Russian blockbuster 'Night Watch' slashes 'Spiderman II'
'Night Watch,' the Russian-made thriller with Hollywood quality special effects, has broken all Russian box-office records, according to MOS News. Described by many as a blend of 'Blade Runner' and 'Blade,' MOS News analyzes the marketing success of the film:
Many observers explain the movie's phenomenal success by an unprecedented marketing campaign that was carried out Channel One, the state-controlled television channel which acted as the film's producer. According to one of Channel One's officials as much as 50 percent of the film's $3 million budget was spent on publicity.
It's pretty unlikely we're going to get hard and fast numbers since the Russian film industry isn't as "open" with their figures as Hollywood. Nonetheless, the quality of the special effects and the fact that the film is trouncing both 'Spiderman II' and 'Lord of the Rings' introduces two big issues:
1. It may be increasingly difficult for Hollywood to compete in countries with consolidated national media and a technological prowess for special effects.
2. U.S. based digital effects animators, already facing stiff competition from India and China, have a new competitor.
The big question in the short term -- will this film translate to U.S. audiences, and if so, who has the best experience in marketing it? Given the intense level of blood and gore, the film may warrant an NC-17 rating in the U.S., which would limit the number of people willing to run with it. Based on that, I would expect either Lion's Gate or maybe Newmarket (with Palm Pictures a distant third) interested in something like this. Until we get our eagerly awaited review copy, it's difficult to know if the story translates.
You can see the trailer and TV promo clips here -- looks like quite an effective marketing campaign, if you ask me...
Related Links:
Channel 1 -- Production Company Dozorfilm (in Russian)
Channel 1 -- Russian TV<
Russian Blockbuster Breaks All Box Office Records - MONEY - MOSNEWS.COM
Comments
Last year I saw "Tycoon", Pavel Longuine's movie - the story just didnt translate. I bet this is the same scenario, unless they modeled the script on American movies.
I saw the movie. Very good and much like Matrix movies. When you think about how little this one cost, its a smart move for Russia indeed.
Russian Ark is also worth a mention that was filmed in a "sinle shot" in one of the greatest museums in the world - Hermitage in St. Peterburg