What Are The Precise Ingredients Of A Film Hit?

By Joan F Cooper

Every Hollywood producer has one aspiration in mind when they make a movie. They want to put out a film that is a massive success that the public loves. A fantastic story line, some brilliant actors along with a couple of special effects and there you have the recipe for a huge box-office victory. Or do you? Sometimes a movie will have all of the supposed crucial factors and it will still not succeed at the box office. There are no guaranteed recipes to make a Hollywood best-seller.

The quantity of money that can be exhausted on a film in order to make a blockbuster success seems to be inexhaustible. But the fact of the matter is that until the motion picture hits the box office and actually brings in huge revenue in ticket receipts it is a risk. Of course, there are always those directors who seem to have the magical touch and there are stars who have the magic to be able to assure a blockbuster for awhile, if you look at past history even the most popular stars have played in box-office flops.

Hollywood has brought us what seems like millions of movies and it would seem that they would know exactly what the public wants to see. However, popular opinion is inconsistent and there are no sure things. Sometimes a big-budget film with all of the seeming right factors for victory still fails miserably at the box office.

An outstanding illustration of this occurrence happened in the not to distant past. In 2005, the film "Sahara" was released with a famous cast list, grand special effects and more. The movie essentially did somewhat well at the box office where it opened to $18 million on the first weekend. The movie generated $122 million in gross-box office receipts, which is not too bad. But this motion picture was extremely costly to produce. It ended up losing a ton of money because it had expenses of $281.2 million throughout the production yet it only brought in receipts of $202.9 million. "Sahara" was one of the greatest financial failures in Hollywood history.

In contrast to that you may remember another well-known movie, from'99, "The Blair Witch Project". There are varying reports of how much it cost to make this film but the maximum guesstimate was at $100,000. The motion picture ended up grossing over $248 million globally. This film had the uppermost proportion of box office sales to production cost in American filmmaking history until 2009 with the release of "Paranormal Activity".

One key element but by no means a warranty for box office success is producing a buzz with media coverage. This can produce a frenzy of anticipation that can contribute greatly to a great opening weekend. But opening weekend revenue never tell the complete story and in order to be a huge box-office triumph a motion picture must continue to be popular.

While Hollywood has brought us scores and scores of motion pictures and it would seem that they would have an indication of just what will work to create a blockbuster and what will not work, the fun and excitement for moviegoers and producers is the truth that you never can tell for sure. A specific actor starring in your film may seem like a sure thing, until it is not. A certain type of film may seem like a sure thing, until it is not.

There will always be those shocking box office surprises, either the unexpected blockbuster hit or the failure that no one could foretell. And that is part of the magic and appeal of motion pictures and Hollywood; you never know just what might be the giant box-office hit. - 30404

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