Box Office Research Articles

A Critical Appreciation of the Commercial Blockbusters by Zhang Yimou

It is essential to note that for the past two decades the majority of the Fifth Generation directors have experienced an obvious shift of film-making from art cinema to the production of commercial blockbusters. By means of borrowing Hollywood’s “high concept” cinema, the local blockbusters featuring Chinese cultural elements are very emphatic about symbolism and visual effects of productions that are bringing to the audience new and stirring feel. And in the blockbusters of Chinese style, the stardom and renowned directors are the guaranteed success of box office. In terms of thematic subjects, the representative director Zhang Yimou has with certainty showcased his reflections on the unlimited power hierarchy and the impulse to deconstruct it in his works, which contain social and cultural allegories and morality problems of family. The so-called “commercial blockbusters” as <i>Hero</i> and <i>House of Flying Daggers</i> have utilized the unique on-site shooting and color effects to achieve the desired results. At the same time Zhang Yimou has in his art house works benefited from Akira Kurosawa, master of the genre, and some technicalities in gangster film. Zhang’s blockbusters of swordsman and Wuxia (martial art) have made an immense box value owing to their tactic violation of the mainstream ideologies. As a result, they are not regularly categorized as the most significant movie of the day. Being Zhang’s last blockbuster, <i>Curse of the Golden Flower </i>takes advantage of merging spectacular scenes and artificial staging for the purpose of authentic representation and imagination. This is also materialized by his cleverly adapting the original work of fame by Cao Yu, a contemporary playwright. Zhang Yimou’s blockbusters, with his special aesthetic, has largely succeeded in an economic sense, but failed ideologically to merge in the mainstream cinema of China.

BarbieThe Combination of Feminism and Commercial Film

With the continuous development of feminism in recent years, there have been many new manifestations in the field of culture and art. In 2023, the movie Barbie was released, which became a phenomenon of feminist artworks in the new era and triggered a wide discussion in society. This study explores the feminism embodied in Barbie through the analysis of the contents and characters in the movie. It provides new ideas and references for the combination of feminism and commercial film. By combining feminist and commercial films, Barbie has managed to spark a big debate on social issues while claiming the top spot at the 2023 box office. In terms of movie content, movie box office, movie reputation and so on, the movie Barbie is a very successful work. The success of Barbie undoubtedly provides a very new and good reference for the development of feminism in literary and artistic works. In today's still patriarchal world, feminism wants to have a better development in literary and artistic works, and the combination of feminism and commercial film models is a very effective means.

A Survey of Tunde Kelani's Interpretations in the Adaptations of Akinwumi Isola's O Le ku (It is Complicated) and Yinka Egbokhare's Dazzling Mirage for the Screen.

Adaptation is an age long phenomenon in the arts. Life writings were adapted into novels and largely novels to plays. The trends continue to date. Adaptations are meant to artistically metamorphose a previous creative endeavour into a new one. An artistic work from one genre is transformed into another genre without losing sight of the thematic preoccupation of the source. Tunde Kelani adapted Akinwumi Isola's classic Yoruba Novel O le ku (It is Complicated) and Yinka Egbokhare's novel, Dazzling Mirage into films of the same titles, thus bringing the thesis of both works to a wider and heterogeneous audience. Despite the artistic and box office success of both films, and many essays on the film versions of the two novels, the extent of Tunde Kelani's fidelity to the thematic preoccupations and aesthetic considerations of the original works has not been academically interrogated. Therefore, this study examines the extent of Kelani's faithfulness to the ideology and aesthetic qualities of the original works. The primary data for the study depended on content analysis, structured interview and focused group discussion (FGD). Thus, the Akinwumi Isola's O le ku and Yinka Egbokhare's Dazzling Mirage and Tunde Keleni's cinematic adaptations were content analyzed. Both the literary and audio-visual versions was subjected to seasoned focused group discussion (FGD). The film producer and director; Tunde Kelani was interviewed. Secondary data were sourced from a review of relevant literature. Sarris' Auteur Theory was adopted to drive the discourse. The paper argues that the differences in the media of expression significantly influenced the minor discrepancies between the literary texts and their screen versions. It also argues that Kelani's box office target distracted him for a flawless fidelity to the original works. The study concludes that cineastes should enlist literary experts, who are knowledgeable about the principle of adaptation, and film critics in their production crew.

