Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, are partnered to investigate a series of murders committed by an intelligent killer who is using the seven deadly sins as a theme. The detectives must hunt down the killer while unraveling his complex logic. The film Se7en had a budget of $33 million and grossed $327 million worldwide, making it a major financial success. It received widespread critical acclaim and introduced audiences to the dark directing style of David Fincher.

1. Seven
Two detectives are partnered to solve
to case of a mysterious and intelligent
killer who is causing chaos through a
series of murders following the pattern
of the seven deadly sins. The
detectives Mills and summerset, a
rookie and a veteran, must hunt down
this killer whilst understanding his
logic.

2. Seven
Director: David Fincher
- Also directed alien 3, fight club, the game and
panic room
Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker
Producer(s): Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle

3. Film Budget
Budget: The budget for se7en was estimated to
be $33,000,000 for the production and the film
grossed a total of $327,311,859 worldwide.

4. Filming
Se7en was filmed in Los
Angeles, California due to the
bustling pedestrians and
polluted streets which gave
the film an urban and violent After
atmosphere, which was what
Fincher intended. He wanted
the city to be portrayed as
‘dirty’ and ‘often depressing’
which really came through
visually to the audience due
to the yellow toned filter used
to slightly drain the films Before
colour.

5. Distributors
Se7ven had many distributors in order to exhibit the film
worldwide, however the main distributors were new line
cinema(USA) (theatrical)
New line cinema distributed many successful films and had
early success with Reefer madness. The company is an
American film studio, founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and
Michael Lynne as a film distributor and later became an
independent film studio. The company later merged with
Warner bros in 08, and are currently owned by time warner.
New line cinema also released many classic foreign films such
as stay as you are and immortal tales along with producing
films of multiple genres including alone in the dark (horror) and
xtro (science fiction fantasy.)

6. Advertising
Se7en was mainly advertised through a trailer, which
consisted of suspenseful scene due to the use of fast cut
editing and eerie music with a low toned bass.
Se7en was also advertised through posters, with one of the
most famous ones being extremely simple with only the
films title being portrayed on a plain black background.
This was a good poster to advertise due to it’s lack of
information which had an intriguing effect on the audience
due to the obscurity of it.
Another poster revealed more information, as each poster
revealed more information than the last. This one consisted
of the seven deadly sins written in scratchy typography on
the poster which revealed this was what the story line was
centered around.

7. Advertising
Se7en was also highly spread by mouth, as in
1995 everyone was talking about se7en thus a
strong buzz was created.
Se7en used a total of 7 websites to communicate
the sins to the audience. One for example being a
pizza pie shop which represented the sin ‘gluttony’
and there was another website for each sin. Once
all these websites were used 7 letter where taken
from the address links names to from the website
www.johndoe.com , a characters name, it was on
this website that the users could watch the trailer
before it was officially released.

8. Publicity
The film was highly praised in the reviews it
received, and managed to achieve an 8.7/10 rating
from imdb, which is based upon reviews from critics.
The cast of se7en worked as a strong selling point for
the film due to Morgan Freeman staring as a lead
character and since he was nominated for the ‘best
actor in a leading role’ for the film shawshank
redemption this created a strong interest for the
audience.
David Fincher was also a good form of publicity due
to him directing alien 3 which was rather successful
and popular.

9. Financial success
Se7en was highly distributed worldwide and was exhibited
in most countries such as
Canada, USA, Australia, Netherlands, South
Korea, Germany, Italy etc (32 Countries in total)
Box office figures: Budget: $33,000,000
(estimated)Gross: $316,400,000 (Worldwide)
$100,125,000 (USA)
£19,234,230 (UK) (17 March 1996)
£17,834,902 (UK) (19 February 1996)
£11,434,343 (UK) (21 January 1996)
£19,500,000 (UK)

10. Release date
Se7en was released on the 22nd September
1995, this is a good release date considering the
classification of the film is a certificate 18. This date
would mean adults would have more free time as
children would be back at school thus this date is
more convenient for the target audience.
Since this would be released in the fall the genre is
taken into consideration as the film as a dark
atmosphere to it so the weather itself would reflect
the films genre and themes. This is also close to
Halloween which is the general release date for
horrors and thrillers.

11. Home release
DVD release dates
Seven(new line platinum series) December
19, 2000
seven(single disk edition) February 3, 2004
Seven blu-ray(blu-ray book) September 14, 2010
Seven blu-ray April 26, 2011
Rentals $43,100,000 (USA)

12. Was it successful?
Se7en was an extremely successful production
due to the grossing over ten times the budget
amount which is a huge success. It is also
successful from the ratings and highly praise
reviews it has received over the years and
continue being positive and highly rated to this
very day.
The film was such as success that when it came
to home release many versions of the film were
release, this included VHS, DVD, special editions
and recently Blu-ray.