Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 771 - 558: New Movie at the Start of the Year
After the awards season at the start of the year, Hollywood's major film studios began operations.
This year, Lionsgate Films' film projects mainly consist of 15 titles, including "The Hunger Games 4," "The Expendables 3," "Black Madwoman 4," "Now You See Me 2," "Insidious 3," "The Conjuring 2," "American Sniper," "Sleeping Spell," "The Big Short," "White House Butler," "Remnants of Life," "Creed," "Sicario," "Wickedness by Nature," and "Split."
Palm Beach Films produced three movies, "Wild," "The Time Traveler's Wife," and "Ugly Women Have Spring Too."
There are two film projects in collaboration with Annapurna Pictures: "Joy's Struggle" and "The Fox Hunter."
There are three film projects in collaboration with Paramount Pictures: "The Martian," "Terminator: Genesis," and "Falling of the Last Days."
Summit Entertainment's production division merged with the existing production division of Lionsgate.
The new production department is now divided into four sections: the first division mainly produces commercial movies, the second division produces art films, the third division produces horror films, and the fourth division is responsible for producing online movies with Netflix's film department.
In addition to the film division, Lionsgate also has two production departments responsible for producing TV series and commercials, among others.
This year, Lionsgate Films' investment budget for movies is as high as 800 million US dollars, including six films with production costs exceeding 100 million each. Aside from "The Hunger Games 4" which is solely produced by Lionsgate, the remaining five films are co-produced with other film companies, including "The Expendables 3," "Sleeping Spell," "The Martian," "Terminator: Genesis," and "Falling of the Last Days."
This investment model can also lighten the financial burden on Lionsgate Films. While avoiding risks, it also allows the production of more films and gaining more box office revenue.
Link is participating in two films this year, "American Sniper" and "The Martian," and also makes cameo appearances in a few other movies.
This year, Lionsgate Films is distributing 19 films, including cooperation with Palm Beach Films and Annapurna Pictures, as well as movies produced by Summit Entertainment.
"Snowpiercer," "The Millers," "Escape From Planet Earth," "Fatal Call," "Gone Girl," "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1," "Black Madwoman 3," "Ender's Game," "Insurgent," "Step Up: All In," "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Birdman," "John Wick," "Annabelle," "Insidious 3," "The Conjuring 2," "The Neighbor," "Whiplash," and "American Hustle" are included.
So far, four films have been released: "Snowpiercer," "Escape From Planet Earth," "Fatal Call," and "The Millers."
"Snowpiercer" was released in early January, having a 45-day theatrical run, totaling a box office of 16.65 million US dollars.
Including the foreign box office, the film's global box office has reached 124 million US dollars so far.
Lionsgate Films earned around 20 million profit.
The second film, "Escape From Planet Earth," was released on January 17 and is an African American comedy film starring the famous rapper Ice Cube. The story is about an African American policeman's attempts to break up his sister's engagement to a white psychiatrist.
With the film's release coinciding with Martin Luther King Day, a national holiday in the US, the three-day weekend saw an estimated 41.2 million US dollars in revenue from 2663 theaters, setting a record for January film openings.
After more than two months in release, "Escape From Planet Earth" has taken in 134 million US dollars at the North American box office, marking Lionsgate Films' first film to surpass 100 million in North America for 2014 and also the first film of the year to do so in the North American market.
The foreign box office is somewhat lesser, currently at 19.08 million US dollars.
The total box office revenue is 152 million.
In relation to the production cost of 25 million US dollars, the film's profit ratio is 1:6, definitely a prosperous start. freewёbnoνel.com
When the film's North American box office surpassed 100 million US dollars, media outlets happened to be publishing the annual report cards of various major film companies.
The media, witnessing the success of this film, couldn't help but acknowledge that Lionsgate Films has a knack for investing and producing movies.
This solid performance in the off-season not only brought more than 200 million in box office revenue but also set a good precedent for Lionsgate Films' future film releases.
Complete Movie magazine, with exaggerated tone, claimed that Lionsgate Films is likely to surpass Disney this year, becoming the industry leader.
Such claims have significantly increased the pressure on the 'old Big Six.'
The executives of the Big Six initially assumed that the success of Lionsgate Films' movies was a flash in the pan and expected the company to return to its former status after the "The Hunger Games" series concluded.
However, looking at last year's and this year's movie lineup from Lionsgate Films, while the company is heavily reliant on "The Hunger Games" series, the box office performance of its other film projects is also quite impressive.
This shows that Lionsgate Films' success is not coincidental, but a sign that the company has cracked the code in investing in movies - its production and distribution capabilities rival those of the Big Six studios.
In response, the Big Six, apart from squeezing Lionsgate Films in publicity, also announced several film support plans, increased investment in movies, and strengthened collaboration with independent production companies, including the Weinstein Company, Legendary Pictures, Relativity Media, A24, New Regency Productions, and even Palm Beach Films received partnership invitations from the Big Six.