A Survey of Tunde Kelani's Interpretations in the Adaptations of Akinwumi Isola's O Le ku (It is Complicated) and Yinka Egbokhare's Dazzling Mirage for the Screen

Adaptation is an age long phenomenon in the arts. Life writings were adapted into novels and largely novels to plays. The trends continue to date. Adaptations are meant to artistically metamorphose a previous creative endeavour into a new one. An artistic work from one genre is transformed into another genre without losing sight of the thematic preoccupation of the source. Tunde Kelani adapted Akinwumi Isola's classic Yoruba Novel O le ku (It is Complicated) and Yinka Egbokhare's novel, Dazzling Mirage into films of the same titles, thus bringing the thesis of both works to a wider and heterogeneous audience. Despite the artistic and box office success of both films, and many essays on the film versions of the two novels, the extent of Tunde Kelani's fidelity to the thematic preoccupations and aesthetic considerations of the original works has not been academically interrogated. Therefore, this study examines the extent of Kelani's faithfulness to the ideology and aesthetic qualities of the original works. The primary data for the study depended on content analysis, structured interview and focused group discussion (FGD). Thus, the Akinwumi Isola's O le ku and Yinka Egbokhare's Dazzling Mirage and Tunde Keleni's cinematic adaptations were content analyzed. Both the literary and audio-visual versions was subjected to seasoned focused group discussion (FGD). The film producer and director; Tunde Kelani was interviewed. Secondary data were sourced from a review of relevant literature. Sarris' Auteur Theory was adopted to drive the discourse. The paper argues that the differences in the media of expression significantly influenced the minor discrepancies between the literary texts and their screen versions. It also argues that Kelani's box office target distracted him for a flawless fidelity to the original works. The study concludes that cineastes should enlist literary experts, who are knowledgeable about the principle of adaptation, and film critics in their production crew.

Feminist Film Theory: The Impact of Female Representation in Modern Movies

Abstract In contemporary American cinema, the representation of women remains disproportionately limited despite significant social movements advocating for diversity and equality. This study examines the depiction of women in top-grossing films of 2018, contrasting those directed by men with those directed by women, to understand the influence of gender dynamics on cinematic portrayal. Analyzing the top five highest-grossing live-action movies directed by each gender, this research utilizes critical mass and critical actor theories to evaluate the impact of female filmmakers on the representation of women both on and off-screen. Findings reveal that films directed by women feature higher percentages of female characters and crew members in key roles, yet face substantial budgetary and box office disparities compared to their male-directed counterparts. Despite some progress, the film industry continues to exhibit systemic biases, necessitating further structural changes to achieve genuine gender equality in cinematic storytelling. This study underscores the need for increased opportunities and resources for female filmmakers to foster a more inclusive and diverse cinematic landscape.

Analyzing the Impact of Barbie Movie on the Barbie Brand

On July 21, 2023, Barbie, the intellectual property (IP) movie of the same name as the Barbie brand, triggered a worldwide pink storm upon its release and drove the Barbie brand's popularity along with its box office success, making Barbie, which is now 65 years old, once again gain a very high level of attention and gain a great deal of revenue. Based on this phenomenon, the purpose of the exploratory was to explore the reasons why the movie would have such a great impact on the brand early. This article mainly took the Barbie movie as a case study, combined the existing data to analyze the business of the Barbie brand, and concluded that the reasons for the success of the Barbie brand's popularity include the launch of the Barbie IP movie that conforms to the brand's tone, the implementation of the strategic policy of co-branding with a number of brands, and the recent explosion of the topic of "feminism." At the same time, this article put forward suggestions for these three reasons why the Barbie brand has been able to continue to be hot: the Barbie brand can continue to launch IP movie sequels; to strengthen the screening of brands that are consistent with the values of the Barbie brand for co-branding; and to expand the scope of brand association.

Don’t Worry Darling: The anxious question of what women want after #MeToo?

