This year's Warner is hard again.
The year-round streaming strategy seemed like the right choice at the beginning of the year, but when the North American film market returned to the billion-dollar level, the gambling strategy was heading for a collapse at a time when the Warner Annual Best opening record set by Godzilla vs. King Kong in April was slow to break.
HBO Max's subscriber growth is far less than Disney+, traditional streaming Netflix and Amazon have increased their competitiveness, and Warner's rough practice of throwing all theatrical blockbusters into streaming has promoted the effect of a nuclear bomb, but the actual effect is not even as good as an intercontinental missile.
The box office revenue of all its cinema films has been affected, "X Task Force", "Crying Man" and other films have suffered losses, and "Slam Dunk in the Air 2", which is slightly better, can directly return to the cost is also very hanging.
Finally waited for a "Dune".
I don't know if Warner is thinking that it is better to be wrong than to be wrong.
Before the release, it was announced that the streaming media would be launched a day earlier, so that the audience could watch the "zero point field" at home.
Fortunately, "Dune" has brought a certain publicity effect with the strong performance of the European market and high-quality word of mouth, and the original book has enough influence in Europe and the United States, and the box office performance in the first weekend is a pass.
$40.1 million, enough to win a North American box office chart.
Warner also finally broke the record of the best opening of the single film of the year.
For director Dennis Villeneuve, he also created the best opening result of directing a work.
The previous "Blade Runner 2049" had only $32.75 million in the first weekend, which was also easily broken.
But.
"Dune" is a Hollywood blockbuster that cost more than hundreds of millions of dollars.
Epic blockbuster.
The first weekend was actually more than the opening of the small-budget sequel "Moonlight Panic: Killing" of the previous week' more than 49 million.
This is actually quite embarrassing.
"Blade Runner 2049" itself is a tragedy of box office blood losses, if not even bigger.
It is only less than ten million dollars more than that, and it has not reached the point of "salted fish turning over".
The cost of "Dune" is expected to be 165 million, coupled with the huge publicity cost of A-class production, the box office net profit will have to earn at least 300 million US dollars.
That is to say, at least 500 million yuan in the world will make a steady profit (streaming on demand does not require additional on-demand payment, so the streaming media revenue is difficult to calculate).
The Simultaneous Release of China's Chinese market only met expectations, receiving 139 million yuan in the first week, which was converted into 21.77 million US dollars.
The two major markets in China and the United States combined are not comparable to the performance of "Shangqi" in the first week of more than 75 million.
Other markets have been released as early as a month ahead, while the Chinese and American markets have opened their mouths, and the global cumulative box office is only 220 million US dollars, which is far from the target of 500 million. (The next weekend box office will generally drop by about 50%)
It can be seen that "Dune" is very hard at publicity.
In China, a poster for the countdown to the release was also made.
Unfortunately, the reality is still too bone-chilling.
Dennis Villeneuve's personal style is not to cater to the slow pace of the current market, and the equally old-fashioned Ridley Scott, the new "Final Duel", which has been the biggest box office tragedy of the year with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and the popular fried chicken Judy Comer.
The next weekend there were only 2.1 million left at the box office, and the third week may be surpassed by "Shangqi"...
The cost of over 100 million yuan is basically adrift.
"Gladiator 2" in the case of non-cooperation with streaming media, how much cost can be taken, and even whether it can be officially established, is also hanging.
Of course, Villeneuve is not without opportunities.
"Dune" has a larger fan base than the Blade Runner series, and Warner is a rotten ship with three thousand nails in the publicity, so the box office of this epic blockbuster is not surprising enough, but it is not too bad.
However, the global film market has experienced a heavy blow in 2020, and streaming media have taken advantage of the opportunity, which directly led to a more difficult box office road for Villeneuve, whose style was not popular in the market.
It is no wonder that the director strongly opposes the decision to synchronize streaming, on the one hand, out of faith and respect for the art of film, on the other hand, it is a very practical box office share, and how much money goes into his pocket.
As a director and one of the leaders of the project, he certainly enjoys a share of the box office.
At the same time, it was also a golden opportunity for him to prove that he could make a profitable movie.
The previous masterpieces such as "Blade Runner 2049" and "Arrival" have lost money...
Even "Dune" can't help him, he wants to shoot other non-strong IP big productions, I'm afraid the studio will temporarily lose confidence in him.
There are pros and cons to everything.
It is true that streaming media affected the box office revenue of "Dune", and Villeneuve failed to justify his ability to earn box office in one fell swoop.
But it's also because of the streaming release that it's not over yet.
Warner promised to use a specific formula to ensure that the launch of the Dune sequel might not decline due to the box office cut caused by HBO Max.
Probably means that even if the box office loses, if the online on-demand data is considerable, the sequel may also have the possibility of giving the green light.
Originally, "Dune" planned to open two films first, but it may also be worried that Villeneuve's style will continue to be popular, so the second part depends on the box office situation of the first part (I am afraid that I want to facilitate the change of director to continue shooting).
Streaming distributions give a "excuse" to box office losses.
It's just so interesting.
The streaming media that Villeneuve opposed actually became a hope for him to turn the tables.
In any case, Dune has helped the North American market to remain alive.
Only the runner-up "Moonlight Panic: Killing" and the third runner-up "007: No Time to Die" remained in the tens of millions of box office receipts, and the market's 3 consecutive weeks of breaking 100 million were ended, but the total box office of 94 million was also passable, higher than the Chinese market weekend of 69.06 million US dollars, continuing to sit in the world's largest market.
The last weekend of October, which begins on October 29.
The Chinese market has finally waited for "007: No Time to Die", and "Chosin Lake" has ushered in the strongest opponent;
North America has a new goddess Anya Taylor-Joy's new work "Soho District Horror Night", even if the media reputation is not amazing enough, it is expected to challenge "Dune" with the just-needed attributes of thrillers. (North American thrillers are equivalent to Comedies in the Chinese Market)