The Los Angeles Times' renowned film columnist Kenneth Turan humorously remarked that Lionsgate Films, on its own, has stirred the Hollywood film market and intensified competition within the industry. The coming decade will be a crucial five years for film companies' survival. Those who cannot adapt to the competition are inevitably going to be weeded out.
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The third film released this year by Lionsgate Films is "Fatal Call," directed by Brad Anderson, released in mid-February, starring Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, and others.
The film tells the story of a 911 call center operator, Tina, helping a young girl, Casey, escape a close call via telephone and successfully catching the culprit.
This was one of the low-budget films produced by Lionsgate Films last year, with a production cost of 12 million US Dollars.
It has been released in North America for three weeks and currently has a box office of 41.98 million US Dollars, expected to exceed 50 million.
The film has also been distributed in 16 other countries and regions, with a current box office of 13.2 million US Dollars.
The box office revenue ratio has also reached 6:1.
The fourth movie, "The Millers," was released in early March, directed by Marshall Thurber, the assistant director of "Scandal Plan," and starring Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Jason Sudeikis, and others.
It tells the story of a smuggler named David who, after seeing a homeless girl being extorted, steps in to help, only to have all his belongings stolen. To repay his debts, David prepares to smuggle marijuana from Mexico and, to pass the border smoothly, he recruits several people to pose as 'The Millers,' pretending to be on vacation in Mexico.
It is also a comedy.
The movie had a production budget of 37 million US Dollars, and in its first week in North America, it earned 45.61 million US Dollars at the box office across 3,260 cinemas.
It managed to break even in the first week, a very impressive achievement.
In its second week, the box office in North America reached 74.33 million US Dollars.
Although it has not yet broken 100 million, the film's occupancy rate is very high at 75%, with a less than 20% decrease in box office from the previous week.
This indicates the film has great box office potential and is well supported by moviegoers.
Cinemas predict that the film's box office will break 100 million by next week and estimate that the North American box office will be no less than 150 million US Dollars.
The overseas box office is also impressive. Due to Jennifer Aniston and Emma Roberts' high popularity abroad, it has currently earned 55.48 million US Dollars in 23 countries and regions, expected to surpass 100 million US Dollars as well.
Lionsgate Films released four movies at the start of the year, with two surpassing 100 million in North American box office, and a projected total North American box office of over 350 million US Dollars for the four films.
This result not only exceeded Lionsgate Films' expectations, but also greatly surprised their Hollywood peers.
According to last year's North American film distribution scenario, there were 33 films with box office revenue exceeding 100 million, totalling 10.9 billion. This year's figures are likely to be similar.
Lionsgate Films, at the beginning of the year, exploded with two North American box office hits, 2/33, and four films' box office taking up 3.5/109 of the total.
They rank first among the 'New Big Seven' studios' early-year releases.
Given these circumstances, it is very possible that Lionsgate Films will continue to rank in the top three in film box office performance this year.
"The Hollywood Reporter" stated in an article that while Lionsgate Films led the film market in 2014, it also posed a big challenge for its peers, suggesting that Disney, Warner Bros., and Universal Pictures might need to shed their arrogant attitudes and actively seek advice from Lionsgate Films on how to score big at the box office.
"Damn it, how does Lionsgate Films do it? Why do their movies always manage to score decently at the box office after release? Don't those moviegoers have any taste?"
In the office of Warner Bros. Pictures' president, Kevin Tsujihara, who had just taken office last year, his face turned sour as he read the news in the newspaper.
Warner Bros. Pictures also released four movies in the first three months of the year, but only one 3D animated film, "The Lego Movie," performed well at the box office, with two others losing money and one barely breaking even.
The total North American box office for these four movies fell short of 300 million US Dollars, while their production costs amounted to 200 million US Dollars.
This was still under the strong marketing and distribution support of the Warner Bros. conglomerate, which managed to sell these box office numbers.
Compared to Warner, Lionsgate Films lacked in promotional and distribution channels, and the production cost for their four movies was only 110 million US Dollars, but all of Lionsgate Films' movies were box office hits.
This was something Kevin Tsujihara could not comprehend.
He also went to the cinema to watch the four movies by Lionsgate Films, hoping to learn from their success.
However, after watching, he found that these films, although good, were not much better than other movies released in the same period.
This made him highly suspicious that Lionsgate Films had some sort of magic trick to lure moviegoers into theaters.
"Have we figured out what the problem is?"
Kevin Tsujihara asked Pam Abdi, the Director of Marketing, sitting opposite him.
Pam Abdi's face was grave as she shook her head. Since Lionsgate Films' movies started selling well the year before, Warner Bros. Pictures' marketing department began investigating the reasons behind Lionsgate Films' success. Initially suspecting box office inflation by Lionsgate, investigations revealed that this was not the case.
They also arranged for people to investigate inside Lionsgate Films but found no issues.
For this reason, Warner Bros. even poached three producers and assistants from Lionsgate, yet these individuals performed averagely after joining Warner.
