In its first weekend, "Forrest Gump" beat "The Lion King", which was in its fourth week of release, by a slim margin of US$30,000, topping the box office list.
This tiny gap really surprised Paramount’s Shirley Lansing and Disney’s Katzenberg.
If the difference is hundreds of thousands, it may be a public relations move, such as large-scale ticket giveaways, starring stars or directors using their private money to buy tickets and give them away, etc., to create a box office ranking or an integer mark of the total box office.
For example, a certain movie was released during the off-season and did well at the box office on Friday and weekend, so the starring star bought some tickets to break into the top three on the box office list and add a new line to his resume.
Another example is that a certain commercial movie is close to the round-digit mark, such as 100 million U.S. dollars. The producer buys some movie tickets and gives them away to make his year-end summary look better. It is a movie with a box office of over 100 million U.S. dollars, not 9,000 U.S. dollars.
Nine million movies.
However, such an action cannot be hidden from peers in the industry, and no one can be so precise as to find a gap of tens of thousands of dollars. In their view, this is a pure coincidence.
Only Ronald was scratching his head at home and was thankful. If more than 10,000 movie tickets worth more than 60,000 US dollars had not been given away during the Rangers' victory parade, the box office of this opening weekend would not have beaten Disney's fourth week box office.
The record was dropped.
Now, being No. 1 in the box office rankings has become a must-do when the movie "Forrest Gump" is mentioned in the future. Who in the future will think deeply about whether he relied on a hockey team to win the championship?
What made all this happen?
Speaking of which, most die-hard fans of the New York Rangers ice hockey team are the target audience of "Forrest Gump". A season-ticket fan who comes to the parade is probably more than half of all season-ticket fans.
Both focus on rendering a very retro old-fashioned American value. As long as you work hard, be kind to others, add a little good luck, and discover and utilize the talents that God will definitely give you (Forrest Gump also has
If you have the talent to play table tennis), then you will definitely succeed in America.
This kind of value belongs to the young America who is rough, upward, and thinks first before thinking. It belongs to the old America where white people account for more than 80% of the total population, and the majority believe in Puritanism.
Under the impact of decades of continuous immigration, the proportion of these main populations in the total population has continued to decrease. Even if Italians, Irish, etc., who believe in Catholicism, ethnic groups that do not belong to traditional white people are placed in the
According to statistics, their current proportion of the total population has dropped to less than 70%.
However, one thing that is very beneficial to the box office of "Forrest Gump" is that although the proportion of these ethnic groups in the total population is shrinking, the absolute value of their total population is also expanding. And since the black liberation movement began in the 1970s, and
After the anti-war movement, it has been a long time since Hollywood produced and released a film that reflected traditional Puritan values.
"Forrest Gump" returns to such conservative traditional values, and it is not based on preaching, but is completely displayed through the subtext of the plot. Therefore, it is very suitable for these people.
On Monday, in addition to receiving box office statistics, Ronald also received audience evaluation scores from Cinema Score after conducting a sample survey of audiences in 5 random cities across the United States.
Ronald once again received the highest score in the Cinema Score evaluation system, A.
Generally speaking, the total box office of a movie with this rating will be more than five times the first weekend box office.
According to this figure, the total box office of Forrest Gump will be around 130 million, which is enough for the producer to make back the money.
But a more detailed investigation report from Cinema Score shows that the box office potential of Forrest Gump may be far more than this.
Generally speaking, random surveys distributed to the audience will receive responses from about 65% of the audience, and 35% of the audience will not bother to fill out these surveys for gifts such as a small piece of chocolate.
However, the response rate to the post-screening survey of Forrest Gump was extremely high, reaching an unheard of level of over 85%. This shows that those viewers thought the movie was very good and left a very deep impression on them.
As for what they must say to express their feelings.
In addition, in the questionnaire received by Cinema Score, among the three age groups, under 21 years old, 22 to 35 years old and over 36 years old, Forrest Gump received the highest score in the over 36 years old group.
Volume of replies.
These parents who are married and have children usually do not take the initiative to go to the movies. If they do, they take their children to watch family-friendly movies.
However, once there is a movie that truly touches them, their word-of-mouth ability and market potential will undoubtedly be the greatest. After all, people of this age group grew up watching movies when they were teenagers.
