Last weekend, three new films were released on a large scale in North America, and the opening results were mixed. On the other hand, the annual report released by the National Association of Cinema Owners (NATO) shows that the average movie ticket price in the United States has reached $10.53, a sharp increase of 15% from before the epidemic.
Viral marketing works wonders, and the box office of "Scream 6" goes high
"Scream VI," produced by Paramount Pictures, was released in 3,675 theaters last weekend and eventually earned $44.5 million at the opening box office, far exceeding industry expectations and continuing the strong momentum of horror films in the North American film market. The opening box office of $44.5 million is the best result of the "Scream" film series to date, surpassing the opening record of $34 million when the third film was released in 2000.
"Scream 6" poster
In the fifth part, released in January last year, on the one hand, the return of David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, the three old starring actors, and on the other hand, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Dylan Minnett and other new forces were introduced, carrying on the succession and making a good start for the restart of the "Scream" story.
The sixth part of this time continues the plot of the previous one, telling the story of the protagonist and his party who are chased by the "ghostface" killer again after moving to New York. Because the salary could not negotiate the relationship, the protagonist Neve Campbell withdrew from the production of this film, and the outside world was originally worried about whether this would make old fans abandon "Scream 6", but the box office proved that the vitality of this classic IP of horror films is really very strong.
"Scream 6" stills
Of course, careful publicity in advance is also essential. Since the end of last month, killers in the shape of "ghostfaces" have appeared in many downtown areas in the United States, attracting a large number of frightened passers-by to call the 911 police in a hurry. In the end, everyone found out that these were all deliberate gimmicks made by Paramount to promote "Scream 6". However, regardless of the controversy, such viral marketing has proved to be quite effective. Combined with the marketing offensive launched by the film's official account on social media, the topic of "Scream 6" was hot before it was released, and similar publicity techniques, in fact, Paramount had previously used before the release of the horror film "Dangerous Laughter", and the results were quite good.
On the eve of the release of "Scream 6", the "Ghostface" killer appeared in the New York subway.
A "ghostface" killer caught by a traffic monitor.
The sci-fi action film "Escape from the Cretaceous" (65) from Sony Pictures was also released in 3405 theaters, and received $12.3 million at the opening box office, which cannot be said to be very ideal. The film starred Adam Driver, and for various reasons, the release time of the film was changed from the original May 13, 2022, and was postponed at least four times. Generally speaking, this situation often indicates that the film company is not optimistic and confident about the distribution prospects of the work. And the film's current freshness of only 36% on the film review collection website "Rotten Tomatoes" does verify this.
"Escape from the Cretaceous" will be released in Chinese mainland at the end of this month.
"Escape from the Cretaceous" choreographer partners Scott Baker and Brian Woods became popular five years ago with the script of "A Quiet Place", and then promoted themselves to director to shoot "Fright Haunted House", and also made a unique style of low-cost horror films. However, this time, "Escape from the Cretaceous" has obviously far exceeded the world of independent films they are familiar with in the past, both in terms of story pattern and input cost.
"Champions," starring Woody Harrelson, also opened in 3,030 theaters over the weekend and earned only $5.15 million at the box office. The film takes the sports comedy route and is directed by 64-year-old Bobby Farrey. Speaking of which, Farelli has been in the industry for thirty years, and previously partnered with his brother Peter Farelli and made blockbuster comedies such as "Dumb and Agua" and "I'm Crazy for Mary" under the name of "Farelli Brothers". However, in 2018, Peter changed his course and directed the serious drama "Green Book" alone, and finally unexpectedly won the Oscar for Best Picture. It is said that the reason why his younger brother Bobby did not participate at that time was because he had been suffering from the loss of his son for many years and could not extricate himself. In 2012, his twenty-year-old son, Jess, died violently at home due to a drug overdose, leaving Bobby Farrery heartbroken. In recent years, he has finally regained his strength and has independently directed works such as the drama "Now", and this time "Master of Champions" is also the first feature film he independently directed after leaving his brothers.
"Master of Champions" poster
A remake of the 2018 Spanish title of the same name, "Master of Champions" tells the inspirational story of an alcoholic-addicted professional basketball coach who regains confidence and vitality on the community's "House of the Sun" basketball team. In the original Spanish version, people with real intellectual disabilities were used, but director Javier Fessel overcame many difficulties to make a masterpiece that was acclaimed and popular, and successfully won the highest honor of the 2019 Spanish Film Goya Awards.
This Hollywood remake is also Xiao Guicao, using a large number of amateur actors with autism or intellectual disabilities, which has won a lot of praise from the outside world. In fact, as early as that year's "I'm Mad for Mary" and "Lover's Eyes Out of Xi Shi", the Farelli brothers used such vulnerable groups as actors, and the two also won the Special Contribution Award from the American Disability Rights Group in 2020.
Cinema operators are optimistic about the future development of the market
Last week, as the official organization of the North American cinema industry, the National Association of Cinema Owners released its 2022 annual report, giving a lot of the latest data that the industry cares about.
In the three years of the epidemic, the number of screens in North America has fallen from 44,283 in 2019 to 40,263 in 2022, a decrease of only five percentage points, far better than external estimates. Especially at the beginning of the epidemic, when the cinema industry could really be described as mourning, there seemed to be news of theater closures and closures all over the United States and Canada; But at present, it seems that many theaters that collapsed at that time have since been taken over by new operators. On the whole, North American cinema operators are still optimistic about the future film market.
Last year, North America experienced a rise in everything, and movie ticket prices could not be left alone. According to the annual report, the average ticket price in 2022 came to $10.53, up 15% from $9.16 in 2019. In the same three years from 2016 to 2019, the average ticket price increased by only 8%. Obviously, the price of North American movie tickets in the past three years has risen quite obviously, on the one hand, it is affected by the general environment, on the other hand, the proportion of expensive tickets such as 3D and IMAX in the market is increasing.
Counting this 15% ticket price increase, if purely in terms of moviegoers, the North American film market needs to return to the level of 2019, at least $13 billion in total box office this year. Last year, the total annual box office in North America was $7.4 billion, and this year's most optimistic estimate is $9 billion, a considerable shortfall.
The annual report reveals that the so-called large-scale release of new films that are expected to be released simultaneously in at least 2,000 theaters this year is currently 107, a big increase from last year's 71, and almost the same as the 112 films in 2019. In the eyes of the National Association of Cinema Owners, this is the biggest guarantee to return the box office to pre-pandemic levels.
As for the rising ticket prices, the association also stressed that it is not only the price itself, but also the inflation factor to make a horizontal comparison. Because given the currency's increasingly worthless value, the average fare of $10.53 is even more affordable than the average fare in 1971. However, the association's calculation may also ignore the difference between the overall level of economic development in the United States: in the first three years of the 70s, the annual growth of US GDP was in the range of 3 to 5 percentage points, compared with only 2% per year last year. How many ordinary Americans and Canadians will continue to pay for movie tickets with an average price of $10.53 will be known at this time next year.