The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 504: million in North America
A question, what is the level of the North American box office of US$500 million?
With the emergence of "Titanic" in 1997, the first US$ million and the first US$ million box office film in North American film history made its debut. Almost everyone thought that the film market had entered a new era, but the reality was different.

In previous lives, it wasn’t until 2008’s “Batman Begins: The Dark Knight” that the second North American $2009 million-dollar work appeared; it wasn’t until ’s “Avatar” that there was the second North American $ million-dollar work.

During this period, three works including "Star Wars: The Prequels", "Shrek 2", and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" each reached the box office threshold of US$ million in North America, but they all stopped at the $ million mark and failed to write history.

In other words, the North American film market did not truly enter the "North American 2009 million" era until and then continue to create peaks.

And now, a small butterfly flaps its wings and slightly rewrites history in a parallel time and space. Although it is impossible to know whether this will completely change the entire film market structure, at least -

"Titanic" is no longer alone.

"Spider-Man", with its cumulative box office easily exceeding 300 million US dollars in three weeks of release, has been making great progress and demonstrated strong appeal.

Four hundred million.

Five hundred million.

Easy and no suspense.

The entire North American market is witnessing the meteoric rise of "Spider-Man". What is really exciting is whether this neighborhood hero movie can break the box office record held by "Titanic":
North America $60.68 million.

And, to top the box office record in North American film history?
Involuntarily, everyone stared with bated breath.

After all, the trend of the World Cup is dragging down the footsteps of "Spider-Man"; in addition, all the major movie companies are working hard this summer, and all kinds of blockbusters are on the market. The fierce competition has hollowed out the market and delayed the "Spider-Man" movie. "Spider-Man" continues to hit historical records.

When the cumulative box office figures of "Spider-Man" in North America staggered past $595 million, that set of data seemed to have stalled, growing at a snail's pace.

Obviously, this is really frustrating.

Industry insiders can only lament that, just like "Titanic" back then, box office growth in the final stage is almost impossible. It is entirely up to the film companies to pay for it out of their own pockets, through special screenings and movie viewing activities, and the box office figures are squeezed out. Crossing the $600 million line, the same situation is now happening with "Spider-Man". This also proves that the current North American box office market does not have such capabilities, and $500 million is the ceiling.

However, Sony Columbia, like 20th Century Fox back then, was unwilling to miss the opportunity to leave its name in history and operate again.

Sony Columbia not only extended the film's release cycle by one month from 22 weeks to 26 weeks, but also organized screening events in conjunction with Anson's other starring film "Cat and Mouse" to stimulate the box office market.

In the end, "Spider-Man" also slowly crossed the $600 million line. The cumulative box office in North America was fixed at $60.238 million, slightly behind "Titanic" for the time being. Ranked second in North American film history.

Although it is very, very regretful that it failed to set a new record, "Spider-Man" still became the second 600 million-dollar film in North American film history. Coupled with the countless brilliance written in the first three weeks of the film, there is no doubt that this film The work has left a lasting mark in history.

At this time, looking back at the past, before the debut of "Spider-Man", people generally believed that US$200 million in North America was probably the maximum limit for a movie, and US$300 million was simply a fantasy that was only reflected in the mirror.

As a result, "Spider-Man" surprised and embarrassed all those who despised this work. The film's achievements far exceeded imagination.

Of course, Sony Columbia’s production cost of US$139 million and promotion costs of more than US$10 million are really shocking; but with a box office performance of US$600 million in North America, they still made a lot of money——

Although Sony Columbia did not announce the detailed dividend income of the movie, according to insider information from Forbes, the movie brought Sony Columbia at least US$100 million in profit.

And, that's still not all. The movie also has overseas box office!

As mentioned before, in 2002, the global film market was not fully explored and developed, and its maturity lagged far behind that of the North American film market.

At the same time, the distribution channels of the seven major Hollywood film companies in different countries and regions are not sound enough. They often cooperate with local distribution companies. Different distribution strategies may also lead to deviations in box office performance.

In addition, there is another important point that cannot be ignored:

The difference between aesthetics and culture.

Some movies are blockbusters in North America, but not necessarily in Germany and Northern Europe; some movies are mediocre in the UK, but are widely loved in the Asian market.

This is the norm.

There is a typical example right in front of you, "Spider-Man" and "Star Wars" are the same.

"Star Wars" is a series that has its own cultural characteristics in North America, and its box office performance in overseas markets has never been as good as that in North America.

The same goes for "Spider-Man". As a set of otaku comics, its popularity is far less than that of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman; the current superhero movie market has not yet opened up, and overseas market audiences obviously lack enthusiasm for the movie. There’s no North American craze.

Sony Columbia Pictures has also been mentally prepared and does not have much hope for overseas markets; but reality still brings small surprises——

Although the Internet has not penetrated into people's lives as fully as social networks, it has made great progress since the millennium.

By the time the movie hit the North American market, other countries had heard about it.

On the front foot, "Star Wars Episode II" took in 2 million US dollars in overseas markets. th Century Fox was obviously relieved. At least it performed better than the North American box office, which is good news.

On the back foot, "Spider-Man" was released in 69 countries and regions around the world, and also exploded with amazing energy. From summer through autumn and into winter, the autumn wind swept the fallen leaves and won numerous box office titles in almost every country where it was released. Regions are always champions, and two and three consecutive championships are commonplace.

Surprise!

Absolute surprise!

Obviously, this surprise cannot be compared with the blowout in North America, but it still gives people hope——

Superhero movies can win wider resonance around the world.

Perhaps, there is no need for movies adapted from comic books to be limited to the low-cost B-level genre film framework. Increase investment and scale to find more room for development in the A-level genre film market.

After all, even Sony Columbia was successful, wasn't it?
In the end, "Spider-Man" won a box office of US$670 million in overseas markets!

Boom, boom boom boom!
(End of this chapter)