In 2014, Keanu Reeves' first work "Fast Pursuit" swept the world, and all action fans went crazy, and as the series expanded, the audience's expectations became higher and higher.
The latest work in the series "Fast Pursuit 4" arrived as scheduled, Keanu Reeves once again played the most representative role on the screen, and his unique charm and action strength were at a glance, and the audience was hooked.
At the same time, with the joining of Chinese action superstar Donnie Yen, the whole movie is more interesting. So, what exactly is this high-profile movie?
This article will show you the full picture of the movie from the perspective of the box office.
01, the 12th week North American box office report: "Fast Chase 4" won the championship strongly, and "Shazam 2" was powerless to fight back
Yes, we think he's back, it's an excellent opening box office, "Fast Pursuit 4" stands out in the North American theater competition, and wins strongly at the box office in the first week!
In the 12th week of 2023 (March 24-26), the North American box office list was newly released, and under the strong opening influence of "Fast Pursuit 4", the North American market hit a total of $118 million, an increase of 22% over 11 weeks.
Zach Bluff 's "A Good Man", Sally Hawkins' "The Missing King", and the German imported film "Fantastic Beasts School" three new films did not break into the top ten of the list.
The champions and runners-up were swept by "Fast Pursuit 4", "Quidi 3" and "Thunder Shazam 2", and the detailed list is introduced as follows:
Sony's prehistoric sci-fi thriller Escape from the Cretaceous is fifth with $3.25 million at the box office, and the $45 million film is currently barely reaching $27.83 million.
Whether it can be returned depends on the box office results after its release on Chinese mainland on March 31.
In fourth place is "Scream 6", which hit $8.4 million again in the third week, and the cumulative box office in North America has reached $89.89 million, and this series of horror films is still quite popular in North America.
With a cost of only $35 million, plus overseas box office, the film has achieved a net revenue of $40 million.
The box office of "Quidi 3" in the fourth week of release sold for a long time, and directly crushed "Thunder Shazam 2" on the ground, and won $10.44 million again in the 12th week, winning the runner-up, and the North American box office officially exceeded $140 million.
This sports-themed film is starring Michael M. Directed by B. Jordan and co-starring with the newly arrested Jonathan Meyers, "Quidi 3" reached a global box office of $245.8 million with the help of the overseas box office, the best in the series.
Michael S. B. Jordan perfectly inherited Stallone's mantle.
Affected by its word of mouth, the box office of "Thunder Shazam 2" in the second week of painting plummeted by 69%, only slipping to third place with a box office result of 9.7 million US dollars, and the North American box office has not yet exceeded 50 million US dollars, while the first "Thunder Shazam" local got 140 million US dollars.
With production costs as high as $125 million and another $100 million in promotional marketing expenses, the film is expected to cost Warner DC Pictures more than $150 million, becoming the largest box office tragedy in North America in 2023.
At present, the film's global box office has just exceeded $100 million, making it one of the worst grossing movies for superhero movies.
In addition to "Quidi 3", the movie that crushed "Thunder Shazam 2" also opened on a large scale this week "Fast Chase 4", which won the championship in the first week.
"Fast Pursuit 4" starring Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen smashed $73.52 million in 3,855 studios in its first weekend and won the 12th week box office championship without suspense.
Compared with the first week of the previous work, it is a big improvement:
In 2014, the premiere of "Fast Pursuit" opened for $14 million;
In 2017, the premiere of "Fast Chase 2" opened for $30.4 million;
In 2019, the premiere of "Fast Chase 3" opened for $56.8 million;
In 2023, "Fast Pursuit 4" will increase to $73.52 million, setting the highest box office opening in the series.
Much higher than expected, the series showed an incremental pattern at the box office, which is rare among Hollywood movies.
02, with a cost of $100 million, "Fast Pursuit 4" was released at the global box office, and Lionsgate made a profit
"Fast Chase 4" tells the story of Keanu Reeves' John Wick fighting against the powerful High Table organization, and this fight is fully upgraded, and it is modeled on "007" and Tom's "Mission Impossible".
The crew traveled all over the world, building locations in Paris, France, Berlin, Germany, and Japan, and it was not fun to fight on the streets of New York at all, and it had to be played enough at one time around the world, as if it had become an action road blockbuster.
Along the way, John Wick faces fiercer enemies one by one, including Kane the blind swordsman (played by Donnie Yen), the mysterious stalker Mr. Anonymous (played by Shamil Anderson), who loves dogs as much as Wick, and Marquis Vincent de Gramont.
He must overcome all odds to win his freedom.
The film is directed by Chad Staherski, and in addition to the first actor, the cast includes Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Lawrence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada and Lance Leddick, who died unexpectedly last week at the age of 60.
This time, visible silver is burning, and Lionsgate has opened the highest budget cost of the series:
In 2014, "Fast Pursuit" cost $20 million and the global box office was $86.08 million;
In 2017, "Fast Pursuit 2" cost $40 million and a global box office of $174 million;
In 2019, "Fast Pursuit 3" cost $75 million and a global box office of $328 million;
In 2023, the budget cost of "Fast Pursuit 4" is $100 million, so what kind of high will the global box office reach?
Last week, the film opened simultaneously in 71 countries and regions around the world, with overseas receipts of 64 million, plus 73.52 million US dollars in North America, so far, the global box office of "Fast Pursuit 4" was released, with a cumulative surge of 137.5 million US dollars.
Lionsgate's investment vision is too accurate, and looking at it, each one can make a lot of money.
To be able to hit such a beautiful box office result, in addition to Keanu Reeves and the appeal of the series IP, the biggest credit is the word-of-mouth effect.
