During Mark's days dealing with Time Warner's internal affairs, his only public appearance was at the New York premiere of "District 9," directed by Neil Blomkamp, an assistant director of Mark's "The Dark Knight."

It was released in 3,550 theaters on August 14 (Friday), with a box office of 19.2 million on the opening day, and after the weekend, the box office has risen to 47 million, easily crossing the 30 million investment line. In terms of word-of-mouth, it is also a good trend, "District 9" can be described as a breakthrough, and the box office is expected to exceed 100 million!

"District 9" is an alien sci-fi film without a luxurious Hollywood superstar lineup, just a group of nobodies shooting in South Africa, and actually won the Hollywood box office weekly crown in one fell swoop, and less than a week after its release, "Special Forces 2", which once swept the box office, could only reluctantly give up the first place.

DreamWorks' "Special Forces 2" invested a whopping 170 million and earned $56 million in the first week, but the box office plummeted like a landslide the next week, with a drop of more than 58%, and the 22 million in revenue made the producers cry without tears, which also frustrated their ambition to make it a series.

MM, the distributor of "District 9," said on Sunday that the sci-fi action and thriller film, which tells the story of a group of outer astronauts who land in Johannesburg and then triggers a series of events, has grossed 47 million since its release in North America. And it is said that its production cost is less than 30 million, which can be described as a typical low-budget film in Hollywood.

Mark, a famous Hollywood director who has directed a series of blockbuster works, served as the producer of "District 9" this time, and he adopted the style and story of the film's imitation documentary, making the film reveal a sense of reality in the context of science fiction, which has become another highlight of the film.

Directed and co-written by Neil Blomkamp, an original and innovative artist born in South Africa, Neil Blomkamp has worked primarily on short films and commercials.

Funded and distributed by MM and based on one of his own short films, "Living in Johannesburg", "District 9" is his screen debut, and the success of this film may propel an unknown director to the Oscar stage.

What's the magic of District 9?

First of all, "District 9" adopts the shooting style of pseudo-record, and uses the realistic method of documentary to shoot the original sci-fi and unreal movie themes into movies, which makes people look at the pictures that are incompatible with reality, but have a real feeling that something is true.

Secondly, what attracts the audience is the mystery behind the title "District 9". The title of this film is based on a rumor in modern times in the United States, which has been rumored to have a 51st district for decades, which is specifically responsible for dealing with alien affairs, but this news has not been officially acknowledged. And the meaning of "District 9" is also an allusion to "District 51".

Moreover, it is not only the promotion of the film, but also the model of viral marketing to the extreme, first MM company blocked all information related to film shooting, (in fact, there is no need to block, for a three-no work, there will be no topics and attention, and there will be no interviews with reporters and fans), and then at the San Diego Comic-Con surprise publicity, posters are crazy all over the corner, elevators, escalators, corridors, and even toilets, under such a propaganda offensive, how can movie fans not take a look?

Finally, it is a curiosity left by the production cost of this film. With a cost of only 30 million, how to make a blockbuster style? Or is it just a "copycat" version of a sci-fi film? Of course, facts have proved that its scenes may not be as good as the sci-fi blockbusters with 102 million yuan, but its unique connotation and pseudo-documentary style are the biggest attraction of this film.

District 9 explores an issue of identity shifting, social identity, and cultural conflict. The investment of 30 million was also used on the blade, and the set and special effects were very suitable for the theme of the film, so that the audience did not have the feeling of low cost at all

"District 9" is different from these films, the young South African director Neil Blomkamp and his producer Mark made the film into a pseudo-documentary, although backed by the powerful MM, Blomkamp did not ask for more money, with more than 30 million funds, honestly filmed "District 9", and the special effects were handled by Industrial Light and Magic.

In terms of publicity, it was only after the summer vacation that it was widely publicized, and there were billboards and words "aliens are not allowed to enter" and "aliens are forbidden" everywhere, and the strength and scale of the announcement became bigger under Mark's questioning, and various trailers, promotional videos, interviews, and activities took turns to fight, and there were countless of them.

