The east coast of the North American continent is already feeling the pain of winter, and only the southernmost state of Florida is still sunny, where "Truman's World" is in full swing; Not only is the West Coast of the North American continent ice-free except for Seattle, but California is buzzing with activity for the holidays.

This year's summer file is decent - it can even be said to be a big disappointment, not only did it not be able to reproduce the glory of last year's "Independence Day", but the current annual box office champion has been bagged by "Los City Confidential", and the fall file defeated the summer file, which is also the first time in North American film history.

Now, everyone is looking forward to the holiday season, to see if Thanksgiving and the power of Christmas can recreate the box office glory and return the North American box office market to the "normal track", even the most daring people have no way to imagine that the annual champion of North America belongs to a suspenseful drama work in the autumn file, which ...... It's really too deviant -- reform is urgent, but it also needs to be taken slowly, and this bite becomes a big fat man, and it really can't bear it.

It's a pity that people are disappointed," Mortal King 2: Annihilation. Kombat: Annihilation" and "Flubber" are not comparable to the summer season, let alone "L.A. Confidential".

With only two weeks left in 1997 and little time left for the North American film market, "L.A. Confidential" actually made history and won the 1997 national and global box office championship, just two weeks away. This surprised the major film companies, and many media began to panic. Now, everyone's hopes are pinned on the three new titles that will be released in the third week of December.

"Titanic", "007: Tomorrow's Empire" Never。 Dies)" and "Perfect".

This is a very interesting thing, such a match is rare even in the summer file, the strong collision of the three works, the result is even more unpredictable, Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox teamed up against MGM Pictures, Sony Columbia Pictures, Hollywood's eight major studios accounted for half of the country in this week, and the outcome of the head-on confrontation was full of countless possibilities.

"Titanic", as the most expensive work at the end of the century, has been full of countless topics from the beginning of filming, the initial investment was only 100 million US dollars, but then gradually began to lose control, James Cameron is like a dinosaur that can never be fed, and the cost control is like a wild horse, first breaking through 150 million, and then breaking through 165 million...... Before the movie was released, Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox officially announced a cost figure of $200 million.

This is the first work in film history to cost $200 million, and more importantly, unlike "Independence Day", the two leading actors of "Titanic" Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are not at the top level, and the combined salaries of the two are not comparable to a Hugo, which means that "Titanic" squandered sky-high shooting costs.

In addition, the filming cycle of "Titanic" was delayed again and again, and the filming was originally scheduled to be completed in six months, then it was delayed to eight months, and finally it took nine months to complete the shooting. Not to mention that as a director, James is known for his violent temper, repeatedly clashing with the rest of the crew, and constantly spreading trivial and unfavorable news, which makes Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox anxious.

All this is reminiscent of a familiar work - "Future Water World".

Although "Independence Day" created an incredible box office miracle last year, none of the works in this year's summer schedule have been able to replicate this trajectory, so that the enthusiasm of the North American market has gradually been extinguished, and people are reminded of the disastrous box office of "Future Water World" - and "Batman and Robin".

The same costs are out of control again and again, the same internal contradictions within the crew, the same works with computer special effects, the same works with the theme of "water", and the same works that are much more topical than the movie itself......

There are too many similarities between "Titanic" and "Future Water World", and the cost of the former is even more incredible than $200 million - what does this mean? It means that even if the North American box office of the film exceeds $400 million, it may not be profitable, and it must rely on the global box office to achieve the goal; It means that "Titanic" must replicate the miracle of "Independence Day" in order to satisfy the appetite of the two major production companies, and to avoid the possibility of replacing "Future Water World" as the first disaster in film history.

This is almost an impossible task.

All the media are discussing the box office prospects of "Titanic", and more than two-thirds of them are not optimistic that this work can create a box office miracle, and there are even many opinions that "this work will become the most terrible disaster in film history", and it has received a lot of support; The remaining one-third of the conservative views, although not so direct, do not have much hope that the "Titanic" will reach the level of "Independence Day", but they think that this work may not be a disaster, but it is difficult to work miracles.

