The word-of-mouth of a movie sometimes seems to have little effect, indeed, people such as Spielberg, Michael Bay and others have said cruel words, claiming that their movies are not made for critics, and they don't care about word-of-mouth at all. But the blockbusters they shoot can not care about reviews, because the investment is large enough, and there is a box office no matter what, but for other movies, word-of-mouth often has a great relationship with the box office, and movies with good word-of-mouth can continue to maintain a high box office for a long time, while movies with poor word-of-mouth are likely to plummet in the second week.

Levy has seen literary films that have not fallen at the box office for ten consecutive weeks, and relying on good word-of-mouth, they have sold a total box office of nearly 300 million. And he has also seen movies that have plummeted at the box office, such as Godzilla's 2014 version, which was so good at the box office in the first week of release that Warner immediately excitedly announced that it would make a sequel. But in the second week, the film dropped by 61% because there were too few special effects scenes and the production was too unconscionable.

Eavesdropping Storm is a political film, and such a movie has a smaller audience than an action movie. But such movies often have better stamina than action movies. Action movies are a freshness, and once the freshness passes, there is nothing to look at, but political films are not, and the level of shooting of such films varies greatly, which also makes some audiences not rush to see the premiere, but want to wait for the reviews to be heard before talking - this also makes movies with good reviews often have a long time to exert force.

Levy's films have been well received since they were released, and such reviews may have little impact on some viewers, but for some people who are used to seeing good reviews before going to the cinema, this is very important.

For general literary films, if the evaluation is good enough, it is very common for it to rise a little in the second week, but even so, it has more than doubled all of a sudden, which is impressive. After 12 million, it reached 26 million in the second week, which is still a bit staggering. That's what Alexander was amazed at - he didn't expect that the film's reviews could have such a big effect.

Levy just smiled.

"We are making literary films, not commercial films, and the better the reputation, the more people will watch the movie, which is normal."

"Who would have thought it would go up so much. The box office is now close to 40 million, and even if it starts to decline next week, when the movie is drawn, we will definitely make money. Alexander did a brief calculation, then sighed fiercely, "This is a bit unexpected - we should have paid more for the media to comment on it, and maybe we would have made more money." ”

This summary made Levy immediately helpless: as soon as he got rid of only recognizing money and not word of mouth, he immediately slipped to wanting to buy the media to produce false propaganda - as a businessman, Alexander is really qualified enough.

"It's okay if the movie doesn't lose money, don't ask too much." was full of interest in Alexander, and Levy couldn't help but persuade, "If you want to make money, you should go from the TV series, the income over there is stable, and you won't have to worry about the income within ten years, and the movie side can be maintained." ”

It is not difficult for a film to have a high box office as a commercial film, and it is not difficult to have a high evaluation as a literary film, but it is very difficult to be able to take care of both at the same time, with both a very high reputation and a high box office. Levy is not so greedy, he wants to make a movie like Eavesdropping Storm get hundreds of millions of box office, he just hopes that this film can have a similar income - there is no shortage of money, and Levy also knows that no matter how much he fights for the box office, he can't compete for those blockbusters.

If you want to make money, "Men in Black" and "Jurassic Park 3" broadcast in the summer of 97 are both big productions that make money, which can bring a lot of income to the investment company, the investment strength of these movies themselves, star influence, and the shooting technology of the movie are incomparable to ordinary movies. Movies are a mass consumer industry, and there are always more people who like to watch lively, strange things, and things they haven't seen than those who like to think seriously. It is inevitable that realistic themes will never be able to compete with romantic themes at the box office.

Realistic films will be admired, but it is difficult to make too much money, and this Levy has long been mentally prepared.

It's just that Levy doesn't expect the movie to make much money, but some people don't think the same as Levy. After the box office figures for the second week of the eavesdropping storm came out, the attitude of the media was extremely interested in the box office figures of the film.

"This is a film that has a good reputation and box office, and it is a rare film - a film that has reached the best in terms of story and artistry, which is rare."

Soon the media made such comments.

There are some reasons for them to say this: the box office of Eavesdropping Storm may not be as good as those blockbusters, but the box office of 40 million will at least ensure that the film will not lose money. A literary film that doesn't lose money is extremely rare - the movies of these years, whether it's The Shawshank Redemption or Los Angeles Secrets, where is there anything that doesn't lose money?

Don't be too demanding for literary films, it's difficult not to lose money.

The movie "Eavesdropping Storm" can be said to be a political-themed movie, a movie with such a theme, in order to pursue truth and word-of-mouth, cannot be played freely during filming, so the plot can never be repeated, and it is difficult to earn a high box office. And this movie was able to break this cycle and had quite a good box office return, which amazed the media.

"The very special narrative structure, the ever-changing contradictions and suspense from beginning to end, and the obvious transformation of the characters, are all shown under the almost perfect interpretation of the camera and the actors. The plain narrative can also have a very good story, the eavesdropping storm tells us that literary movies do not necessarily have to lose money, the techniques of shooting the story are clever enough, and the movie can also have a good box office, and it is definitely not difficult for this movie to have a box office of over 100 million! ”

In the past two years, the North American box office has continued to rise, and last year's U.S. box office exceeded 100 million and reached 15, and people's estimates of the box office of the movie are also quite optimistic. With a two-week box office of more than 40 million, it may not be difficult to exceed 100 million in the total box office.

Such an estimate makes the media even more optimistic: it is not easy to shoot a movie with extremely profound ideological content, and the filmed literary film can still sell a lot of box office, such a director is simply too rare.

"Perhaps, Hollywood has welcomed a new Oliver Stone."

At this moment, the director of the film, Levy, can begin to be known to people. On the one hand, people are surprised by the director's youth: in his 20s, it is difficult to make such a profound film. On the other hand, people are also amazed that his talent is indeed amazing.

In the comments of the media, Levy has a position: graduated from NYU, shoots political films, and the standard is very good, these things make people compare Levy with Oliver Stone, the predecessor who filmed the "Vietnam War Trilogy".

Yes, Levy is not at the height of Oliver Stone now, but he can write scripts, shoot well, and think deeply enough, at least, he has the potential.

Film is a profiteering industry, and there are many directors who will make money; Film is an art, and there are many people who make movies into works of art. But there are not many people who have both.

At this time, people are also rumored to be the next movie that Levy will direct. For a while, all kinds of rumors were rampant, some people speculated that Levy would shoot Hoover, some people thought that Kennedy was a subject that he was always passionate about, and some people even thought that there were a lot of movies about a certain monk in the past two years.

"No matter what kind of movie Levi chooses now, there will be people who are willing to pay for him. There are too few film directors who have a good reputation and reputation, and can not lose money, and Director Levy is just 26 years old now, and he has already shot works with such an amazing depth of thought, what will his future works look like? Well worth looking forward to. ”

After the box office of the movie was optimistic, there were many more praises for Levy in the media. At first, people just thought that this was an ambitious and thoughtful director, but now people have thought that he is likely to be a great director of the future.

This kind of touting didn't end until the box office results came out in the third week: in the third week, the box office of the eavesdropping storm only reached 54 million - compared to the box office of the first week, it seems to be a lot, but compared with the second week, it has dropped by one-third, and this decline has made many media lose their voices.

There is only one reason for such a sharp drop in the box office.

"Titanic proved to the world that this movie is worthy of its investment!"

On December 19, the Titanic was finally released. The film seized the market with a devastating momentum, and under its influence, the box office of other films released at the same time all fell.

In just three days, the box office of the Titanic reached 40 million - from the third week of the release of the eavesdropping storm, the biggest competitor has arrived.