Demystifying the North American distribution company “Well Go USA”.
Editor’s note: This article is from the WeChat public account “Entertainment Observation” (ID: Yiyuguancha), author Dewey, edited poetry Yang.
“Where is the devil’s coming to the world” (hereinafter referred to as “Where”), as of press time, has obtained a box office of 4.741 billion yuan, and is making a final sprint to the 5 billion mark. On August 29th, “Where” was launched in the North American theater, and it was the first to release IMAX and 3D versions on 66 small theaters in the United States.
After three days of release, “Which” won the $1.99 million box office and was released for five days (plus The first weekend), harvested $1.45 million at the box office. As of press time, according to Box Office Mojo statistics, the film has accumulated a total of 1.486 million US dollars. This is the second domestically produced movie that has won a million box office in North America after “Wandering Earth” ($5.897 million). It is also a domestically produced animated film that has won the highest North American box office in North America in recent years.
After the better box office results, “Which” has also gained a good reputation in North America. The IMDB score is 7.8, which is higher than the 6.1 of “Wandering Earth” and “War Wolf 2”. It is also on the same theme film “The Return of the Great Sacred”, “The Big Fish,” “White Snake: Origin” (6.9/7.3/7.1).
The freshness of rotten tomatoes is 83%. Although the comments are mixed, the realism of this Chinese “phenometic” animated film has caused a real topic.
Negative evaluators believe that “Which” is an animated film that lacks continuous appeal. The positive evaluation of the film believes that “Which” combines Chinese mythology with modern social elements, which is very interesting, and the protagonist is “rebellious, reluctant, and disapproving of the character”, which has won many famous North American film critics. The warm Amway.
As far as the current performance of “Where” in the North American market is concerned, the overall box office of $1.48 million is not eye-catching, but the film is released in small scale in North America. The IMAX, 3D version means that some North American viewers are willing to pay a higher fare to watch the film. In addition, the comments are mixed, but attracted the attention of professional film critics. In North America, this score, “Which 吒 has completed a lot of breakthroughs.
Behind these breakthroughs, the North American distribution company “Well Go USA” was promoted by “Where” in North America.
Well Go USA is a multi-platform North American film company that includes film production and movie copyright distribution in addition to film distribution.
At present, Well Go USA is committed to delivering quality Asian films to North America, Europe and other regions. In the beginning, the company concentrated more on the promotion of Chinese commercial films such as Chinese Kung Fu movies, martial arts films, and action films. In recent years, it has also begun to promote high-quality Asian movies of different types of subjects to North America, such as “Assassin Nie Yinniang” You” Korean movie “Taxi Driver” and so on.
“Well Go USA” martial arts, action feelings
Well Go USA is a family-owned company founded in the 1990s to sell karaoke videos and other home entertainment content in Texas.
After the 21st century, Well Go USA has expanded to include Asian action and type films, serving North America’s fanatical “Asian Martial Arts, Action Fans” audience. Around 2015, Well Go USA began experimenting with other types of Asian films, including Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Assassin Nie Yinniang, Taxi Driver and American Independent Film.
The company’s subsidiaries are now located throughout Asia, such as Guangzhou, China, Taiwan and other places.
Entertainment Watch (ID: yiyuguancha) Organize Well Go USA to release the top ten data on the box office of the movie. It can be seen from the chart that although the company is also issuing independent literary films, its overall movie box office revenue is still concentrated on the Asian martial arts action film. The top ten films in the box office list are all films from China and South Korea, each accounting for 50%.
In the list, some of the films that China has been promoting in China in recent years, such as “Red Sea Action”, “Hong Kong” and “Where” are promoted to North America by the issuing company.
Among them, “Ip Man 3” received the highest box office of $2.67 million. “Red Sea Action” received $1.54 million. Although “Only” was only released in less than a week, it won a $1.48 million box office, but it is also ranked seventh in the list. The latter two domestic films “Hong Kong” are worth $1.3 million, and “seeking dragons” is $1.24 million.
