"In the past 15 years, at the beginning of May, every new Marvel film has ignited the summer spark, but this year, it was too disappointing. - Senior analyst Paul Degarabedian on the North American film market.
Our May 1st gear is in full swing, and the North American market is still in dire straits.
Since the opening of "Godzilla vs. Kong 2" in March, North American theaters have been in a state of slump, and it has been at an all-time low for five consecutive weeks, and suddenly, it seems that North American audiences don't like to watch movies anymore.
In the summer of May, a blockbuster work finally landed, that is, "Stunt Maniac" starring Gosling, a film with high hopes, but it failed to save North American theaters.
1. North American box office report: "Stunt Maniacs" won the championship in a slump, but the box office fluttered.
In the 18th week of 2024 (May 3-5), the North American box office reported that the market totaled $72.46 million, $9 million more than the 17th week.
At the beginning of May last year, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" produced by Marvel Studios was released, and the market directly hit $155 million, a 54% drop from the same period last year.
The top three are "Stunt Maniac", the re-release version of "Star Wars Episode 1" and "Challenger".
A total of three new films were on the list last week.
In fourth place was Sony Pictures-Screen Gem's low-budget horror film "Deadly Tarot," which opened in 3,104 studios and earned $6.5 million in its first three-day weekend.
Since the film cost only $8 million to make, the global box office has now reached $10.2 million, and it is not a big problem to achieve profitability, but it is limited by CinemaScore's dismal "C-" score and Rotten Tomatoes' 12% reputation.
On May 4th, also known as "Star Wars Day" in North America, Disney and Lucasfilm re-released 1999's Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace to commemorate this special day.
The 25th anniversary re-release is still going strong, with $8.08 million in revenue to knock last week's winner, Zendaya's "Challenger," off the beaten track.
"Stunt Maniac" won the box office in its 18th week, but the results fell well short of the film's expectations, and the film opened in 4,002 venues in North America and earned only $28.5 million in its opening weekend.
The filmmaker expects the box office to be $45 million to $50 million, which is a direct decrease of nearly $20 million, which can be said to be the slump to win the championship.
It is worth mentioning that this is the weakest week in nearly 15 years. Generally, in the summer, there will be a relatively blockbuster film released, and Marvel Studios almost dominates the first file of summer.
It turned out that this schedule belonged to "Deadpool and Wolverine", and due to the general strike of Hollywood actors and screenwriters last year, the film was forced to be postponed to July 26, so this schedule was given to Gosling.
However, Gosling failed to take over the baton, and such a result can be directly characterized as a box office hit.
Second, the cost of 1 billion, whether it is a loss, the box office in Chinese mainland is very important.
Of course, whether the box office hits the street or not must be based on the budget cost, if the investment itself is very small, maybe it will still make money, Brother Brown checked and learned that this film is a real super blockbuster.
Universal Pictures gave "Stunt Maniac" a cost of $125 million to $130 million, equivalent to 900 million yuan.
900 million cost, the global box office must reach 2.5 billion to recover the cost, and North America received 28.5 million US dollars in the first weekend, which is 200 million yuan in RMB, according to its trend, the box office landing point will be around 600 million, no matter what, there is no way to return to the cost.
And "Stunt Maniac" has opened in most markets around the world, with a total global box office of $65.4 million in the first weekend, which is equivalent to about 470 million yuan, and more importantly, there is also a roadblock this week - "Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4: New World".
At present, whether this film is losing money, all the "treasures" are pressed in the Chinese mainland market, the film will be opened in the mainland on May 17, our world's largest box office, has become the savior of "Stunt Maniac".
However, in recent years, Hollywood blockbusters have not been popular in the mainland, and it has become a sure thing, last year, Vin Diesel's "Fast and Furious 10" and Tom's "Mission Impossible 7" failed to get up.
This year, only "Godzilla vs. Kong 2" has risen slightly, and "Stunt Maniac" is not a monster blockbuster, and the audience wants to watch it is not so high.
Also, on the same schedule on May 17, Wang Qianyuan's "Wandering Blade" and Fan Wei Zhou Dongyu's "Morning Clouds and Dusk Rain" competed with it, and it is really hard to say who will kill the deer.
3. Tribute: Jackie Chan can't play, and Gosling doesn't want to surpass.
In fact, the reputation of "Stunt Maniac" is still quite good.
After the large-scale opening, the scores of major platforms around the world were lifted, with MTC media reputation scoring 73 points, IMDB scoring 7.3 points, Rotten Tomatoes 83% freshness, and popcorn index 87%; CinemaScore has an A- rating.
With such a good reputation, the audience just doesn't like to watch it, what is the reason?
In the final analysis, the film is too routine, many plots are stalks that Jackie Chan has played, this time is equivalent to Commander Gao playing again, and after watching the movie, the audience feels that this is what Jackie Chan played in the 90s of the last century.
"Stunt Maniac" tells the story of Ryan Gosling, a stuntman who is injured in an accident and can no longer work in stunt showing. At this time, he receives a mission to find the missing movie star Tom Ryder, will he be able to complete the mission?
The film is positioned as an action comedy, which is very similar to Jackie Chan's early films, such as "Flying Eagle Project", "Shanghai Noon", "Miracle", "Zodiac", "Rush Hour" and so on.
This film premiered at the Beijing International Film Festival, and many audiences have already enjoyed it in advance, with plenty of popcorn elements, good action scenes, all kinds of flying car stunts, and some black suspense in the plot, reversing one after another, full of laughter.
But when it comes to the love line, the rhythm slows down instantly, and there is a feeling of falling asleep.
"Stunt Maniac" has played a new trick on the tribute, and I am afraid that it will be the same as "Ready Player One", fans will be looking for easter eggs everywhere, which is like an action version of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood".
Director David Leitch made action footage at the end of the film, paying homage to Jackie Chan's many Hollywood movies.
In addition, it also pays tribute to classic films such as "Flowers of the End" and "Dune", and there are also tributes to Gosling's own films, such as "Dead Driving", "La La Land", "Tear Detective" and so on.
Seeing this plot, does it seem familiar?
That's right!
Isn't this the same as Jackie Chan's "Dragon Horse Spirit" in 2023.
In this movie, Jackie Chan plays an aging stunt actor who wants to train his "red rabbit" horse into an action star.
Jackie Chan did a lot of high-risk actions, paying tribute to his many famous works such as "Police Story", "Thunderbolt", "Who Am I".
The father-daughter line interspersed in the movie is equivalent to the love line in "Stunt Maniac".
But after the release of "Dragon Horse Spirit", the audience was reluctant to buy tickets to watch the movie, and the final box office only received 210 million.
"Stunt Maniac" hit the North American box office, and the biggest possibility is that the audience is not interested in this kind of old tribute movie, after all, Jackie Chan can't play, does Commander Gao still want to surpass?
IV. Conclusion.
In the film industry, success and failure coexist, and every film is an adventure and an attempt. Even the popular Jackie Chan is difficult to navigate in this wave of box office cold.
The North American film market is currently in the darkest moment, no one predicted that the box office of "Stunt Maniac" hit the street, in addition to Gosling's starring role, he also has the identity of an investor and producer, with a cost of 900 million, which is quite a lot of pressure for her.
The competition in the film industry is extremely fierce, and the audience is becoming more and more discerning, and the success of a film depends not only on the money invested, but also on more uncontrollable elements in it.
However, defeat is not the end, the world of cinema is still full of possibilities!
Commander Gao, come on!
On May 17, "Stunt Maniac" will be released in the mainland, will you go to see it?