In the second week of June, the North American summer file is still very lively, and this week ushered in two heavyweight sequel works, "Dragon and Tiger Boys 2" and "How to Train Your Dragon 2".

The last "Dragon Tiger Boys" was released in 2012, and with an investment of $42 million in exchange for a good box office of 138 million in North America and 200 million worldwide, Sony Columbia Pictures once again saw the promise of a series of films, and immediately officially confirmed the shooting of a sequel.

The last "How to Train Your Dragon" was in 2014, this word-of-mouth work reversed the flat trend of DreamWorks in recent years, following the "Kung Fu Panda" and won a lot of praise again, the Oscar defeat of "Toy Story 3" that year also made countless industry insiders express their chokehold; the box office performance was slightly lower than expected, the production cost was as high as 165 million, while the revenue figures of 200 million in North America and 490 million in the world were not amazing, but Paramount and DreamWorks still decided to make a sequel.

The two sequels returned to the market two years and four years apart, respectively, and the obvious gap between the production cycle of animated films and live-action films can be directly seen, among which "How to Train Your Dragon 2" has experienced the turmoil of DreamWorks - leaving Paramount to switch to Twentieth Century Fox, changing the door, and adding more uncertainties to the publicity and distribution work.

After the official finalization of the schedule, the major mainstream media have cast their attention, and this is undoubtedly one of the most competitive and closest weekends in this year's summer file.

On the one hand, the "/pee/fart" comedy that has gradually stabilized the market performance in recent years, the premiere of the previous work in 2012 chose the March off-season, but it still achieved 36 million excellent opening weekend data, and the sequel came to the summer season where popcorn gathered, and the box office prospects were optimistic about going up, with the driving force to explode the movie-watching frenzy.

On the one hand, animated films that have always occupied a place in the summer file, in the absence of Pixar this year, DreamWorks' competitiveness has undoubtedly skyrocketed, but the previous work was only 43 million at the box office in the opening weekend under the cover of excellent word-of-mouth, which failed to fully detonate, which also added more suspense to the sequel box office.

Unpredictable!

On Tuesday, "How to Train Your Dragon 2" took the lead in a grand premiere at Universal Studios Orlando, where Twentieth Century Fox reached a partnership agreement with Universal Pictures to host a premiere party at Universal Studios, drawing on Disney's experience to turn the animated premiere into a carnival feast for the whole people.

On Wednesday, "Dragon Tiger Boys 2" debuted at the Regency-Village Theater in Los Angeles, where Sony Columbia Pictures unusually set up a series of interactions at various attractions in the city, creating an interaction similar to the Olympic torch relay and mobilizing the crowds in the middle of summer.

Although both productions avoided the popular venue for the premiere, the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, the careful planning and arrangement of the premiere showed the dedication of the publicity and distribution department.

From the perspective of theme style and market positioning, there is no overlap between "Dragon Tiger Boy Team 2" and "How to Train Your Dragon 2", and there is no need to worry about the needle-tip vs. Maimang-style duel, which is also the reason why the two film companies have not adjusted their schedules;

"If you only want to watch one movie on Saturday night, which one should I choose?" "I only have two hours on Sunday afternoon, which one should I choose?"

When it comes to choices like this, the audience will inevitably have to make a decision.

What's more, in addition to the head-to-head competition between the two premieres, they will also face the second week of "Interstellar" oppression, and now they need to add a "fault in the stars", and the waning momentum but still can't be ignored "Sleeping Curse", which also means that the competition is even more fierce than imagined.

After all, market capacity is limited.

Soon, Sony Columbia Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox began to shake their heads - not because of a lack of confidence in their work or the unsatisfactory reviews of the first batch of media reviews, but because the "Blue Rite Effect" was so strong that the word-of-mouth momentum of "Interstellar" gradually exploded and stole all attention.

According to official data from Google and Twitter, the topics of "Dragon Tiger Junior Team 2" and "How to Train Your Dragon 2" are both among the top 10 on the global trending list.

"Dragon Tiger Boys 2" is slightly ahead, mainly due to the unique advantages of live-action movies - the gags of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill on social networks, coupled with the coaxing of the Rotten Boys, the interactive effect has created countless topics, and the participation rate of netizens has also been significantly improved.

"How to Train Your Dragon 2" relied on trailers and footage to attract family audiences, but the successful premiere of Universal Orlando still created a lot of buzz, especially the whole phalanx of actors dressed up as dragons in the cartoon, which detonated the spotlight.

