May 27-June 2, 2005 -

Movies - Ranking - Number of Weeks in Release - Number of Theaters - Average - Box Office of the Week - Total Box Office - Production Cost (Millions)

Star Wars Prequel 3 - 1st place - Week 2 - 3663 - $22,485 - $82,361,886 - $282,804,625 - $113

Madagascar - 2nd place - Week 1 - 4131 - $17,494 - $72,267,556 - $72,267,556 - (unannounced)

"The Longest Yard" - 3rd place - Week 1 - 3634 - $19,181 - $69,704,254 - $69,704,254 - $82

"Exorcism Video" - 7th place (up 3 places) - week 6 - 51 - $76,413 - $3,897,063 - $8,129,498 - $0. 45

DreamWorks has fallen, another heel!

This week's excitement in the North American film market is not only on the big screen, but also in the diversity of the film industry.

It's no surprise that "Star Wars Prequel 3" has taken the world by storm, but it is surprising that it can win the championship for three weeks, because in the media's predictions, this week belongs to "Madagascar", and in Wall Street's expectations, this week also belongs to "Madagascar".

Jeffrey Katzenberg's remark that "we're confident that it's better than Shark Story" is still ringing in our ears, better than Shark Story ($56.01 million in the first week), should it be close to the first week of Shrek 2 $1. 4.3 billion ($20.94 million has been collected in two days in the previous week)?It's a new work, so it's a discount, $8000-$90 million is not too much, right?

Compared to the dream that Katzenberg weaved at the IPO last November and last month's shareholder meeting, it is not too much.

$80 million to $90 million in the first week is exactly what investors are expecting. But now, 468 more theaters have not won the championship, and a single theater can't even beat "The Longest Code......

According to this first-week box office, 55% Rotten Tomatoes freshness and 67% audience favorite, "Madagascar" is unlikely to have the expected revenue at all, in other words, DreamWorks can't rely on it to turn over, and the gap in annual profit expectations is not only not narrowing, but getting bigger and bigger, which is disappointing!

So as far as the film market is concerned, "Madagascar" had a beautiful first week at the box office, but in the current situation of DreamWorks, it failed.

"Its box office performance is within our expectations, and we are confident that it will sell more than 40 million DVDs worldwide. DreamWorks CEO, Katzenberg, once again tried to weave a dream for investors: "The sequel has been established, and we will do our best to make it a successful brand like the Shrek series." ”

Anyone with a discerning eye knows what tricks DreamWorks is playing, and this time it is disappointing, so they say, "Wait, it won't be next time", and then the next time it is still disappointing, and they say "Believe me again, absolutely not"...... I want investors to continue to live in a dream bubble and give DreamWorks enough time to change the real situation.

What is the real situation? DreamWorks doesn't even dare to announce its final production cost, 100 million, 70 million, 50 million, what does $72.67 million mean in the first week?

This may also deceive ordinary investors, but excluding Wall Street, where there are no stupid people, they are stupid enough if they have been fooled once or twice, and there are no good people there, and they will be very angry when they are disappointed, and DreamWorks has not made people happy this year, and naturally no one wants to believe Katzenberg's big words anymore.

In the words of the directors and advisers of a number of securities investment companies: complete loss of confidence!

Stock price, fall!

Throughout mid-to-late May, DreamWorks' stock price fluctuated, and with another failure, it now falls to just $28 per share, which was its initial price last year. No one thought that this invincible independent film company would fall from the clouds and fall into the quagmire in just half a year.

This is due to the fact that it has not met the expectations of shareholders, and because its full-year profit expectations are becoming more and more hopeless.

The Wall Street Journal and other media all say that "DreamWorks has taught Wall Street a lesson", "DreamWorks dreams shattered", "Hollywood money is not easy to make", etc., this is the real situation of it, Wall Street wants money, money, money, but DreamWorks can't take it...... Continuing on, DreamWorks doesn't seem to have any other way but to sell itself for money.