Before its release, the prospect of "Titanic" was already clouded.

What's more, the opponent "Titanic" faced was an absolute summer heavyweight player: "007: Tomorrow's Empire".

Two years ago, "007: GoldenEye" was released, Pierce Brosnan took over the position of James Bond, which was highly praised and considered the most elegant 007 in history, and even many people compared him with Sean Connery, and it was also a huge success at the box office, which rejuvenated the "007" series, and made the precarious MGM grab a lifesaver again.

Now, the "007: Empire of Tomorrow" is coming strongly, costing 110 million US dollars, and the momentum is huge.

Originally, MGM was going to release it in the summer of this year, but due to the late start of filming - it didn't start until April this year, and it didn't finish until September. However, it was too late to postpone the release to next summer, and MGM couldn't afford to wait, so it was arranged to be released during the holidays, looking forward to the long vacation that would bring excellent results to the film.

When "007: Tomorrow's Empire" collides with the "Titanic", who will win the final victory? Most of the media chose the former, not only because of the excellent results of the previous game "007: GoldenEye", but also because Pierce Brosnan was also well received; Because of the strong appeal of the "007" series, it has an unbreakable attraction for fans' viewing inertia; Also because people believe that the "Titanic" is very likely to become a disaster.

This makes this week's North American weekend box office charts exciting, whether it is "007: Tomorrow's Empire" crushing "Titanic", or "Titanic" crushing "007's Tomorrow's Empire", which is a painful defeat for losers; Or if there is a win-win situation between the two and a fiasco for the two, it will be even more unpredictable. Even in the summer season, such a grand occasion is rare.

What's more, no one will forget the existence of "perfection".

As a comedy drama film, "Perfect" cost $50 million, even compared to the two works released at the same time. Although this work is just a comedy movie, it is incomparable to the two competitors in terms of first weight, but it is definitely not inferior in terms of attention, and even slightly better.

The teaming up of Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunter and James L. Brooks is a lot of talk; However, it is not as good as Hugo, who appeared in the list of producers as a screenwriter. This is the second time Hugo has acted as an independent screenwriter after "Before Sunrise", and unlike "Before Sunrise", Hugo did not participate in the performance this time, but was just a pure screenwriter. This will also be an important test - the best time to verify Hugo's screenwriting skills and standards.

The expectation of Hugo's screenwriting works has also made the topic of "perfection" hot.

Interestingly, Hugo and "Titanic" are also very close, he was once infinitely close to the position of the leading actor, but he finally rejected the proposal and recommended it to his best friend Leonardo, but Hugo still played a cameo role in the movie; And now "Titanic" is trying to replicate the box office of Hugo's classic work "Independence Day", and it has to fight against Hugo's screenwriting work "Perfect", which is really interesting.

In the face of such a lively scene, although the reporters did not find Seside to interview Hugo, the telephone interview still contacted Hugo, and Nicholas McLen's aggressive question made Hugo laugh, "I have confidence in 'Titanic', this is a very good work, I just hope that the 'perfect' results are not too ugly - I will carefully read the film reviews about this work, especially the part about the screenwriter." ”

Nicholas was quite surprised, in terms of box office selection, Hugo chose "Titanic" almost without any hesitation, which is completely different from the current mainstream thinking of the media. "Haven't you read the newspaper lately? None of us think so. ”

"Nick, are you sure you want to talk to me about the correctness of the media's opinions?" Hugo's rhetorical question also made Nicholas laugh.

"Of course, why not, because this time I think the media point of view is correct." Nicholas replied with a smile, but he heard Hugo's noncommittal lip smacking, "Otherwise, we bet that the box office of 'Titanic' will definitely fail." ”

"Business or private?" Hugo was in the mood.

Nicholas thought about it, but still didn't intend to make Leonardo ugly, so he said, "Private matter." ”

"Done! What about the stakes? "Hugo was in full swing.

Nicholas thought about it seriously, "In the media interview, shout the other person's name and say, 'I love you'. ”

Hugo laughed, "Nick, I won't accept your courtesy." It was as if he had won the bet, and it made Nicholas laugh and cry.