However...... the number of discussion topics of "Dragon Tiger Boys 2" and "How to Train Your Dragon 2" is superimposed, and the popularity is still inferior to a "Interstellar", and the terrifying thing is that the number gap has more than doubled, and the lead of "Interstellar" is too fierce to even breed a sense of resistance.

At the same time, the discussion of "Fault in the Stars" has also soared into the top 10 of the global trend list, temporarily behind the two works that premiered this week.

Everything made the box office battle in the second week of June white-hot, and even the insiders of the big six film companies exclaimed: gladiatorial arena!

This is the real close-to-hand contest with bayonets! No one can easily predict the box office results, and even the winners and losers of each other can hardly be accurately predicted.

The premiere ended, and word-of-mouth was the first to unveil the curtain.

"Dragon Tiger Junior Team 2", the media comprehensive evaluation is 71 points, the Rotten Tomatoes freshness index is 84 percent, the mass media score is 7.3 percent, the popcorn index is 77 percent, and the theater score is "A-".

"How to Train Your Dragon 2", the media comprehensive evaluation is 76 points, the Rotten Tomatoes freshness index is 92 percent, the mass media score is 7.9 percent, the popcorn index is 89 percent, and the theater score is "A".

A simple summary?

Word of mouth is full of explosions!

From the perspective of commercial films, "Dragon Tiger Junior Team 2" and "How to Train Your Dragon 2" both ushered in a frenzy of praise! In one fell swoop, the overall quality of the 2014 summer file was pushed to a new height!

Especially "How to Train Your Dragon 2", the overall word-of-mouth momentum has surpassed "Captain America 2" and "X-Men: Reversal of the Future", and the current summer word-of-mouth champion "Interstellar" is completely on a par with each other, among which the media comprehensive evaluation and mass media are slightly inferior, but the Rotten Tomatoes freshness index, popcorn index and theater score are slightly better, which also means that the box office market has shown a more powerful pulling force, and many media directly believe that it will become a strong contender for the best animation at this year's Oscars- Especially with Pixar's confirmed absence this year.

Full explosion!

It's a prosperous age!

All film critics and industry insiders gave a collective standing ovation, can they expect a more exciting summer file than this?

I have seen a lot of strong showdowns of popcorn visual effects blockbusters, but the four word-of-mouth works are going head-to-head in the summer file, this is "the big girl on the sedan chair - the first time", it doesn't look like the style of the summer file at all, but more like the regular routine of the awards season, the only difference is that this time I don't look at the college judges to vote for the little golden man, but watch the general public vote with their wallets, in the hot summer, who can win the favor of the market?

But what's even more interesting is that none of the four current word-of-mouth works are popcorn works in the traditional sense, which also makes the market trend even more unpredictable.

Stimulate!

Judging from the comprehensive evaluation of the media, the 79-point "Interstellar", the 76-point "Dragon Trainer 2", the 71-point "Dragon and Tiger Boys 2", and the 69-point "Fault in the Stars" are definitely the pinnacle showdown of "Huashan on the Sword" in the summer file.

Who could have predicted that?

All the media couldn't help but start rubbing their hands, at this moment, the real frenzy of the 2014 summer file has just begun, and the excitement and excitement of the industry are even more crazy than the audience.

Streets and alleys, Burbank studios, film companies, five major trade unions, after-dinner meetings, street encounters, business talks...... No matter what the occasion, I will always joke in the chat, "The box office competition is really hot this week", even if I don't have any opinions, I can't help but pay attention.

From Friday's midnight show to Friday's single-day box office, from Saturday's theater crowds to Sunday's pre-sale box office figures, all of them have become first-hand reporting materials, and the simplest and most direct topic is, "Which movie do you choose", the concerted efforts of the four works easily detonated the enthusiasm of the market-

The viewing of Saturday's prime time has not yet ended, and the exhibitors announced in advance that the highest box office figure in a single week in 2014 just created last week was refreshed again this week, easily breaking the record before the Sunday box office battle began, such a strong performance made all the major film companies smile:

It's a win-win situation!

When all audiences actively flock to the cinema, it also means that all films have a chance, and all but four focus works are no exception - just like Huashan on the sword, the melon-eating masses outside the top masters can also join in the fun, regardless of whether they have the strength or not.

What's more, the box office market potential of word-of-mouth films such as "Captain America 2", "X-Men: Future Past", and "Neighbor Wars" is far from being tapped, is it?

Such a hot market response is reminiscent of the summer season two years ago: the collaboration of "The Hunger Games", "The Avengers", "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" has detonated the frenzy of the whole summer, and classic moments have emerged one after another, leaving the audience to exclaim.

Now, it's reproduced again.

And then...... The box office data is out.

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