Hollywood legendary director

"The film tells a magical story that looks amazing, mixed with a little bit of epic flavor, and the horror and concentrated performance from Nicole Kidman is considered the most in place. I believe she can replace it. Other monsters have become the biggest nightmare of a child’s childhood."-"Guardian"

"The style established by the director Chris Weitz for the film feels more like a routine rather than an elegant routine. The editing of the film is also not very satisfying, and it is too hasty which leads to a sense of compulsion." — -"critic"

"The special effects of the film are magnificent and magical, but the magical dream is lost."-"The Times"

......

The evaluation of "Golden Compass" after its premiere is not high. Whether it is a film critic or an audience who actually walks into the theater to watch the film, it can be roughly said: adults feel that this film is not big enough, sorry for such a high production cost, and children I also felt that the film was too difficult to understand and fell into a misunderstanding in positioning.

Investor Xinxian Pictures, and publisher Warner Pictures—the former created the classic production of "Lord of the Rings", while the latter made "Harry Potter" popular all over the world.

It can be said that these two studios are the leading figures in the rise of Hollywood magic themes in recent years, but when the two come together to make a movie, there seems to be no reason not to make an excellent magic movie.

However, the truth is cruel.

Xinxian and Warner use a living example to tell us that 1+1 may even be less than 1.

From a more superficial point of view, the new line of "Lord of the Rings" is an adult fantasy film, and Warner's "Harry Potter" is a children's fantasy film, so they put together a children's fantasy like "Golden Compass". "Epic" blockbuster.

But the problem is that the original meaning of the work is "epic", not "child".

So no matter how you watch such a movie, I feel awkward.

As a work adapted from a European masterpiece, the treatment received by "The Golden Compass" is simply too different from that of "Lord of the Rings".

"Lord of the Rings" directly drove the global magic fever, and "Golden Compass" did not even raise the audience's interest in understanding the original, which is almost inferior to a quasi-child film like "The Chronicles of Narnia".

After officially entering the film, there is almost a trend of children's films in the development of the story.

Some of the inkings that should have been focused on were not inked, making the audience look a little clouded.For example, why does the authority of the Holy See divide children's spirit beasts, and what is the purpose of the experiment?

And such a small-scale conflict between a group of children and a few tribes has been exaggerated as "epic", which is more ridiculous than in the "Chronicles of Narnia", a group of children playing games with a group of animals. , The battle in the dark night, there was no excitement at all.

The plot is thin, and the war scene lacks atmosphere. The two major elements required for an epic film are not shown in the film, and only the pictures and special effects are left boring.

In general, it may be that the market is a little tired of the aesthetics of magical themes, like last year's "Dragon Knight", hasn’t it also lost money, or Nicole Kidman’s box office poison’s strong physique really can’t help but believe it-since 2003 After winning the Oscar, the former Mrs. Cruise seemed to be caught in the curse of the queen.

Films like "Copying Your Wife", "Translation Storm", "A Fairy Wife", and "Dog Town" starring her before were basically neither applauded nor popular, and Nicole was ridiculed by the media for this. "Box office poison."

This time, Nicole planned to use "Golden Compass" to justify her title of "Hollywood Remuneration Sister", but unfortunately, as always, "Golden Compass" was killed.

A cost-effective actress who used to "make 8 dollars for every dollar invested", her salary remained between 13 million US dollars and 15 million US dollars. "Golden Compass" pay cuts.

Even her die-hard fans are also complaining on the Internet, "Nicole always picks the wrong script, I hope she can learn the lesson this time."

......

The results of the first weekend of the "Golden Compass" premiere are out.

3,500 theaters won 26.12 million box office, and the average single theater is only 7,462 dollars.

Xie Yi, the president of New Line, sat in the boss chair, shaking hands with data.

Since the premiere, he has faintly worried, but he doesn't want to become a reality.

On the side, the distribution manager is still reporting some unfavorable news, such as the reputation of the film, the media and the Internet have brought a lot of rhythm, it is very easy to dispel the desire to watch the movie...

Shay leaned heavily back in his chair and sighed.

This time, it really hit people.

"What's the news from Warner?" Shay worked hard to cheer up and not be affected by the momentary market coldness.

"Um...I heard that they are negotiating to withdraw the remaining publicity funds and reduce losses." The distribution manager replied.

"Shortsighted. The top priority should be to guide the momentum and suppress the unfavorable coverage of the film..."

"Warner won't listen to us." The release manager shook his head slightly, somewhat discouraged.

He knew that Warner internally complained about their new line, believing that overlapping businesses and wasting resources were a problem left over from the early development process and needed to be resolved.

But like Shay, he doesn't want to be included in Warner Pictures, and his status and power are not guaranteed.

For no other reason, Warner could not squeeze out of position.

If the new line is incorporated, the best result is that the old people such as the new line retreat to the second line, completely marginalized.

"Where is the theater?"

"The screen may be reduced."

Definitely.

Is it a waste of resources that are not used?According to the current situation, "Golden Compass" has decided that it has no potential to increase the box office.

The two were silent.

This time, the board of directors is not easy to explain.

No matter how special the status of the new line is, it is also because it is well managed. Without this premise, it would not be so easy to talk.

If the general project fails, at most summarize a report, reflect on it, and the 180 million big project failed, Shay himself is a little at a loss.

He is certain that compared with the previous preferential treatment, he will not have it from now on.

My mind was buzzing, and in just a few days, the situation changed so quickly that it was trance.

Shay couldn't figure out how it would become like this, and couldn't understand why the audience did not accept "The Golden Compass" so much.

The movie is not bad, but it is not popular.

Shay's feelings of bereavement wrapped around him, and he couldn't even get angry. He didn't know who to blame, or the film was a mistake from the beginning of the project.

Shay fell ill.

When I went to bed at night, my throat dries badly. The huge pressure and inexplicable fear and regret overwhelmed such a traditional film and television senior manager.

Warner finally rejected his proposal.

Even the last bit of luck, the idea of ​​expecting the film to come back overseas was not given to him.

Propaganda funding has been cut, and unfavorable public opinion is completely ignored. Those overseas audiences only need to pay attention to the film's screening, and they will understand what "Golden Compass" will be.

In the Internet age, the speed of information transmission is too fast. Warner does not expect to spend more to cover up. It may have some effect, but it is not necessary.

Word of mouth can't be saved, the screening has been declining, with little success and big money effort, no one wants to do it, even if the new line is a subsidiary of Time Warner.

As the schedule pressure drew closer, hospitals and businessmen together, the total box office in the first two weeks of December fell by 13% compared to previous years. There is a chain of theaters in the United States that did not make much money.

There have been so many films released this Christmas, and there will be a good income. As a result, "Beowulf" was pulled across in November, and "Golden Compass" was not very good in December. Compared with the fierce competition during the summer, this year’s Christmas is fundamental It's not at the top.

Can you imagine that among so many blockbusters, none of them can exceed 50 million in the first weekend box office?

During the summer vacation, there were several films that broke 100 million in the first week, so the gap is too big.

When the market is cold, the worst is the cinema.

You know, many of them are still paying close attention to financing, building new theaters, and expanding the scale of revenue. Who can be happy about this?

Under this premise, "I Am a Hero" has entered the theater's focus list.

Subsequently, "I Am a Hero" was previewed internally, and major theaters actively participated.

After the trial screening, Lionsgate won the number of openings of 3420 paintings for the first time in theaters that the audience did not pay attention to. This was a small breakthrough. This also shows that Lionsgate has begun to become more successful after integrating overseas distribution. Weight it up.