Looking at the year-end North American box office charts in 2004, there was a surge.

"Shrek 2" won the year-end list with the sixth film in film history to break 400 million at the box office, and at the same time, the 440 million results are only behind "Titanic" and "Star Wars", ranking third in film history, such a result made the entire North American market exclaim.

After that, the North American box office of "Spider-Man 2" and "The Passion of the Christ" both crossed the threshold of 300 million, ranking second and third respectively on the year-end list.

"Spider-Man 2" was not able to surpass its predecessor, which was quite disappointing, but it still made Sony Pictures a lot of money; "The Passion of the Christ" overcame controversy, not only breaking the threshold of 300 million, but also grossing 370 million at the end of the day, easily setting a new box office record for an R-rated film - and this record was not broken until Lance was reborn.

The 282 million North American results have made countless people fall through their glasses, not only amazed that a disaster movie can achieve such a good result, but also surprised at the completion of the work - this is only Lance's second directorial work.

A year ago, Lance was just an independent director coming out of the Sundance Film Festival; A year later, Lance's name could be seen in the top 10 of the North American year-end box office charts. This is a qualitative leap.

Immediately followed by "The Day After Tomorrow" was another big surprise at the end of the year, "Meet My Father-in-law 2", this comedy movie actually swept the box office of 279 million, easily setting a new box office record for comedy films, and the high position of fifth place at the end of the year made Universal Pictures, which has always been good at small and broad, overjoyed.

"The Incredibles", "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", and "Murder by the Knife" occupy the sixth, seventh, and eighth spots, respectively.

"The Incredibles" continues the law that Pixar is bound to be a good work, and the box office success is completely expected, as if it has become the first elixir of box office security after the new century; "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" grossed only 249 million, the lowest in the series to date, but interestingly, it received the highest rating in the series to date, which seems to be a paradox - commerce and art cannot coexist, which forced Warner Bros. to rethink the follow-up to the series.

In addition, "Killing with a Knife" is the biggest dark horse in the top ten at the end of the year, the shiny dark horse posture amazed the year-end holiday file, the result of 240 million not only occupied a place for Paramount in the top ten at the end of the year, but also is actually the most outstanding work of Paramount in the annual box office table, considering the low cost of 60 million, considering the plan of the award season at the beginning, "Killing with a Knife" has achieved such unexpected results, Paramount executives can wake up with a smile when they sleep.

"Spy 2" and "National Treasure" have become the last two works in the top ten of the year-end box office list, the former has continued the series of praise, and has become the most outstanding action movie in film history, and the third part of the series has been put on the agenda; The latter set off a box office counteroffensive frenzy in the case of a flood of bad reviews, although compared to the high investment of 100 million, the North American box office of 170 million is really not high, but considering the global box office results of the work and the difficulty of series building, Disney has booked the start of filming of the sequel in advance.

After browsing the 2004 North American year-end box office list, it is not difficult to find that this year is still the world of sequel movies, and five of the top ten works are sequels, and the overall performance is even better. It can be seen that sequel works are still the basis of box office security, thanks to the popularity accumulated by the previous work, sequels can often take the lead from the starting point, but how to ensure the quality of sequels has also become a topic that major Hollywood studios must study.

Strictly speaking, among the top ten, only "Spider-Man 2" and "The Day After Tomorrow" can be regarded as the main computer special effects card works - "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" cannot be counted in this ranks because of the change in directorial style and the obvious decline in the proportion of visual effects; On the contrary, comedy movies that have never had box office explosiveness have become a highlight this year, with "Shrek 2" and "The Incredibles" both cartoons being considered branches of comedy, and the outstanding results of "Meet Your Father-in-law 2" are even more eye-catching.

Strictly speaking, this year is the year when the dark horse dominates the list, which makes it extremely difficult for people to analyze and predict the year-end box office list, just among the top ten, "The Passion of the Christ", "The Day After Tomorrow", "Murder by a Knife" and "National Treasure" can be regarded as box office dark horses, even "Meet My Father-in-law 2", no one expected to achieve such results.

