The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 1358 Steady as a Rock
Anson Wood, the chosen one born to break historical records.

Who could have thought that "The Sunshine of the Heart" would break records again and again, and in the commercial box office market, it was a collective surprise.

In this wave of momentum, there is no reason not to continue to seize the opportunity.

However, Focus Features said "no" -

It's not that they refuse to continue to reap box office revenue, but that they refuse to be carried away by the wave of hype.

Now all the media are stirring up trouble, all the people in the industry are adding fuel to the fire, and voices from all sides seem to be saying that "Eternal Love" may be the next "When Harry Met Sally" or even the next "Forrest Gump". All kinds of expectations have exceeded the limit.

But, is it really?

Indeed, the performance of "Eternal Love of Dreams" in its first week of premiere was incredible, subverting all the imagination of Hollywood in an unbelievable manner; however, precisely because of this, we should remain sober and calm.

Now, all kinds of praise and criticism have completely changed the market's expectations for "Eternal Love". Audiences are looking forward to a "Ghost" or "Sleepless in Seattle", but what they see in the cinema is "Amelie" or "Before Sunrise"——

Don't get me wrong, "Amelie" and "Before Sunrise" are both excellent works and have become acclaimed classics among veteran movie fans; the key point here is that the misalignment of expectations may bring a huge psychological gap and completely change the audience's feelings about the work.

What's more, the box office performance of "Amelie" and "Before Sunrise" was mediocre. The promotion and dissemination of the movies still rely on DVD rentals and sales, and only a small group of people really like them.

At present, various voices are convincing people that "The Sun Is Shining" is "Ghost", but this still cannot change the fact that it is actually "Amelie"——

Focus Features needs to keep calm.

This is not easy.

In fact, Focus Features has also been eager to make a move. In the overwhelming wave of praise, from previews to media reviews to weekend box office, all aspects have proved that the reputation of "Eternal Love" has unlimited potential. They should open the floodgates and promote it with all their strength to create a box office myth.

However, at the critical moment, Focus Features still grasped its remaining sanity.

In the history of North American films, there are countless works that received rave reviews, achieved great success, and even made history during their previews, but were ruined by incorrect expansion plans.

The most classic one is "Edward Scissorhands".

In 1990, "Edward Scissorhands," directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, was screened in two theaters, setting a new single-theater box office record of $. The media's comprehensive review also broke through points, receiving rave reviews.

The media was in a frenzy, not only praising the film for its unlimited potential and possibilities, but also believing that the film would win a place in the awards season.

20th Century Fox, which had originally held no hope for the film, was so overjoyed that it decided to strike while the iron was hot amidst the waves of praise.

In the second week of its release, the film was directly expanded to more than 1,000 theaters.

In 1990, movies shown in theaters were a minority after all; movies shown in theaters were the mainstream. "Edward Scissorhands" can be said to have entered the mainstream vision in one fell swoop.

However, the film hit a wall. The Gothic weirdo love story failed to win widespread resonance among the audience, and criticisms and complaints poured in.

Although the film eventually became a classic after the passage of time, at the time, such a shocking work was at the center of controversy.

The box office has been sluggish and has failed to generate any corresponding momentum.

In the end, the North American box office was only $56 million, which was a good performance when the top box office generally reached $100 million at the time. Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder also became popular idols. However, the film ultimately failed to make any splash during the awards season; 20th Century Fox invested $25 million to produce this film, but ultimately failed to make money and even lost some money.

Of course, 20th Century Fox later made a lot of money by renting videotapes and DVDs.

But at that time, the wrong expansion strategy still caused 20th Century Fox to suffer a heavy loss.

If we are not careful, "Eternal Love" might become the second "Edward Scissorhands", which will be critically acclaimed but not commercially successful, thus ruining its own bright future.

Amid the hustle and bustle, Focus Features managed to pull the reins with its remaining sanity and did not choose a one-step expansion strategy, but they still made slight adjustments based on the original expansion strategy.

Originally, Focus Features planned to expand the film to about 400 theaters in the second week; but now, the ubiquitous craze is changing the atmosphere, so Focus Features has decided to take a slightly bigger step and increase the number to nearly 700.

In Focus Features' view, this is a crucial step forward.

Unfortunately, in the eyes of the media, Focus Features is indeed timid and cowardly.

"A small company is a small company, and it's small-minded."

"Being too cautious, I'm afraid I'll miss the opportunity."

"Wait, could it be that Universal Pictures killed off Focus Features?"

There are a lot of complaints and speculations flying around, and one can clearly feel the turbulence and noise of the situation, but it is unknown what the real intentions and thoughts are hidden behind this. The whole world is in chaos.

It's very noisy.

However, Focus Features still stood firm and quietly stabilized the situation.

It turns out that Focus Features was wise.

On the surface, the reputation and box office of "Eternal Love" seem unstoppable; but everything is just an illusion. The crowds of moviegoers are mainly concentrated in big cities. People in the central region and those small cities have no interest in such literary and artistic films that only senior movie fans would like.

No matter how good the reputation is, it’s useless if they don’t care.

Moreover, the media celebrated with great fanfare, but the box office of "Eternal Love" on its opening weekend was only a little over 20 million.

That's it?

Isn't it normal for a debut of just $20 million to be a normal thing in the spring season? The media was chattering that this year's spring season finally saw the light of day, but the box office figures were not significantly different from previous years.

Sure enough, the media knows how to spread nonsense!
Ha ha.

Therefore, Focus Features will continue to focus on expanding its cinema chains in major cities along the two coasts, sporadically adding cinema chains in major cities in the central region, and unwaveringly locking in its target audience. This strategy quickly brought in rich rewards.

In 2004, in the fourth week of March, "Eternal Love of Dreams" continued its popularity and continued its history-making pace with an astonishing performance of US dollars at the single-theater box office. It set a new record for the single-theater box office in a wide-ranging release for the second consecutive week, and finally earned million US dollars at the box office.

boom! Boom boom boom!
The entire Hollywood was collectively stunned, in shock as if they had a heart attack.

(End of this chapter)