Chapter 27： Supernatural phenomenon (1/2)
The first week's box office score of ”Smart and Ghost Record” was finally fixed at the number of 1.0567 million. In the last few days, the three theaters participating in the screening were full, even if it was from 2 to 4 in the middle of the night. As high as 90 +%, there are countless young people who come to stay up late to watch movies.
The 1.0567 million weekly box office results also made ”Smart-Ghost Record” ranked 16th in the North American weekly box office rankings (July 31-August 6); ranked first, yes Steven Spielberg's World War II masterpiece ”Salvation Ryan”, this is the second week of its release, with a weekly box office of 36.612 million; and ranked 15th is still in the release of ”Titanic” ”No.”, this week is the 33rd week since its release, but it can still receive 2.022 million weekly box office, and its total box office in North America has reached 596.3 million.
Ranked behind the 33-week ”Titanic”, not shameful, look at the number of theaters released by ”Titanic” there are 769; look at ”Smart and Ghost Record”, 25 theaters.
The position of the 16th place is not surprising, but the number of ”25 screening theaters” and a score of 1.0567 million, really terrified all the film companies. God, where did Liongate find this dark horse? !
Lion Gate Company can't help but laugh from the top and bottom now. The first week's box office made them not only recover the cost, but also make a small profit. The most important thing is that the super potential shown in ”Smart and Ghost Record” is definitely a big sale movie. Therefore, the release of the movie in the second week has also changed from limited to large-scale, and the number of theaters has increased to 750.
Despite being labelled ”Dark Horse” in ”Smart and Ghost Record”, its performance in the second week (August 7th to 13th) still made everyone stunned. This dark horse is really It's too dark ... 37,571,600! ”Smart-Ghost Record” ranked first in the North American weekly box office rankings! The ”Saving Soldier Ryan”, with a weekly box office score of 26.504 million, can only be ranked second.
Is like thunder! Film companies and entertainment media throughout North America were shaken. Film critics and fans were also shaken. They were speechless when they looked at the rankings. Many people do n’t even know, what kind of movie is “Paranormal-Activity” (translated as supernatural phenomenon, and “Smart-Ghost” is a free translation)? Science fiction? horrifying? Is it a comedy?
750 theaters were actually defeated by 2592 theaters ”Save the Soldier Ryan”, that is the work of the big director Steven Spielberg! What a joke!
Faced with this achievement, the management of Lion Gate Company only has one sentence, plus! So in the third week, the number of theaters of ”Smart and Ghost Record” came to 2,142. In the end, the box office of the third week (August 14-20) did not disappoint the Lion Gate Company. This horror film continued to hold down a single week of ”Save the Soldier Ryan” with 19,278,100, and won the box office for 48.693 million. The winner of the North American weekly box office ranking, the total box office also reached 87.334 million!
In addition to Wang Yang's expectations, this result scared Rachel, Jessica and others, and Joshua even sighed like ”My DV machine is valuable.”
For this ”supernatural phenomenon”, the media chasing the news cannot be ignored. In fact, as soon as the weekly box office rankings were released in the first week, some media began to pay attention to this movie, and there were also reports to mark the movie on the film. The title of ”Dark Horse”; and with the second week of ”Ghost Record” winning the weekly box office championship and the third consecutive championship, this movie also detonated the United States.
”We are now at the entrance of the ticket office of a New York movie theater. Although it is already early in the morning, it is like a party. It is very lively.” NBC channel news program, a middle-aged white female reporter held on the TV screen The microphone told the camera: ”These young people gathered here to wait to watch the next” Spirit-Ghost Record ”because the tickets for the first game have been snatched away.”
As soon as the screen shot turned around, I saw young people in the ticket office, reading books, playing cards, chatting, and even people dancing hip-hop.
The female reporter walked a few steps, shouted at a white boy who had just grown up, pointed the microphone at him, and asked with a smile: ”Hi, hello, do you come to see” Ghost Shadow Record ”?” The boy said excitedly to the camera, ”Yes, yes,” and the female reporter asked again: ”Why are you so anxious to watch this movie and would rather wait here late at night?”
The boy thought for a while and then shrugged, ”I don't know. But the friends around me have already watched, and they let me see. If I didn't watch, they wouldn't even talk to me.” He looked at the camera again. Waving and laughing: ”Hey baby, are you watching? I love you!”
The program director cut the picture back to the live broadcast room, and the host smiled and said: ”Let us listen to the opinions of parents and the police again.”
As soon as the picture changed, I cut a video of an interview with a middle-aged white woman. The woman was angry and helpless and said: ”My child is like a person. He never returned before nine o'clock. Home, but now, he actually spent the night outside, just to watch that movie! Oh my God, he is still an underage high school student, and he did n’t return home at night! I ’m really afraid he ’s broken. ”
The lens turned to an interview with a black male police officer. He said seriously: ”Too many children have gathered near the cinema late at night. This is the first time I have seen this situation. But we will strengthen the security around the cinema and try our best to protect the children. Yes, they wo n’t have any accidents when they come to the cinema, watch the movie, and go home. ”
Naturally, NBC is not advertising Ghost Records, but reports on a social problem that has occurred throughout the United States in the past two weeks. This is the famous ”” Ghost Records ”causing a large number of young people to stay up all night. Home Event ”.