This article considers ‘post-MeToo’ media culture through a close reading of Olivia Wilde’s 2022 film Don’t Worry Darling by drawing primarily on Jacques Lacan’s approach to anxiety. #MeToo indexed, in its marking of ‘#’, in its saying, in its hashing out, that the ‘me’ of feminist subjectivity and the ‘too’ of a collective form of that subjectivity always bears a marked remainder. There is something which the symbolic will always miss; so too do fantasies of a united feminism, under the signifier ‘#MeToo’ lack. Some years after the #MeToo moment, the movement which it appeared to promise wanes. Revanchist patriarchy surges forth with eruption of #TradWives on TikTok, and the exhaustion of #MeToo in the wake of clapbacks and callouts of ‘cancel culture’. This paper returns to the original site where #MeToo irrupted – Hollywood – through a consideration of Don’t Worry Darling. Branded a ‘feminist psychological thriller in the wake of #MeToo’ by director Olivia Wilde, the film presents a trad wife dreamworld governed by a Jordan Peterson like guru. Drawing on Lacan, I argue that Don’t Worry Darling, in its spectacular box office failure, surrounding sexual scandal, and in the narrative itself, works as an index of feminist, but also patriarchal, anxieties after #MeToo.

Analisis Wacana Kritis Norman Fairclough Pada Film Barbie 2023 Sebagai Representasi Budaya Patriarki

Film is part of audio-visual mass media communication and aims to convey social messages to the audience in accordance with the reality that is growing and developing in society. One of the films that has this purpose is the film Barbie Live Action 2023. The purpose of this research is to dissect the discourse in three dimensions, namely textual, discourse practice, and sociocultural practice. In this research, the type of research used is qualitative-descriptive research. The paradigm used in this research is the critical paradigm. The appropriate research method used for this research is Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis method. In the textual dimension, the linguistic tools of Diction, Cohesion, Modality and figure of speech metaphor are obtained. In the discourse practice dimension, at the production level the Barbie film is produced with two backgrounds, namely Barbieland and the real world, namely the city of Los Angles, United States with English language dialogue. At a text consumption level, the film is the highest-grossing box office film of all time with earnings of $1.45 billion. Sociocultural practices have 3 levels, namely situational, institutional and social levels. Situational Barbie script was written during the pandemic. For example, the film Barbie was a box office success in almost the entire world and became the hope of the global community regarding the end of the pandemic. Furthermore, at the institutional level, which includes the media, is Greta Gerwig herself as a film filmmaker. Warner Bros. is the production house for the 2023 Barbie Live Action film. Then there is Mattel as the company behind the production of Barbie dolls. Finally, at the social level, this film shows how patriarchy persists in reality, the social and cultural system of American society still adheres to patriarchal culture and neglects women's rights and protection.

Mining Chinese Animation Movie Audience Concern Themes Based on BERTopic and UGC

[Objective] To explore how Chinese animated movies can effectively utilize hot topics to feed the box office and improve the competitiveness of the movies by mining hot topics of users' concern through User-Generated Content (UGC). [Methods] Based on the UGC text of Douban reviews of the Chinese animated movie "30,000 Leagues in Chang'an", we adopt the BERTopic algorithm to cluster topics based on the category-based TF-IDF (Word Frequency-Inverse Text Frequency)-weighted clustering, and introduce the semantic fine-tuning of the topics by the ChatGLM2-6B model to excavate the hot topics of users' attention. [Results] Users of the Chinese animated movie "30,000 Leagues in Chang'an" pay attention to five major topic clusters, including Chinese culture, word-of-mouth communication, poetic narrative, production technology, and the controversy of new historical facts. [Limitations] The country differences in the topic concerns of Chinese animated films were not analyzed in comparison with foreign UGC texts. [Conclusion] This study focuses on UGC text analysis to discover the social attention and evolution law of related topics. These findings provide some reference value for future Chinese animated movie production and production, box office prediction and marketing.

Assessing Translation of Humor in The English Subtitles of Goodbye Mr. Loser

Humor is primarily influenced by both the source and target language cultures, which poses significant challenges for translators. Given the continuous emergence of comedy movies, humor plays a crucial role in cultural expression. However, research on the assessment of translation quality of humor in movie subtitles in China remains limited. This study aims to categorize the translation techniques using Pedersen’s typology (2005, 2011) and assess the translation quality of the humorous content in the English subtitles of the Chinese comedy movie Goodbye, Mr. Loser (2015). Goodbye, Mr. Loser is one of the most successful comedy movies in China in recent years, selling 1.441 billion yuan at the box office and winning an award at the China New Era International Film Festival, while also gaining a lot of attention overseas. This study analyzes the accuracy of the English subtitles based on Newmark’s (1988) framework. In his model, Newmark (1988) assesses the accuracy by looking at the accurate reflection of the semantic, contextual, register and style of the ST in TT. Additionally, it adopts a questionnaire for non-Chinese speakers following Nababan, Nuraeni and Sumardiono’s (2012) approach to assess the acceptability and readability of the English subtitles. The significance of this study lies in its potential to enhance the quality of Chinese audiovisual products, reduce language barriers, foster effective cross-culture communication, and provide a valuable reference for the humor translation in Chinese comedy movies in the future.