▲ “Red Sea Action” stills
The phenomenon-level disaster theme film “Busan” is Korea’s highest box office of $2.12 million. It is worth noting that the Korean series “Going with God” entered the North American market at the same time, and both won a million dollar box office.
From the perspective of the composition of the film’s theme, the company’s commercial films are mainly stimulated by the senses and have Asian culture. Among them, “Ip Man 3” belongs to the typical Chinese kungfu film, “Which” and “seeking dragon” are rich in traditional Chinese cultural elements, and “walking with God” also has Asian demon culture. The Korean political film “Taxi Driver” is the only one with a literary bias. Received $1.52 million.
Not only in China, but also in the movie-level film in China, in this year, Well Go USA also released “Youth”, “Acts 2: Spell Action”, “Chasing Dragon 2”, “Balcony”, etc. .
also pays attention to Asian art and literature, different subjects for different people in North America
As a North American distribution company, WEll Go USA is dedicated to the discovery of Asian film productions. This is the path of “a different path.” How to go?
Well Go USA President and CEO Doris Pfardrescher has explained the company’s work in North America. In the martial arts film, it is a white male between the ages of 15 and 45 and a player who downloads and rents a game from an Xbox or Sony Playstation. In addition, African Americans and Hispanics are also very keen on martial arts movies.
In the case of “Ip Man 3”, the film is on more than 100 theaters in the United States. Among its audiences, 35-40% are Asian audiences, 20% are white fans, and 10% are African American. People and 10% Hispanic.
▲ “Ip Man 3” stills
In this regard, Doris Pfardrescher said: “There is a superstar of those ‘martial arts fans’ in North America. For martial arts movies, although costume design and scene construction are very important, in North America, every audience and fans pay more attention to it. ‘Action Orchestration’.”
Well Go USA expects to be a global publisher through commercial films with Asian characteristics such as “Ip Man 3”. “We are actively pursuing films that work both domestically and internationally. We are building partnerships around the world to enable us to make full use of all rights internationally. Doris Pfardrescher further stated.
And as mentioned above, In recent years, Well Go USA has not been limited to focusing on Asian action and martial arts movies. Other Asian literary and artistic works are also in their attention. For example, the Chinese film “Assassin Nie Yinniang”, “Youth of the Teenagers”, “On the Balcony”, the Korean movie “Taxi Driver” and so on.
▲ “You are a teenager” poster
But at the box office, these literary films, which are also unique in Asian characteristics, are more difficult to accept in North American audiences. Well Go USA’s Asian literary film, currently only South Korea’s “Taxi Driver” won a million dollar box office.
“The Assassin Nie Yinniang is a very interesting story. We also put it on the same screen number as “Ip Man 3″, but the box office revenue is only about $650,000.” For these Asian literary films, Well Go USA focuses on a wide range of art lovers in North America, not those in the traditional sense of “Asian movie fans” (martial arts, action movie fans).
▲ “Assassin Nie Yinniang” poster
Based on this perspective, in the North American release of Assassin Nie Yinniang, Well Go USA focused on the “beautiful art film” and “Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award” on the label, which played down the “Chinese martial arts.” “” Ancient Chinese assassination movie.” It is understood that “Assassin Nie Yinniang” in North America, DVD sales and video on demand are ideal.
In terms of cinema, AMC, the second largest cinema in North America, has been very supportive of Well Go USA’s work, which also has Wanda’s support. “They very much hope that Chinese films will support the Chinese market. To a large extent, it is open to Asian films.”
On September 6th, “Where” will be released in North America, according to “Where” is currently in North America, word of mouth fermentation and box office results. We are confident that “Where” is able to sprint to Well Go USA’s best movie box office. Time, more than “War Wolf 2” 2.7 million US dollars, “beautyFish is 3.28 million US dollars, and even “Wandering Earth” is 5.87 million US dollars. It is not impossible to become the highest North American box office in the past five years.