《阿凡达》热潮席卷全球
日本影迷在10月份的东京电影节上围着《阿凡达》女演员Sigourney Weaver。
Behind 'Avatar' Momentum Are Sales Boosts From Abroad
Less than three weeks after 'Avatar' hit theaters, the high-tech science fiction epic is already the most successful movie ever in Russia, with $55.5 million in box-office receipts.
In France, the movie has raked in $85.6 million -- more money than in any country besides the U.S -- while Germans have bought $56.1 million worth of 'Avatar' tickets.
The movie's resonance with audiences abroad is a crucial propellant behind 'Avatar's' ascent to the box-office stratosphere, where it topped the $1 billion mark in ticket sales this past weekend.
Two thirds of the total box-office receipts so far have been generated abroad. 'Avatar' sold $352.1 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada after 17 days, while its international haul stood at $670.2 million as of the weekend, according to Hollywood.com.
Foreign audiences routinely flock to Hollywood 'event' movies like the 'Harry Potter' series, 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy and the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise. Those films also took in about two-thirds of their revenue overseas -- underscoring the growing importance of foreign audiences for American studios that have seen their revenue from DVD sales dwindle.
Globalization has raised the financial importance of many overseas markets, including Russia and Brazil -- both of which are among the top 10 markets for 'Avatar,' said Amir Malin, a managing principal at Qualia Capital, an investment firm focused on the media and entertainment industry. 'Five or 10 years ago, these markets were an afterthought,' Mr. Malin says.
'Avatar' also appears to be benefitting from a variety of factors, ranging from director James Cameron's rabid fan base to higher ticket prices charged for the movie's 3-D screenings and even its politics.
Mr. Cameron has a special place in the hearts of Russian theater operators, since 'Titanic' brought their industry back from the brink of extinction more than a decade ago.
Tickets for 3-D screenings typically cost about 50% more than for a two-dimensional movie, a fact that has fueled the sales numbers for 'Avatar.' About 30% of the screens outside the U.S. are showing the picture in 3-D, according to distributor Twentieth Century Fox; those have generated 64% of the movie's $666.7 million international total. Twentieth Century Fox is owned by News Corp., which also publishes The Wall Street Journal.
Some moviegoers abroad are drawn to what they see as an anti-capitalist message in the film's plot.
In the movie, the villains work for a corporation intent on mining a mineral on a far-off planet, dislocating a population of nature-loving humanoids in the process. The movie's hero, a former Marine, eventually changes sides to lead the inhabitants' fight against the destructive, capitalist Earthlings.
The plot line has drawn complaints from some conservative U.S. moviegoers, while the left-leaning French daily Liberation praised Mr. Cameron, the director, as the 'galaxy's eco warrior.' |
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