As long as it is Mark's favorite work, the MM distribution department will go all out to operate, the name of the hand of God, not called in vain, it does have the ability to turn stones into gold, as long as Mark's name is hung on the movie poster, it is immediately a guarantee of big sales, but Mark will not casually allow other works to hang his name, unless he participates in the production, he will not be allowed to be named, "District 9" Mark is one of the producers, but he did not participate in the production work, but only provided some guiding advice.

The crew went to South Africa to film, and they went by his private jet, Mark did not go to visit the class, and in terms of post-production, Neil was responsible for the whole process, but hanging Mark's name will indeed increase their value, and even one of the highlights.

They are not the pioneers of pseudo-documentaries, as early as more than ten years ago, "Blair the Witch" used this trick to create a box office miracle, and Taiwanese director Niu Chengze also made a very well-received "The Way to Survive as a Last Resort", but this is the first time to make a science fiction film in the form of a pseudo-documentary. The advantage of this is obvious, the form obeys the content, because the protagonist of the film is not a hero who wants to shoot at an elevation angle, but just an ordinary person, and a little bit of a nervous, initially a little clever and disgusting, and aliens, because they live in the slums, so they can also use the lens of a documentary to film their real living conditions.

In the past movies related to aliens, aliens always ran to New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., which are big cities in the United States.

Director Neil Brumcap set the story in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is not only eye-opening, but also provides endless space for the film to play, if it is a big country like United States or China, to take in 1 million aliens, not to mention just to provide them with food, even to raise them like giant pandas, it is not a problem at all, but South Africa is different, although they can also host the World Cup, but out of thin air with 1 million more people, there are too many problems to solve.

Not only that, but South Africa has long adhered to the notorious apartheid system, and this time it can be used to sneer at it, adding a lot of words to the film.

Media Overall Rating A-, Yahoo Audience A-, IMDB 9.1, Rotten Tomatoes Freshness 88%, World News: "The film shows how the Earth abuses aliens, and other planets are not necessarily the same." ”

Chicago Sun: "Despite its creativity, the film is inevitably a space opera version of science fiction. ”

Chicago Tribune: "The emergence of a latecomer to a summer file has made the entire Hollywood summer file feel ashamed." ”

Entertainment Online: "This movie could become a classic of science fiction films. ”

The Hollywood Reporter believes that all viewers who enjoy sci-fi and any movie will be blown away by the action, adventure and suspense of this highly original chase film.

Entertainment Weekly believes that extreme originality + political sensitivity = "District 9".

Time magazine praised "District 9" for proving that in addition to making sensory stimulation, this genre can also create worlds that audiences have never seen or even imagined.

"Variety" commented that the director is more interested in alluding to our bloodthirsty and xenophobic race than creating cheap horror scenes such as exploding aliens.

"District 9" opened at the box office although it was not as good as "The Clover Files" , but the beer is better, this kind of cult style movie, once it is recognized by the audience, it is a great thing, but with a good reputation, it can make those fans and viewers brush it twice, and buy the Blu-ray version of the DVD collection, so once this movie starts well, it forms a situation where the box office of beer flies together, it is definitely a lot of money, and it is full of money, this Neil Blomkamp took 30 million US dollars, which brought MM a return of no less than three times, which made him famous in one fell swoop, and it will be much easier to get investment next time he opens a project.

The 2009 summer season is coming to an end, which means that North American audiences can see more new films released in theaters every week. With three new films released on a large scale last week, and two smaller releases in the top 10, the competition is fierce. But in terms of its opening box office figures, I'm afraid only the low-budget sci-fi thriller "District 9" and the best-selling romance adaptation "The Time Traveler's Wife" can be satisfied. And "District 9" not only topped the weekend box office charts with its strong word-of-mouth and strong publicity offensive, but also became one of the successful cases of "fighting big with small" in this summer's file, creating a premiere of $47.35 million with a production cost of $30 million, which is quite amazing! However, the weak performance of other films still caused the North American box office last week to fall by 14% compared with the top of "Tropic Thunder" in the same period last year.

MM's performance in this relatively off-season is really impressive.