Chereads / Helming Hollywood / Chapter 280 - Box Office Battle

Chapter 280 - Box Office Battle

Whenever a movie is released, there will always be various evaluations. 

When evaluating it, sometimes people pay more attention to word-of-mouth, and sometimes people pay more attention to the box office. People naturally value the box office more than word of mouth for a commercial film.

After The Three-Body Problem was released, people focused more on watching the movie's box office numbers. How good the movie is will ultimately depend on its box office numbers.

And this movie did not disappoint. On the first day it was released, it took in a total of 32 million at the North American box office.

This figure has also amazed Hollywood. Although its box office figures are still slightly inferior to box office overlords such as Spider-Man, even in the North American market where blockbusters have continued to hit in recent years, the film's first day at the box office is also extremely eye-catching.

Apart from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Spider-Man, no other movies can compare with this one. It is not based on a popular novel, yet it has impressive box office figures. This fact alone makes it worth remembering.

It's not easy to create a series of movies by yourself. From this point of view, Levi is definitely successful.

Among science fiction movies, the box office figures of this movie can be said to be outstanding - even Star Wars Episode 1, released in 1999, only had a box office figure of 28 million on the opening day.

Of course, prices in 1999 were different from those in 2003, and Star Wars premiered on a Wednesday instead of a Friday. These differences also contributed to the difference in revenue between the two movies.

However, these slight differences cannot change people's good impression of The Three-Body Problem. 

In people's memory, Star Wars Episode 1's status among movie fans is unique. Box office statistics for this movie have exceeded it, which can also be beyond people's thinking.

There are many science fiction movies, but there are really not many that can compare with Star Wars.

Following this, people are naturally more concerned about his box office trends.

Therefore, three days later, when its box office figures for this weekend came out, many people immediately paid attention to this movie's box office. 

This movie had a box office figure of just over 90 million in three days, and the media are all marveling at the success of this movie.

This box office figure can be said to be amazing: this figure has even exceeded the 88 million for Harry Potter 2, released last year, and is only behind Spider-Man's first-week box office figure of 110 million.

Even The Lord of the Rings 1 did not have such high box office figures when it was released two years ago, but this movie's box office can be so high.

It can definitely be said to be one of the best movies this summer.

In fact, people have understood this situation as early as they watched the movie: in recent years, the bigger the scene and the bigger the movie is, the higher the box office numbers get. 

People are not satisfied with watching flying cars and exploding cars scenes, and looking forward to more novel scenes has become the only way to win at the box office.

However, guessing and seeing are two different things. Even if people had already expected that this movie's box office would be very high, when they actually saw its figures, people still praised it.

Being able to 'live up to expectations' is definitely a praiseworthy thing in Hollywood. I don't know how many movies have failed to meet the expectations.

In just three days, the North American box office grossed 90 million. Such a figure is consistent with the revenue of a blockbuster.

The first weekend can be said to have proved the popularity of this movie. Whether the box office of this movie can continue to rise depends on the subsequent box office of this movie. What follows is naturally the box office statistics for the week.

This time, the box office figure of 152 million also made people marvel: in the past few days, over the weekdays, it was still able to get 60 million at the box office, which is not easy.

And this also made people start to lament one thing: it is no problem that this movie's box office exceeds 700 million, and even higher is entirely possible.

And how many movies in the entire history of film have a box office of over 700 million?

In the past few years, Levi has always been more interested in literary films than commercial films. Although his movies are good, they are still not good at the box office. 

The worst Lost in Translation only had a 20 to 30 million box office, and the five movies combined were less than 1 billion. And now, this movie's box office is almost the sum of the past three movies. 

Such figures, how can people not marvel at the breakthrough this guy Levi has achieved at the box office?

People have to admire Levi's choice: he spent five years honing his shooting skills and accumulating a reputation. He spent five years filming TV series and saving money. Five years later, with a good enough reputation and material conditions, shooting such a blockbuster movie is a matter of course.

Compared with spending a lot of money every year to shoot some commercial films with a box office of 200 to 300 million dollars, this time, he directly chose to shoot a blockbuster and took in a huge box office in one go. 

Levi's choice was obviously smarter. Although he did not make much money in the film industry during these five years, his hard work still paid off.

