north american box office | good reputation is useless, "transformers: origins" box office is dismal
2024-09-23
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"autobots, assemble!"
the first place in the north american movie box office chart last weekend was widely expected to be won by paramount's animated film transformers one. in particular, the film achieved good box office in various advance screenings that began in the middle of last week, so the industry once predicted that its opening box office would be around 40 million us dollars.
transformers: origins poster
in the end, "transformers: origins" was released in 3,978 theaters in north america, and only earned $25 million in the opening box office. it was instead overshadowed by the long-running "beetle: darkseid 2" which earned $26 million over the weekend, and could only rank second, which was surprising.
as the first transformers animated feature film in nearly 40 years, this new film, which cost $75 million, is aimed at nostalgic audiences and family groups, especially father-son combinations. in terms of word of mouth, the film received an 89% freshness rating on the film review website rotten tomatoes, far surpassing various live-action transformers films. in addition, the audience interviewed after the weekend screening also gave it a high score of a. so, what went wrong that made it fail to successfully attract enough target audiences? perhaps no one can explain why.
another new film in the weekend box office chart is the restricted horror film never let go starring halle berry from lionsgate. the film was released in 2,667 theaters and earned only $4.5 million in opening box office, ranking fourth. just the weekend before, the game, also produced by lionsgate, only earned $2.69 million in opening box office, setting the worst opening record in the career of the lead actor dave bautista.
so far in 2024, lionsgate has not produced any box office hits. you know, in 2023, they accounted for 6.55% of the annual north american box office. "john wick 4" alone earned $187 million in north american box office, ranking ninth in the annual box office. this year, lionsgate has released 14 movies, two more than last year, but the total box office is only about $190 million, not much more than the box office of "john wick 4" alone.
poster of some kind of material
the sixth place on the weekend box office chart was also a new film. the horror film the substance, directed by coralie farria and starring demi moore, won the best screenplay award at the cannes film festival this year and has been screened at many film festivals around the world. the word of mouth is quite polarized and it is full of topics. last weekend, the film was officially released in 1,949 theaters in north america and finally earned $3.1 million in the opening box office, which is not amazing. however, for the entire market, this number is a subtle indication of a trend.
the distributor of "something substantial" is not a hollywood giant or a well-known independent film company, but mubi, a streaming media company specializing in online on-demand services for niche art films. founded in 2007, mubi only began to enter the us cinema market in 2016. however, films such as "ollie's happiest day" distributed by it were only screened on a small scale in very few theaters in new york and los angeles on the east and west coasts of the united states. for it, such a large-scale distribution as "something substantial" is the first time in history. prior to this, the largest work released by mubi was "passages" released in 2023, but it was only screened in 114 theaters, less than one-tenth of the current "something substantial".
so, what exactly prompted mubi to make this attempt? the answer is probably inseparable from the changes in the entire north american film industry in recent years. affected by the epidemic and strikes, the supply of mainstream blockbusters is insufficient, and the cinema industry is complaining and trying every means to find new sources to supplement. as a result, many non-mainstream works that may have only been shown in a few theaters in new york and los angeles in the past have the opportunity to be released on a large scale.
prior to this, a24 films' "civil war", ifc films' "the devil's late show", and neon films' "the long legs" all achieved quite good box office results after large-scale release. in the next period of time, focus features' "conclave", lionsgate's coppola's new film "metropolis", and briarcliff films' trump biopic "the apprentice" will be screened in one or two thousand theaters in north america. before the epidemic, the distribution strategies of the above films might not have been like this.
in addition to the change in the attitude of theaters, the change of american audiences is another factor. in the past, audiences in new york and los angeles have always been regarded as internet celebrities who lead the reputation of the film industry. however, the situation seems to have changed after the epidemic. as american media people have lamented before, the audiences in these two metropolises, who have always claimed to be the most fond of movies, are increasingly unwilling to go to the theater to watch niche movies for various reasons. this is reflected in the box office. so far this year, the box office of films that have chosen to be released on a small scale in new york and los angeles has generally been very bad.
in the past, the reason why film companies chose this distribution method was that the audiences in these two metropolises could play a role in driving the wave of movie-watching. niche films were first screened on a small scale in new york and los angeles, achieving high attendance and word-of-mouth effects, and then gradually promoted to major cities in north america, and the box office results followed; after that, they might even have a bright future during the awards season. however, nowadays, these internet celebrities seem to no longer have a strong interest in such films, which has caused them to lose the reason to promote them nationwide, and even affected the chances of some films to hit the oscars.
instead of doing this, it is better to change the idea and directly roll out nationwide. this has become a new idea for small distributors like mubi, and the theaters that are eager to be fed are also happy to do so. last thursday, the american theater industry association announced that the eight major theater chains in the country have pledged to invest at least $2.2 billion in the next three years to modernize and upgrade all aspects of theaters, hoping to attract more audiences to theaters. the $2.2 billion is expected to be spent on the renovation of screens, projection equipment, audio, seats, air conditioning, lighting, signs, carpets, bars, restaurants and other facilities. some theaters even said that they would add pickleball courts outside the screening halls, just to provide consumers with a full range of entertainment experiences, "not just to watch movies."
the paper reporter cheng xiaojun
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