Concerned about people's livelihood of society, saw the young people's side of the house; and those who paid attention to the film, saw more. No matter the media or the fans, the biggest question is, what is going on with this movie? Where did this black horse come from?
The ”ghost craze” on the Internet continues, and the media knows it, but they all smile and shake their heads, possessing evil spirits to kill? Real DV video tape adapted into a movie? Only simple students will believe it. The media immediately raised strong questions about these rumors. First of all, if there are really DV tapes with clues of murder, they will all be important police evidence. They should stay in the police station instead of the film company. In addition, if this is a real murder documentary, how can it pass the MPAA review? And is it PG-13 level?
Therefore, the media are refuting the rumors on the Internet: ”Real movie? This is a very ridiculous statement, only the” animal world ”is true.”
The media will naturally not stop here, they have started to investigate the truth behind this ”supernatural” movie. When they are determined to investigate, it is easy to get the truth. There are no impenetrable walls in the world, not to mention that so many film companies have reviewed Ghost Records?
So, the Los Angeles Times immediately got the truth, and the manager of the film purchasing department of the Demon Film Company said: ”This is just a movie, it is a film made with DV, not a real video clip. Kevin, Meier is played by an actor, and the director of this movie is a very young Chinese man. You see, it is the producer who played them last, it is him, Young-Wang, maybe 22 years old? Maybe 20 years old ? ”
And another film company that did n’t want to disclose its name, a salesperson in the distribution department said, “Oh, I ’ve seen this movie, not in a movie theater, but in the company ’s screening room. We just nodded at the time. It will belong to us, but you know, we eventually rejected the young man. Seriously, we regret it now, our manager was suspended because of this, maybe the next one is me. ”
Then the reporter went to the actor union and found the information of the film actor Zacari Levi, the actor of ”Kevin”, which proves that ”Kevin” is still alive in this world. The reporter also interviewed Mark Slant, who was in charge of the interview of the actors of ”Smart and Ghost Record” that day, he said: ”Oh, this is of course a movie. I also extracted” Kevin ”and” Meer ”. The commission for signing the contract. The young director was very picky. From morning to night, he interviewed hundreds of actors before he selected the final person. ”
The evidence is conclusive. As soon as this report from the Los Angeles Times came out, the rumors on the Internet were not self-defeating.
For this, the Lions Gate Company and Wang Yang had already prepared, and the propaganda method of pretending to be a ghost, had originally only hoped that it would have an effect in the early stage of the movie release, because the incident would make the truth clear. As long as the first audience is attracted into the movie theater, and get a huge sensation, ”pretending to be a ghost” can succeed. When things develop to the present situation, even if the audience knows that this is just a film, they will walk into the cinema.
Because people are more curious, DV movies with a production cost of 10,000 US dollars have already received more than 80 million box office! ? It's still making a lot of noise. Almost everyone is discussing this matter. How can I miss it? Young people are reluctant to fall behind, as long as ”Looking at” Spirit-Ghost Record ”” becomes a trend, there is no worry that no one will watch it.
Therefore, the focus of the propaganda of ”Smart and Ghost Record” has already shifted to the technique of ”Dare you dare to watch?” The Lions Gate Company adopted Wang Yang ’s suggestion and engaged in an event on the official website of the movie “Who is the most frightened?” The way to participate in the event is very simple, using a camera and DV machine to watch the startle reaction of family and friends Take it and upload it to the official website to participate in the selection of pictures and videos. Then the netizens voted for the top ten, and the winners will receive prizes such as a week-long tour of Santa Monica, a home theater, and a DV camera.
This is viral marketing that extends into reality.
So as soon as the ”Los Angeles Times” report came out, Lions Gate Company clarified the facts generously. The release manager, Jon Fildimer, admitted to the media that ”Spirit-Ghost Record” is a Actor's movie. They didn't put this information on the movie's official website before, they just wanted to create a real atmosphere, and the purpose of shooting those trailers was the same.
When the Lions Gate Company uploaded the information of directors Wang Yang, ”Kevin” Zachary-Levy, and ”Meier” Rachel-Macadams to the official website, everyone suddenly ”stunned”! Oh my god, no, director and producer who is 18 years and 6 months old? ! Looking at Wang Yang's heroic young face, everyone felt incredible. It was this kid who made a movie with a box office of more than 80 million US dollars for 10,000 US dollars! ?
Oh, God! What is the record of Guinness's ”Youngest Director in Hollywood”? Stephen Paul, 20 years old; and now Wang Yang, 18 years and 6 months old, has undisputedly broken the record. Besides, Stephen-Paul's ”Love Again” does not have more than 80 million box office.
The prestigious film critic Roger Ebert of the United States described this as ”a miracle that is happening” and ”supernatural phenomenon”; and he praised the unrivalled ”Smart and Ghost Record”, which is an innovation of the film language, It created a pseudo-documentary mode, and pointed the way for DV movies; and the movie's psychological horror tricks have also reached the limit, without the rookie director's jerky.
”This movie can scare you to a sudden cardiac arrest, if you don't just like the 'Ketchup' movie. Also, I don't recommend children to watch this movie, even if accompanied by their parents, they will leave a childhood shadow. . Well, I need to go to the sun, which will drive away the fear in my heart. ”