P> DreamWorks' troubles don't stop there, "Madagascar" will never have a North American weekly box office title, because the following week is "The Exorcism" week, in addition to three other new films released on a large scale: "Iron Fist Man", "Summer of Jeans", and "Lord of Dogtown".

Does it want to win the week in such a week? It's a Tom Cruise movie: Mission Impossible.

No one knows how mixed the feelings of Spielberg, Katzenberg, Jeff Smai, Terry Price, and others at the moment are, but they must be very, very complicated. They made a mistake as huge as Jennifer Lopez's ass, as in another Cruise movie: Rain Man.

They thought it was a fool, but it turned out to be a genius.

With only 51 theaters with the largest screening scale, it swept away a total of $8.12 million at the North American box office!

"Exorcism Video" has advanced into the 10 million box office club, and no one can stop it!

If you look at how low its production and distribution costs are, you will know that every movie ticket it sells, it will get back gold......!

Katzenberg will go from the ugly liar of Jim Carrey's "The King of Big Talk" to the handsome racer in Cruise's "Thunder" who comes back from failure, wins the championship, and returns with a beautiful hug.

However, the TET miracle has not really happened, and there is still a possibility that it will lose in the "Exorcism Battle", becoming another example of a large-scale distribution failure, and perhaps even making Lionsgate lose what he is earning now...... Is it possible?

This movie war, which has been greatly anticipated by the media and fans, has started in all places outside the box office rankings, and some clues have also appeared.

The negative news for TET is that the rating has become R-grade, and the average weekly box office of a single museum has fallen from above 100,000, and the momentum has eased.

But "Emily Rose's Exorcism" (Teoer) is also in big trouble, as it held a critics' screening the other day with a slew of well-known and unknown film critics in attendance, and the response doesn't seem to have been great. In the days leading up to the release, because of the need to cooperate with the publicity, the release time is up, and you have to see people in life or death, and film reviews have entered the public eye one after another......

Just 45% Rotten Tomatoes Freshness, 5. 5/10 points! The film critics didn't give it much good looks, not because it had anything to do with the exorcism controversy, but on the film itself, it was the structure of the exorcism court scene, not that it was bad, but it made many film critics feel bad:

"What started out as creepy gradually turned into a dull symposium. The actors have been rambling about religion for so long, but people are eager to see which of them spit a little pea soup (the green liquor that Regan spits out in "The Exorcist") at the jurors. —2/4, Chuck Wilson, LA Weekly

"Emily Rose can't bring any unique style of courtroom trials or scary scenes. The writers and directors just gave the legend a little wrinkle. - 2/4, Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

"The film is more like a courtroom drama than a horror film, and it's made like a sequel to a TV series: Law & Order: SSU (Special Evil). —2/5, Bill Miller, The Arizona Republic

In terms of exorcism, horror, and thriller, film critics are not satisfied! They miss "The Exorcist" and "The Exorcism Video."

The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Sherke commented with a 2/4 score: "This film, which mixes horror, courtroom and real life dramas, does not achieve the unity of atmosphere and emotional continuity, it is broken, not more frightening than the Exorcism Video, until the heart breaks." ”

Of course, 45% of film critics gave positive reviews, including Roger Albert, an old Catholic man who has a special attitude towards exorcism films, or not to rate, but to praise it as soon as it is reviewed, giving Teoer three stars: "Interesting and confusing films." ......

For some reason, it didn't take off to the height it gave us at the beginning, maybe it couldn't, maybe it was too loyal to the issues it raised.

A movie like The Exorcist would be a better movie, establishing demons and exorcisms, and horror scenes all present, and those would be good entertainment. A film that keeps an open mind inevitably lacks a strong and powerful ending like a slam dunk. Emily Rose's story can be read multiple times at the end, you didn't ask me, but I think she has a mental illness. I think of "Exorcism Video" again, it is a shocking exception, there is movie entertainment, there is film thinking, I really don't know why. ”

The old man's preference for exorcism movies is obvious, and so is his love for tet, comparing the two film reviews, he likes teoer, but loves tet.