A refined approach to early movie box office prediction leveraging ensemble learning and feature encoding

Predicting the revenue of a movie prior to its release presents a significant challenge. The ability to predict pre-release revenue enables movie production companies to devise effective marketing strategies and mitigate the risks associated with potential box office failures. The primary hurdles in this endeavor stem from managing the myriad factors influencing box office outcomes and accurately forecasting a movie's revenue before it becomes available to the public. To overcome these challenges, we introduce a sophisticated Early Movie Box Office Prediction Model that incorporates Ensemble Learning and Feature Encoding techniques. This model amalgamates multiple foundational models, utilizing regression and decision trees to forecast box office revenues. Our composite model demonstrates superior performance over its constituent models, achieving an impressive accuracy rate of 91.4%.

A stacking ensemble model based on Elastic Net and Random Forest for box office prediction

A stacking ensemble model based on Elastic Net and Random Forest for box office prediction

Crafting a Marketing Masterpiece: The Transformation of the Barbie Movie into an Iconic Brand and Cultural Sensation

Among the entertainment industry the film industry has always been one of the most intensely competitive and continuously changing sectors. Every aspect of filmmaking from writing a story to getting it on screens is impacted by both internal and external factors. However, one of this industry’s most fascinating and important aspects is its marketing approach. This particular component is crucial in influencing how people view a movie and figuring out how successful it will be on the box office. The level of intrigue increases particularly with films that revolve around well-known brands as in the case of the “Barbie” movie. The paper explores the “Barbie” movie’s marketing history and examines how marketing contributed to the franchise’s popularity.

Permutation of National Identification Number for a Better Security in Communication Channel

This study proposes a new method to enhance the security of transmitting national identification number via various communication channels like SMS, email, and Box office. It introduces a permutation technique utilizing the Gamma 1 Non-Deranged Permutation group, ensuring the confidentiality of the information. By employing 11 factorial (11!) permutations, the national identification number is transformed into a mixed format for unintended recipients, yet remains easily decrypted by the intended recipient. This approach mitigates concerns regarding data interception and unauthorized access, providing a robust solution for secure information transmission across diverse media channels.

The Dilemma and New Development of Chinese Realistic Film Creation in Contemporary Era

In 2023, realism has emerged as an essential and influential theme within the Chinese film industry. Films that employ a realistic approach have not only achieved significant box office success but have also demonstrated that there is a widespread and substantial market for this genre in China. Despite the burgeoning popularity and commercial success of realistic films domestically, they have not yet achieved the same level of influence on the global stage, particularly when compared to cinematic works from overseas. This discrepancy poses a significant challenge for Chinese filmmakers, who must navigate a new and rapidly changing living environment and seek effective strategies to address and overcome these market dilemmas. This article delves into the trajectory of Chinese realist films, employing theoretical research and case analysis to address market challenges and suggest future development strategies. Through an in-depth examination of "Beyond the Furious Sea," it navigates the challenges and opportunities within Chinese realist filmmaking, shedding light on the genre's current landscape. This article identifies ongoing issues in China's realist film industry, notably concerning authenticity and diversity. The author provides recommendations for future advancements in Chinese realist filmmaking.

An Exploration of Narrative Strategies in the Adaptation of the Cross-Media Text Postmen In The Mountains

The novel Postmen In The Mountains written by the famous writer Peng Jianming was adapted into a movie of the same name in 1999, and was adapted to the screen by director Huo Jianqi. Although the domestic box office was not good after its release, it successively won awards at major domestic and foreign film festivals caused widespread repercussions. The novel Postmen In The Mountains shows the exploration of life and the nostalgia for the countryside through the artist’s “prose culture” words. The 1999 version of the movie uses a unique narrative perspective to show deep themes such as the meaning of life. The text of the same name Postmen In The Mountains, presented in different media forms, reflects a unique narrative strategy in its adaptation, and shows changes in aesthetic taste and narrative structure, aesthetic expression and narrative style from the perspective of narratology.

