was mentioned without exception, which can be seen from the success index.

$400 million in North America? Or, $500 million in North America?

No.

North America $600 million——

The second film after "Titanic" directly raised the bar to a whole new level, eclipsing even "Star Wars Episode 1".

The whole of North America witnessed the birth of a superstar!

(End of this chapter)