Peace And Quote Comforters

The Da Vinci Code: commercial risk or recklessness?

The strategy Da Vinci Code is based on a strong reinforcement of publicity through special actions (like the train journey London-Cannes) that have generated much public notoriety.

And the truth is that the film itself is pure and simple exploitation of the controversy aroused under which the film's creators practical catalog of sound and immaculate fiction.

But it is clear that if history had been based in Buddhism or any other religion less Western, its ability to generate interest would have been almost nil. This is because it has always been easier to offend the sensibilities of some people and brand them as exaggerated, to create truly creative and original stories. That is, it was thanks to the religion they so "innocently" degrades Dan Brown, God and readers have come to know.

Da Vinci Code has brought out a new record for the number of copies of the launch in Spain. His total is 750 , which is not equivalent to the number of screens, which will be much higher as there are many complex multi-room capable of displaying a single copy in two or more rooms simultaneously or delayed (the so-called interlock). Just so the reader get an idea, a launch of a blockbuster in Spain is often between 450 and 500 copies at most (Mission Impossible 3 came with 529) and each copy, depending on the length of the film, typically costs about $ 1,000 (for films of 90 minutes) although Da Vinci Code could amount to 1,500 euros or more due to its more than two hours duration.

But just so the publicity has played the film for more than a year, this marketing medium can become precisely in its own toxin. This is because today, after the press presentation of the film at the Cannes Film Festival, the critics have described as "crap" and "suckling pig", which has caused more than a laugh and whistle. In short, the work has used the sublime opportunity of commercial cinema today (the Festival) to sink.

is clear that the strategy Sony to launch such an immense and I would call "reckless" is due more to an attempt to exploit the film in its first weekend of release thanks to the fame of the novel and the great campaign that has mounted around that a confident performance and long spaced.

Moreover, according to the latest developments, it seems that word of mouth will eventually end the film's commercial performance. Thus, it is not surprising that for the second weekend in a large percentage of copies out of rooms and box office performance collapse.

anyway, and if I may venture, though the film exceeded to Torrente 3 (more than 7 million euros in its first weekend) it is clear Queno exceed more than 8 million euros in its first weekend. And this is because per capita consumption of cinema in Spain is one of the lowest in Europe and the notoriety of the film can not change this fact. And although achieved 8 million, the yield per copy would be miles away from Torrente, who opened with half of copies (377). And is that the market has taught us that having more screens does not guarantee higher income per se, but it is seen that Sony forecasts are too optimistic or I would rather call it naive.

The box office analysts do not stop learning, is that the yield per copy after a certain number of screens (as the film that is), decreases significantly. Proof of this is the case with Spider-man 2, peícula that until now had the record for number of rooms (603) and only got just over 4 million in its debut. Which caused a low yield of 7 000 euros / copy.

The code opens with nearly 150 screens the arachnid hero and twice Torrente 3, which always involves spending a lot more by the distributor, so the producers of the film or play them the original or will a tremendous blow that is sure to make ginger up to the next.

Sources: El Pais, El Mundo , Nielsen EDI, Sony Pictures

For Fernando