The year 1997 has quietly passed the rest of the time, and before people have time to lament the flight of time, the dawn of 1998 has already shrouded their heads, and the historical moment of the turn of the century is gradually approaching, and people can't help but start to get excited.

Although rumors of the "Millennium Bug" have gradually spread, for most people, the rumors of the end of the world sound too far away. Relatively speaking, there is much more enthusiasm for discussing that in 1997, the world has been turned upside down - as if the wheels of history have quickly entered a new era without waiting for the twentieth century to move into the twenty-first century.

After the North American film industry ushered in a full-scale explosion in 1994, independent films led by "vulgar" officially appeared on the stage of history; Although the subsequent 1995 fell slightly, it can be regarded as a small year for films; But then 1996 became a groundbreaking year in film history with a "Independence Day", and this year continued the glory of last year, truly announcing that the North American film market has entered the "blockbuster era".

Ever since Independence Day was born, the question has been asked: Is this the norm or the exception? Can computer special effects really bring the film industry into a new era? Is the increasing investment and cost a distortion of the art of cinema? The most important thing is, can "500 million at the North American box office" really become a dream that every movie can reach?

For the first three-quarters of 1997, or more accurately, until the last week of 1997, the answers to these questions were negative, as if Independence Day had become a meteor, fleeting, and the glory of the film industry could not have been further fixed in 1996. But history is so interesting, and before the end of 1997, a very different answer was delivered.

The birth of "Titanic" is not only a slap in the face of the media, but also a strong announcement of the arrival of the blockbuster era.

The cost of 200 million US dollars is an unprecedented ultra-high investment, and the "Titanic" in exchange for the North American box office of 600 million US dollars, from 300 million to 500 million, and then to 600 million, the North American box office market has completed a triple jump in just three years, and the brilliant momentum is almost astonishing. "Titanic" not only easily surpassed the highest box office memory in film history of "Independence Day", but also raised the original benchmark to a higher level again, achieving supreme glory.

The huge success of "Titanic" has officially put an end to the debate in the entire film industry, even if only two works have created such brilliance so far, but this is enough to make major production companies flock to it; Even though the use of computer special effects is still not mature at the moment, studios are more than willing to explore it in depth.

invest a million dollars in exchange for $100 million at the box office; Or invest $100 million in exchange for $300 million at the box office. In fact, this is a very easy math problem, everyone knows that the profit of the former is much higher than that of the latter, if it is said that "profit first", then it is wise to choose the former; But business isn't just about math, there's many, many additional factors, and most Hollywood studios choose the latter.

Because high investment also represents a hot topic, which is a huge drive for the entire company's personnel and the entire film industry chain, and its additional benefits are much higher than those of low-cost production; Because although a small Bo Da can win a big victory, the probability of victory is too small, far less than the temptation of high investment and high returns. Confused, if ten $100 million investment works can produce a $300 million work, then only one hundred works with a cost of less than $10 million can appear a $100 million work.

Therefore, the success of "Independence Day" and "Titanic" has given the whole Hollywood a major inspiration, not only high investment and high returns, but also the film industry represented by computer special effects has entered a new stage, which is undoubtedly a shot in the arm and truly changed the operation mode of the entire industry.

With a strong momentum of $600 million, "Titanic" undoubtedly became the annual box office champion in 1997, igniting all the enthusiasm of the North American film market for the second year in a row, and even professional film critics who have no interest in box office figures have to admit that the huge box office success of the two works before and after has brought the film market into an unprecedented boom, which is a good thing for the entire film industry - not only can it attract more money into the industry, but also attract more talent to devote themselves to film, It can stimulate more excellent genre movies, which is an ending that has more advantages than disadvantages.

In addition to the dominance of "Titanic", "Los Angeles Confidential" landed in the position of the runner-up at the North American box office of the year with no less impressive attitude, which is even more shocking than the box office of 600 million US dollars.

Because "Los Angeles Confidential" as a suspense drama movie, with almost no computer special effects bonus, completely relying on the meticulousness of the script and the brilliance of the characters, has won super high support, which can be said to be a work that carries forward the retro traditional film, and makes people deeply aware that the reason why the movie can entertain the public at the same time and bring ideological shock is because the movie itself is a kind of artistic level!