And for "The Exorcist" (DPTTE), another film in The Exorcism, he also gave three stars, praising it: "This film is full of frightening atmosphere, which makes us expect nothing from Paul Schrader, but it also has spiritual weight and texture, boldly dealing with the possibility of Satan being active in the world." ”

Paul Schrader apparently didn't live up to the critics' expectations of him, Albert was the exorcist film, but few of the other critics who attended the DPTTE screening had a good say, 30% fresh!4. 7/10 points. It's stinky before it has been released.

"A version that bears a bit like Rainey's Harlem version -- that is, they have the same problems, weak supporting characters, unintentionally hilarious lines, poor special effects. —2/5, Kevin Custer, Los Angeles Times

"Harlem's version has at least cheap thrills, Schrader's version has nothing. —2/4, Kyle Smith, New York Post

"Schrader's version is extremely boring, and just arranging the suspense doesn't make a horror film more appealing. ”――1。 5/4, Michael Ritzhofen, The Hollywood Reporter

Now the freshness is 45% for TEOER, 30% for DPTTE and ...... for TET 91%! is still dazzlingly red.

The two can't compare to the other, and the North American film critics can be said to be firmly in one camp, and the evaluation and word-of-mouth battle of this war has already decided the winner!

"Exorcism Video", a complete victory!

When Rotten Tomatoes put the three films together as a feature, when the relevant media reported on it, when the fans excitedly publicized the results...... On the eve of the war, Warner Bros., who only thinks about fishing in troubled waters, may not matter, but Sony, who has invested a lot, has a little trembling?

Don't be afraid! Only the box office is real, young audiences and random audiences are not determined by the critics, they don't even care too much about the box office, it's all about publicity! Teoer, who spends a huge amount of dollars, will beat TET completely in any aspect of publicity...... Don't be afraid......

The question is, even if the unentertaining teoer has a rating advantage, how much can it be liked by young audiences? And Jennifer Carpenter "Emily Rose" doesn't have the eye of teenagers like "Maggie" Nina Dobrev no matter how you look at it......

In fact, there is a propaganda aspect that is very difficult to say, the Internet. Although Teoer has placed advertisements on many mainstream entertainment websites, in terms of popularity, TET is significantly higher than it, on movie forums, and on video sites!

Tet's trailer and viral marketing videos such as "Demon Girl" are not comparable to Teoer's number of hits, and its viral mini-games, viral websites, etc., say "Pastor Cotton Marcus's Exorcism Diary" pseudo-record blog, which is even more popular than Teoer's official website.

So this battle now involves another level, the competition of propaganda!

Will this be a classic of new media triumphing over traditional media, or a model of traditional media suppressing new media?

If the former wins, it will immediately affect the entire film distribution and marketing system, affect the textbooks in the academy, and affect the main way the audience chooses movies in the future; if the latter wins, it means that it is not time for new media to take the position.

Internet vs Traditional

Video sites vs TV commercials, cinema ads

Viral short vs official trailer

Emerging social networking sites vs newspapers and magazines

Propagation vs receiving

Indie vs Hollywood

Independent film companies vs mainstream giants

......

In the new era of the 21st century, the emergence of the Internet has changed the whole world, but what about the film industry? Can Lionsgate, an independent company without media groups as its backing, rely on the power of the Internet to compete with the mainstream Hollywood giants?

Pseudo-documentary-old film remake, can it be officially promoted to a new film genre?

Can "Exorcism Video" create a commercial miracle that truly shocks the world?

Can Yunik Kueller prove his name as a genius?

"Emily Rose's Exorcism": 3,072 theaters, production fee of 19.3 million, 45% freshness, distributor Sony

"Exorcism Video": 2,110 theaters, production fee 450,000, 91% freshness, distributor lions

"The Exorcist Gaiden": 550 theaters, production fee of 30 million, 30% freshness, distributor WB

When June 3, 2005 arrived, a large number of people poured into the theater for the midnight show, and the night sky of the North American continent was filled with the sound of exorcism!

Exorcism battle, war!