At that time, the very small screen of the black and white TV set could only play some talk shows and poorly filmed TV series. Compared with the aesthetic taste of teenagers who grew up in the late 1980s, who grew up with TV programs, these
Relatively older middle-aged people also really want to go to the cinema to reminisce about the feeling back then if there are good movies suitable for them.
After this opening weekend, on Monday morning, in addition to looking at the box office data, Ronald also focused on the ratings of Forrest Gump by film critics across the country.
After drinking Japanese brand coffee, eating hot rice rolls from the Chinese restaurant, and paired with salami from Italy, Ronald had a hearty breakfast and then picked up Roger Ebert.
Movie reviews to watch.
"Four stars", the film score at the beginning of the review, Roger Ebert gave the highest score in his rating system, which cheered up Ronald's spirit again.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Roger Ebert said at the beginning that he had never seen a movie like Forrest Gump, and he had never seen a man like Forrest Gump.
The protagonist. Apart from Tom Hanks, he couldn't think of any actor in Hollywood who could play this role.
This is not a heart-warming story about an intellectually abnormal person like "Rain Man". Such a format is too small for Forrest Gump and has too many restrictions on the characters and the story.
This movie is more like a meditation on our times, showing the great history of our times through the eyes of a person who lacks cynicism. Although Forrest Gump's IQ is only seventy-five, he has a passionate view of things.
And directly.
If you read his story carefully, you will understand why some people are criticized for being smart. Forrest Gump is just the opposite, he is just right "smart".
The mother played by Sally Field told little Forrest Gump when young people of his own age laughed at him for being stupid, and told him that stupidity describes the stupid things someone does, rather than describing a person's own qualities.
Some people may think that Forrest Gump was not intelligent enough to understand everything that happened to him. But Roger Ebert said that he did not think so.
Forrest Gump understands everything he needs to understand, and the rest, as the movie suggests, is redundant.
Forrest Gump is not as smart as others, but he has also gained focus. As long as he thinks that this thing is what he needs to do, he will become extremely focused.
Forrest Gump even knows the most important thing in the world - all the important contents of "love". Although the girl he fell in love with when he was a child, Jenny told him when she had become a stripper,
"Forrest Gump, you don't understand what love is."
Roger Ebert also praised Ronald's special effects abilities, saying:
"Ronald Lee is a director who is very good at using special effects. We have seen his excellent combination of computer special effects and plot in "The End of the World".
Unlike his good friends in the industry, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg, who use computer special effects to create special effects spectacles that the audience has never seen before, Ronald is better at integrating special effects into the plot invisibly.
among.
To be honest, there are many people who may be like me. After watching Forrest Gump, they are still wondering whether these great commanders in history, JFK, Johnson, Richard, etc., as well as Lennon, Elvis Presley, etc.
Celebrities have all met Forrest Gump and left behind video files?
I personally prefer to use special effects in this way, which allows me to appreciate the humanistic spirit of old Hollywood."
After reviewing the film, Roger Ebert did not forget to compare Forrest Gump and Jenny:
"Following the life of Forrest Gump becomes a guided tour of American life over the past few decades. Jenny, starring Robin Wright, goes on a parallel journey against mainstream American culture.
She left Alabama and went to California, where her youth hoped to go. She dropped out of college, integrated into the hippie lifestyle, and began a journey of using psychedelic drugs.
She was addicted to psychedelic drugs and the so-called flower power of hippies. She participated in the "Make Love, Not War" rally and became a young person at the forefront of liberation and progress of that era.
The paths of Forrest Gump and Jenny have obviously covered all the important cultural landmarks in our country in the past thirty years. At the end of the movie, Forrest Gump and Jenny finally reached reconciliation and gave birth to a son.
This is just like what our country and our society have dreamed of. The two factions that were in the great social rift of the 1960s and 1970s finally reached a dream of reconciliation.
What a great dream, what a great movie."
"Dear, what's wrong with you?" Diane looked at Ronald sitting in a daze at the dining table, carefully took the Keemun black tea in his hand and put it on the table.
"I didn't expect that Roger Ebert would say this about the movies I made and give me such high praise. When I die, this paragraph will be enough in my eulogy..."
"Huh?" Diane was startled, and quickly picked up the Chicago Sun and read it. In the end, she was so moved that her eyes blurred, and she hugged Ronald vigorously for a long time.
"I'm proud of you, Ronnie."
"I love you, Diane, I can't do this without you..."