What's even more terrifying is that "Los Angeles Confidential" was released in the autumn file, which is bound to become another miracle in film history, which really ignited the heat of the autumn file.

Occupying the third place in the annual North American box office list is "Men in Black", which surprisingly surpassed many competitors, with a score of 250 million US dollars, only 10 million behind the final box office result of "L.A. Confidential", and climbed to the third place position at the end of the year, which is really a huge surprise, which also made Will Smith appear in the North American market as a "box office superstar" for the first time.

"Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World" was not able to refresh history under the expectations of the public, and unfortunately succumbed to the palace, although the performance is still excellent, but compared to the surprise of the previous work, there is still one less unexpected surprise. Despite this, it is heard that Universal Pictures has submitted plans for a third episode to the table, but it is unknown whether Steven Spielberg will return for the time being.

After that, Jim Carrey's "Big Talk", Harrison Ford's "Air Force One", Jack Nicholson's "Perfect", Matt Damon's "Soul Catcher", "Star Wars" Reruns, and "My Best Friend's Wedding" each occupy the remaining six spots in the top ten.

On the top ten of the North American year-end box office list, many interesting things can be seen, first of all, although there are as many as 17 works with a box office of more than 100 million yuan in North America this year, and as many as four works exceed 200 million US dollars, both of which have created new records in film history, but "007: The Empire of Tomorrow", "Changing Face", "Prison in the Air" and other works that have high hopes have all been lost, and their performance is not good but far from meeting expectations, and they have not even been able to rank among the top ten of the year, especially the menacing "Batman and Robin" In the end, it only received $107 million at the box office, ranking 14th on the year-end list, which was a big disappointment.

The second is that George Clooney's plan to rise failed, and the two works of "Batman and Robin" and "Peacemaker" both suffered Waterloo, but they were not able to achieve corresponding results in the case of continuous pursuit by the media, and finally returned to the field of TV dramas in disgrace, looking for psychological balance on the small screen.

Star-making projects have never been so simple.

But unintentionally, Will Smith and Matt Damon relied on the outstanding performance of their starring works, not only among the top ten at the year-end box office, but also became first-line actors who were enough to impact the top existence. Will, in particular, made a deep impression when he played a small role in "Independence Day" last year, and this year he has skyrocketed, and he has vaguely surpassed George to become the top priority candidate to challenge Hugo, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and others.

However, the real one who was born was Leonardo DiCaprio, this handsome and dashing young guy relied on the "Titanic" to soar into the sky, it can be said that he was red and purple, during the New Year, even Hugo could not compete with Leonardo, and his super popularity made Leonardo almost swept to the top quickly, among the ranks of top actors, and even surpassed Brad, who had not been able to go further, and formed a new iron triangle with Tom and Hugo.

It was a huge surprise. Once again, the competition in the North American film market has changed the situation, and no one can predict the next development curve - can Leonardo continue to be strong? Can Brad come back strongly? What kind of results will Tom and Hugo deliver? In addition to Hugo, who is currently in the lead, the duel between Tom, Leonardo and Brad is becoming more and more passionate! It's all exciting.

Then there is the strong return of a group of veteran actors, Jim Carrey relied on his outstanding performance in the "King of Big Talk" to sweep away the decline, Harrison Ford's "Air Force One" once again proved that he is not old, and Julia Roberts re-established himself among the top actresses with "My Best Friend's Wedding" after five years of silence - Cameron Diaz's successful ascension to the throne is also a surprise, which also makes the American sweetheart seat open to competition again.

In addition, Robin Williams, Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg and others have always maintained their consistently high standards, continuing their previous strong performances and once again occupying a strong position in the year-end list.

But if you discuss the biggest winner in 1997, except for "Titanic", no one can ignore the existence of Hugo, compared to the strong rise in 1994, the explosion of acting in 1995, and the box office breakthrough in 1996, 1997 is a year for Hugo's career to a higher level, because this year, Hugo occupies an irreplaceable position on the year-end list as the producer of two works!