After the large-scale opening of "Fast Chase 4", the global word-of-mouth ban was lifted:
IMDB's more than 44,000 viewers scored 8.5;
Douban 8.2 points;
Received an "A" grade recommendation in the CinemaScore survey;
MTC media reputation 78 points;
Both the Rotten Tomatoes freshness and popcorn index are 95%.
Irving Gleiberman, the chief film critic of "Variety", praised "Fast 4": "The duration of 2 hours and 49 minutes is the best gift for fans. ”
" The New Yorker " film critic Richard Brody said: " So far " Fast 4 " is the best film in the series. " ”
Due to the bright reputation, it is very likely that the next week will reverse the decline, and finally the global box office will earn more than 500 million US dollars, without any suspense.
The cost of 100 million US dollars, if it can be exchanged for 500 million US dollars at the global box office, and then the subsequent streaming media copyright, soundtrack release, Blu-ray release, synchronization peripheral and other income are all included, then Lionsgate will definitely make a profit.
03, Donnie Yen fought back in Hollywood Jedi and became a new generation of Chinese kung fu inheritors
North American movie watching enthusiasm is high, a large number of people are going to Donnie Yen, which is also Donnie Yen's third blockbuster appearance in North America.
The first time was in 2016, Star Wars IP Extra-story "Star Wars Story: Rogue One", Donnie Yen played blind in the film, the film exploded 1 billion US dollars at the global box office.
The second time was in 2017, starring Vin Diesel in "Extreme Agent 3: The Ultimate Return", the male number two in the film, playing a man named "Xiang", and the final global box office of the film was $346 million.
The third time is in 2023, his coffee position in "Fast Pursuit 4" is second only to Keanu Reeves, a veritable male number two, and it is because of Donnie Yen's appeal to action that he won this role.
The influence of Chinese actors in Hollywood is getting weaker, and before female stars Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi, it was still in the 2000-2010 era.
Although Jing Tian starred in "The Great Wall", "King Kong Skull Island" and "Pacific Rim: Thunder Rises", it can only be regarded as a flash in the pan.
The last time a female star attracted attention was Fan Chengcheng's sister.
And the actor?
Ang Lee used "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to bring Chinese action movies to unprecedented attention in Hollywood, but there are only a handful of powerful actors who have really shown in Hollywood.
There may only be Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and they are all outstanding representatives of Chinese kung fu.
Bruce Lee's explosion in Hollywood was still in the sixties and seventies of the last century, but unfortunately, God was jealous of talent, and a rising superstar came to an end.
Jackie Chan and Jet Li took over the baton and passed it on.
Jackie Chan successfully broke into Hollywood with Hong Kong's local films "Red Fan" and "Police Story".
And favored by Hollywood giants, starring in a series of action movies for decades.
Such as "Rush Hour" series, "Shanghai Noon" series, "Who am I", "Kung Fu Dream", "Magical Tuxedo", "Agent Next Door", "King of Kung Fu" and other big investment films.
Obviously, the age problem is a big injury, 69-year-old Jackie Chan this year, there are fewer and fewer new Hollywood films, and the last time he could make a name in Hollywood was "British Showdown" in 2017.
The same name as Jackie Chan is Jet Li.
In 1998, Yuan Heping introduced Jet Li to Hollywood, and his first film was Warner Pictures' "Lethal Weapon 4".
Then, it got out of hand.
In Jet Li's golden age, he starred in many Hollywood blockbusters, such as "Deadly Romeo", "Savior", "Deadly Cradle", "Dragon's Kiss", "Longtan Tiger's Den", "Danny the Wolf Dog", "The Mummy 3", "The Expendables 2", "Sky Cannon 4", "Mulan" and so on.
Due to injuries, Jet Li had to slow down.
Now, the inheritor of Chinese kung fu has fallen to Donnie Yen, but only if he fights back in Hollywood Jedi, and "Fast Pursuit 4" is a springboard.
If the film is a global box office hit, it will bring a series of impacts to Donnie Yen:
First, rapidly enhance Donnie Yen's popularity and influence.
"Fast Pursuit 4" will be widely disseminated and promoted around the world, so Donnie Yen's popularity and influence will usher in a new peak, which can increase more business opportunities.
Second, it can strengthen Donnie Yen's position in the film industry.
Donnie Yen occupies a large role in "Fast Pursuit 4", which will further enhance his position in the film industry and become an ideal choice for more filmmakers and directors.
Third, promote the development of Donnie Yen in overseas markets.
If the film is successful in both China and overseas markets, it will benefit Donnie Yen's development in overseas markets and further strengthen his position in the Asian film market.
It laid the foundation for Donnie Yen to get a starring role in Hollywood in the future.
It is learned that Donnie Yen has two new films successfully established in Hollywood, and "Father" and "Golden Empire" will soon meet fans around the world.
Inheriting Chinese Kung Fu, Donnie Yen's responsibility!
04, written at the end
The series was a huge success at the global box office, and at the premiere of "Fast Pursuit 4", when some viewers asked whether the series would launch a fifth part, Lionsgate President Chao Drake was vague and may be brewing a big move.
In China, the series of movies can reach the achievements of the "Fast Pursuit" series, I am afraid that only the "Bear Haunted" movie IP.
In fact, the "Ip Man" series created by Donnie Yen before is also very good, but it is limited to the Chinese film industry and has never been able to go abroad.
In an interview with reporters from the two sessions, he once said the following:
China now has fewer and fewer action genre films, and better policies are needed to attract investment, expand demand, allow more filmmakers to develop in this genre, and let more filmmakers create more Chinese pride.
That's right, this genre film needs more filmmakers involved, and I think it's time for Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior" series to go!