In addition to Roger Ebert, other film critics generally spoke highly of Forrest Gump. Ebert's friend Sisko, who rarely agreed with Ebert, gave the highest score. He also thought
Forrest Gump has its shortcomings, but these minor flaws are not enough to detract from the overall greatness of the film.
Variety magazine's Todd McCarthy even praised the film's quality, saying, "The film is outstanding on every level, and succeeds in telling an intimate and even subtle story against an epic backdrop with charming ease.
A difficult feat. The Citizen Kane of our time."
The Los Angeles Times film critic scoffed at Todd McCarthy's comment that Citizen Kane was a box-office failure at a time when audiences did not generally appreciate Orson Welles' innovative structure.
Forrest Gump performed very well at the box office. Not only was this movie artistically praised by professionals, but ordinary audiences also loved this movie very much. Many people said in interviews that this movie
It allowed them to taste the long-lost feeling of excitement and goosebumps all over their body when watching a movie.
"Honey, can Forrest Gump really maintain its box office performance as they say it will?"
Diane looked happier than Ronald himself, and kept reading the newspaper in the car. Film critics from all over the country had very positive comments about Forrest Gump, and only Janet Maslin of the New York Times
It doesn't seem to look that way.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! In addition to affirming that Forrest Gump tells a heart-warming story, she has an average evaluation of the character of Forrest Gump, saying that he is an empty person who is intoxicated with himself.
Self-congratulation in ignorance, being embraced enthusiastically, fully embodies what it means to be meaningless.
Of course, Ronald didn't take this seriously. The New York Times, the stronghold of left-wing progressives across the country, saw that Jenny, a liberated woman who was at the forefront of the trend of the times in the 1960s and 1970s, was portrayed in the movie as being so irresponsible,
Using hallucinogens, confusing the relationship between men and women, losing oneself, and being in a good mood is strange.
In addition, in the third act, the movie hints that Janet has..., which makes Janet Maslin's words full of sour aggression.
As a fellow New Yorker, she did not make a personal attack on Ronald as a director. Instead, she praised his directorial skills and only criticized the script for losing some of the sharp cynicism of the original novel.
However, even film critics like Janet Maslin, who have bad things to say about the character of Forrest Gump, are very optimistic about the film's box office prospects. She believes that it is still worth going to the cinema for ordinary audiences to see Ronald.
A Disneyland on the screen, allowing baby boomers to relive everything they have experienced before on the screen.
"I'm not very optimistic, Diane. Jim (Cameron)'s True Lies will be released next week. I went to see the preview of that movie, and it was very strong. I think the intense and intense scenes in it will be released.
In the hands of an average director, it would be enough to shoot two episodes..."
After breakfast, Ronald and Diane drove together to Pasadena, which is located 25 miles to the north. Today at 12 noon, the World Cup semi-final match between Brazil and Brazil will be held at the Rose Bowl Stadium here.
Swedish competition.
By the time they entered the best seats in the upper level of the stadium, another semifinal match between Italy and Bulgaria in Eastern New Jersey had already started an hour ago.
Italy's No. 10 Roberto Baggio scored two long-range shots in the 21st and 25th minutes. Bulgaria recovered a goal.
In this year's competition, many popular and strong teams were eliminated in upsets, which may also be related to this very unhealthy kick-off time. In order to broadcast the broadcast time in the United States and Europe, many important knockout games are held at the hottest time of noon and afternoon.
held.
"oops……"
The same goes for today's football game. Although the temperature in Los Angeles is relatively good compared to the East Coast, the direct sunlight also makes it difficult for the audience to watch.
The two forwards of the Brazilian team, Romario and Bebeto, did not seem to be able to adapt well to the game at this time. Together, the two of them wasted five or six single-goal opportunities.
Just when the game was coming to an end and the Swedish team saw a little hope, it was Romario who was the killer. With his tricky running position and being very short, he grabbed the header of the cross and scored.
"yeah!"
Ronald also likes the Brazilian team's style of play with strong personal skills. The cooperation between the two forwards is simply a work of art.
On the other side, the Italian team also eliminated Bulgaria and entered the final with two goals from top star Roberto Baggio. The final will be held this weekend, also in the Rose Bowl.
"Are you going to the premiere of True Lies then?" Diane asked him after returning home.
"No, I will watch the final. This is also a box office competition between me and Jim..." Ronald smiled and made a gesture. Cameron and him are good friends, but it is rare for two movies to collide like this.
They also want to see who can get the higher box office and have a friendly competition.