More importantly, these five box office dark horses belong to five different genres, drama, disaster, crime, adventure - and comedy, which also makes the North American box office market in 2004 show a pattern of a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools of thought contending.

In this chaotic landscape, Reims has undoubtedly become the most dazzling being.

A total of 24 movies in North America have exceeded 100 million at the box office, of which eight works have exceeded 200 million at the box office, among them, Lance alone occupies two seats, he not only became the only director with two year-end box office top ten, but also became the only director with two year-end box office 200 million, which is also the first time in film history - two movies broke 200 million at the box office in the same year.

If it's just a director who has two films that have grossed more than 100 million in one year, then there are many directors in film history who have done this, Steven Soderbergh in 2000, Steven Spielberg in 1993 and 2002, Robert Zemeckis in 2000, etc., have achieved this feat.

However, in the 21st century, the commercialization of the film market has further developed, and the average box office level has risen, and no director has yet achieved this. To everyone's surprise, Lance was ahead of countless big-name directors across Hollywood, taking the lead in accomplishing this feat in 2004, reaching unbelievable heights that most directors could not reach in their lifetimes.

Hollywood has directors like James Cameron, who don't have many works and a long production cycle, but each work can set off a box office frenzy; There are also directors like Steven Spielberg, who create steady works, and have works coming out almost every year, and their box office appeal is unparalleled; There are also directors like Steven Soderbergh, who have always worked hard in the field of independent films, and then exploded in a specific year - in 2000, not only achieving box office breakthroughs, but also reaching the pinnacle of artistic creation during awards season.

Regardless of Lance's future development, 2004 was enough to make him a first-line director, arguably the hottest director at the moment, and it's no surprise that Disney and Warner Bros. were the first to strike.

While there's never been a shortage of fairy tales for overnight success in Hollywood, Lance achieved the feat of triple jump in just two years with three productions, causing an exclamation even in this magical land.

What's even more rare is that Reims already has a certain reputation in overseas markets, and the rookie director has also brought amazing performances in the global year-end box office market.

"Shrek 2", "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", "Spider-Man 2", "The Day After Tomorrow", "The Incredibles", "The Passion of the Christ", "Meet Your Father-in-law 2", "Troy", "Shark Tales", and "Murder by a Knife" make up the year-end top 10 list at the global box office.

Except for "Spy 2" and "National Treasure" being replaced by "Troy" and "Shark Story", the entire list remains the same as North America, but in terms of rankings.

It can be clearly felt that sequel movies still have a huge advantage, and the top three are all sequel movies; It has also become easier for special effects films and epic films with a distinctive Hollywood imprint to succeed, the most representative of which is undoubtedly "Troy", which ranks only 19 in North America, but relies on the excellent performance of overseas markets, and ranks among the top 10.

-- Although Warner Bros. still did not make a profit, at least it did not lose too much.

Among them, "The Day After Tomorrow" broke 700 million, "Killing with a Knife" broke 300 million, and both works ranked in the top ten at the end of the year.

In the overseas market, "The Day After Tomorrow" relied on Hollywood's signature computer special effects to achieve a box office success, while the table of "borrowing a knife to kill" is far from comparable, from this point of view, Reims's global recognition can only be regarded as a beginning, not to mention box office appeal, even popularity is not ranked; But from another point of view, when the name "Lancelot-Strello" has no influence, the two works are both among the top ten of the year, and from this point of view, you can also feel Lance's control of the two works, dedicating two wonderful works, and achieving a box office success, which also makes Lance's directorial identity more and more weighty.

From North America to the world, the energy shown by the two works "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Murder by Knife" at the box office has become the most unexpected and eye-catching scenery in 2004, which also makes people have more expectations for Lance's next work. However, the expectation is not only the box office results, no one should forget the feat of "City of God" winning three golden statuettes as a dark horse, and no one should forget that "killing people with a knife" showed strong potential in the 2004 awards season.

The list of nominees for the 62nd Golden Globe Awards was announced, and they were the first to express their views. (To be continued.) )