How are PreLaunch online movie reviews related to box office revenues?

How are PreLaunch online movie reviews related to box office revenues?

PENYAMPAIAN RASA TAKUT DALAM FILM HOROR QODRAT KARYA CHARLES GOZALI

The growth in popularity of horror films can be seen from the high number of horror films produced and their success at the box office. One example of a famous horror film is Qodrat, directed by Charles Gozali, which was released in October 2022. Qodrat is a horror genre film that combines action and religion with a duration of 102 minutes where Vino G. Bastian plays the main character in this film as a Qodrat chaplain. The aim of this research is to find out every scene that shows fear in the horror film Qodrat by Charles Gozali and to draw conclusions from the film about what are the signs and signifieds through semiotic analysis. This research uses a qualitative approach with Ferdinand de Saussure's semiotic analysis method. In this theory, semiotics is divided into two parts, namely the signifier and the signified. This research was carried out by observing signs in several scenes, including the scenes at minute 35:30 and minute 1:05:39 which contain fear in the film Qodrat. Observations were made by watching films via the application streaming platform and taking screen captures of scenes that were deemed to contain markers and signs. The results of this research show that from the two Hude theories and Aditya's theory, differences can be seen where Hude expresses fear that occurs in changes in behavior, whereas according to Aditya the cause of fear can occur because of fear related to places, for example fear of the dark (achluphobia).

Main consumer choice drivers for fi lm products in the Russian market

Film distribution market is a highly competitive one, which only emphasizes the need to optimize costs for the production and promotion of domestic films while increasing box office potential. The purpose of this research is to identify the primary choice drivers for movies in the movie theater in current market conditions as a required prerequisite for effective promotion. The results of a content analysis of open data tracker Cinema Viewer in 2021 allow us to identify several drivers defining the choice of moviegoers. They can be divided into two main categories: content elements and promotional elements. Among content elements, the most important are film's genre, plot, and cast. The most important promotional element is the trailer. Furthermore, two findings stand out among the results of this study, which require detailed research in the further works on the subject, as they can significantly influence the promotional strategies for film products in the Russian market. Firstly, the study showed that information itself, rather than its source, is more important for the viewer, which means that further optimization of marketing budgets is possible by reducing spending on most expensive platforms (primarily TV). Secondly, recommendations play just as important a role in the choice of film as advertising, which also makes it possible to optimize the marketing budget through social media marketing.

Sculpting Foucauldian power in Game of Thrones as a transmedia project: a systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis

This study analyses the textual, visual and interactional modes employed in creating and representing Daenerys Targaryen in both Home Box Office TV show Game of Thrones and mobile game Reigns: Game of Thrones as a transmedia project to guide users’ construal of the notion of embodied power. The authors examine the structural, functional and semiotic elements that the two media orchestrate to represent how power is attained, developed and relinquished. The results indicate that the two texts/media put forward two different kinds of power (relations) and levels of users’ interactivity. The TV show employs a more linear and developmental conception of power characterizing Daenerys as a transferrable object of power while the game underlines a more dispersed and pervasive notion of power to decentre absolute power. The show deploys immersive cinematic representations/visual spectacle, converging/diverging serial narration that goes beyond the opulent mise-en-scène and complex scenes to attract users’ attention. As for the game, it deploys intellectual and emotional interactivity, choice and coherence that allow users to experience the story, mechanics and environment as users identify with Daenerys. While the show introduces a host of socipolitical tools to maintain longer reign as different forms of governmentality, the game characterizes disciplinary power where subjects/users are offered training opportunities under the designer’s gaze to internalize a series of procedures and sociopolitical tactics. The findings reiterate Foucault’s notion of power as a system of relations, a capillary power that circulates and subjectifies, whilst subjects/users are spaces where subtractive and productive power are wielded, enacted and/or resisted. Each medium deploys its semiotic-specific resources to create meaning differently. While the TV show relies heavily on visual resources and narrative techniques to make meaning, the game mobilizes certain verbo-visual and interactive resources to make meaning. With the growing attention given to transmedia projects as a social practice with social meanings, this article claims to offer critical implications for social semioticians, film creators and game designers through a systematic analytical framework with a special focus on visual meanings.