It can be said that the box office results in this first week are definitely very successful. Judging from its current numbers and reputation, this movie's box office numbers will continue to increase.

But whether it can reach that number, the biggest question is whether this movie can be competitive enough.

How a movie performs at the box office, apart from its own standard, is also very important whether it can catch up with a good time. 

Saving Private Ryan suffered such a big loss. Because of that war, its reputation fell like no other. 

For commercial films, sufficient word-of-mouth is not something people pay attention to. What is more important is the competition for schedules.

The schedule of The Three-Body Problem is not particularly good because one week after, The Matrix 2 is released. The head-on confrontation between two science fiction movies so close to each other will definitely be a major event that affects the box office.

Compared with The Three-Body Problem, The Matrix has a better audience base. Science fiction movies are now very popular, and it is also a more popular story. 

Warner also has complete confidence in this movie. Their schedule arrangement is actually better than Levi's. The films that will be released later will have the previous movies as a warm-up, and they will be better in terms of the trend and sensational effect they cause.

Although this movie and The Three-Body Problem are actually about robots and aliens, and the stories are quite different, Warner still hopes that its movie can outperform them at the box office.

The Matrix 2 did not disappoint. Three days after its release, the figure of 92 million immediately surpassed The Three-Body Problem, setting a new weekend box office record for this year.

"This summer obviously belongs to science fiction movies."

At this time, the media has begun to make this sound. Two movies with sales exceeding 90 million in three consecutive days were an era that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.

For the Three-Body Problem, this is already the second week. Their box office in the second week has already begun to decline - commercial films are different from art films, and few can achieve reverse growth. After this weekend, the box office of Three Body has only increased by 40 million, reaching 190 million.

"Our movie will definitely surpass the Three-Body Problem."

Warner is also full of confidence in The Matrix. In three days, they had already set a record for this year's box office, which made them believe that they had already won at the box office.

However, the development of things was not as good as they expected.

When the weekend came, the box office number of The Matrix only reached 153 million - this number was basically the same as The Three-Body Problem, but their box office number in the first three days exceeded The Three-Body Problem, which means that in the remaining weekdays, their box office is actually not as good as The Three-Body Problem.

At this time, Three-Body Problem's sales this week have reached around 80 million. In the remaining days, the movie's box office rebounded, which brought their box office to 240 million.

This result can be said to be greatly unexpected. At this time, people also noticed that although The Matrix 2 was a box office hit, its reviews were not very good after its release.

"The movie is too exaggerated with action scenes. Action scenes that last more than an hour are meaningless."

"The director's focus is completely wrong. Science fiction movies should not be on par with low-level martial arts movies." 

"The ideas are too obscure, the actions are too gorgeous, and the plot is too fragmented."

People's evaluation of the movie The Matrix 2 is not very good. It lacks the sci-fi atmosphere of the first movie. There are too many fights made for the sake of blockbusters. 

It is completely stuck in the rhythm of a commercial film, which makes people not interested in it. The movie was slightly disappointing.

Compared to Levi, the Wachowski brothers still had too little experience. By the second film, their lack of grasp of the film began to show up.

The audience couldn't see this kind of disappointment in the first three days: the Wachowski brothers' deliberately created exciting fights still won the love of some viewers. 

However, this kind of movie has its shortcomings compared to The Three-Body Problem, and this gap gradually becomes apparent as time goes by.

If this situation is when there are no competitors, then it's okay. Science fiction fans will continue to watch even if they are dissatisfied with the director's poor shooting angle. However, when there are competitors like the Three-Body Problem, their movies are naturally in danger.

After the first week, the film's box office figure was still 158 million, finally winning the box office championship and surpassing Levi's film. But by the second weekend, the movie's box office numbers already showed signs of declining.

Ten days later, the box office of The Matrix 2 only reached 183 million. On the second weekend, it only took in 30 million at the box office!

The degree of decline in the box office for The Matrix 2 far surpasses The Three-Body Problem. Although it wins in the short-distance sprint, it is in danger in the long-distance sprint.

This competition has just reached its second week, and Levi's movie has already won!

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons 

Marcelo Maia

Britanna

Mandy G

Scott DePaepe

Oluwatimileyin Olayemi

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