I’m in Hollywood - Chapter 149

[Chapter 146: Advance and Retreat 2 Difficulties]

Compared with the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” series, which has a strong global box office appeal, the “Ghostbusters” series does not have any advantages, because this film type is a comedy, and comedy films are not easy to accumulate film charm. Yes, after all, after everyone laughed and laughed, there was nothing left.

Moreover, the filming time of the two films in the series is five years apart. For a comedy, the loss of popularity is even greater. If it hadn’t been for Columbia, it really couldn’t come up with other series of films to support this crucial summer season. Also will not start the project.

However, Colombia’s unremitting efforts to promote the film has made up for most of the disadvantages. Although it is not as good as the crazy publicity of “Dark War”, compared with the summer productions of other film companies, Colombia’s publicity is completely Going for the goal of making money as long as the box office, their real goal is indeed the same.

The acquisition negotiation with Sony has entered the final stage. The Japanese are determined to be a fat sheep this time. In this case, the ultimate goal of all business behaviors in Colombia is to raise the stock price. For listed film companies, box office data is one of the most influential factors in stock prices.

“Ghostbusters 2” was released on June 16. After the first week of box office was released, the data of 45 million US dollars made Colombian executives ecstatic. You must know that “Indiana Jones 3” only made 46 million at the box office in its first week. This also means that “Ghostbusters 2” is likely to get a total North American box office of nearly 200 million US dollars, like “Indiana Jones 3”, according to the estimates of the evaluation agency.

But this excitement only lasted for a week. In the second week, the box office of “Ghostbusters 2” plunged directly, with a drop of 55%, and only received more than 19 million in the next week’s box office.

The box office evaluation agency quickly lowered the box office estimate of “Ghostbusters 2” significantly, halving the $200 million box office valuation to $110 million. Although Colombia’s stock price, which had been rising rapidly, did not fall back because of this news, it did. The upward momentum has also slowed down. After all, as one of the six major giants in the summer, it is not a bright spot to get a box office of about 100 million.

The reason why this happened is that the film’s reputation was not as good as the first one after the film was released, but the most important thing was that this film collided with “Batman” with bad luck.

“Batman” has been serialized for the first time in 1939, and it has been just half a century. For the first superhero without superpowers in the history of North American comics, Warner is not very optimistic about starting this series. This kind of optimism directly reflects on the budget.

Compared with the large-scale production budget of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” of nearly 50 million US dollars, Warner only provided “Batman” with a production cost of 35 million US dollars, which can reach the scale of a blockbuster, even “Ghostbusters” and “Darkness”. Even though “Dark War” only cost 34 million, Columbia initially provided a budget of $40 million, and “Ghostbusters 2” had a budget of $40 million.

Because of Warner’s disapproval of “Batman”, Columbia did not take it seriously, so it put “Ghostbusters 2” in the week before “Batman” was released.

But everyone has far underestimated the influence of this superhero serialized for half a century in the minds of Americans. On June 24th, “Batman” was released, and a week later, this comic book live-action movie was released without a trace. The comparable momentum swept the box office of 68 million US dollars, accounting for 45% of the total box office of the week, squeezing the box office of many other films to pieces.

The most impacted is Colombia’s “Ghostbusters 2”.

After a 55% drop in the box office, the dream of “Ghostbusters 2″‘s 200 million box office was completely shattered. After all, after the box office plummeted, there is a possibility of a reverse decline. Sex is minimal.

Therefore, Colombia can only pin its hopes on Eric’s “Dark War”. After all, this film has been tested internally and by film critics, and it is unanimously optimistic.

However, after the box office of “Batman” in the second week was released, a haze was buried in the heads of all those who were full of expectations for “Dark War”, because the box office of “Batman” in the second week only fell by a weak 23%, still It took in $52 million at the box office, which is much higher than the first-week box office of many blockbusters.

Although the total weekly box office of the summer program will be about 150 million US dollars, this 150 million US dollars is apportioned to more than a dozen movies in the summer program, so it will not appear too much, and those who can get the summer program are either cannon fodder , or it is an excellent movie with high expectations, and the proportion of the latter is larger. In this case, the movie “Batman” accounts for one-third of the share. If there is no large proportion of the box office drop next week, The box office pressure of “Dark War” can be imagined.

In the conference room of Columbia headquarters, a group of high-level executives were nervously discussing the response plan. Coca-Cola also came to a vice president to observe the meeting. Eric sat next to Amy Pascal and patiently listened to everyone’s discussions. .

Although he is the director of the film, Eric doesn’t have much say in the distribution of the film. The reason why he is here is only because he is the director of “Dark War”. Although the film production process Columbia completely The decentralization was given to him, but he was hardly involved in the distribution. Eric also submitted a document of his own on the promotion of the film, but he did not receive a response from Columbia.

“I think the release of “Dark War” should be postponed, at least a week later, the momentum of “Batman” is too strong, stubbornly setting the schedule on July 7 is a very unwise behavior, we We have already lost a Ghostbusters 2 because of this, and if the box office of “Batman” fails to meet expectations, then our previous plan to use two blockbusters to drive up the stock price will be completely in vain.” Columbia Publicity Department executives expressed their opinions.

Just after the other party finished speaking, another executive asked: “Bob, according to your plan, what about the agreement that has been signed with the theater chain?”

“Coordinate with the other party and properly compensate the theater chain for the loss. , we can take a few temporary tops from the produced movies, in short, to ensure that the box office of “Dark War” is the first.”

The management of the data analysis department interjected: “”Batman” now The box office has already exceeded 100 million, and this momentum is unlikely to continue. UU reading www.sonicmtl.com and the critics’ evaluation of the film is not too high, I think the box office should have a normal 40 in the third week. % or more.”

“According to what you said, the film should have a normal decline in the second week, but the fact is that this did not happen, only a slight decline of 23% in the second week,” someone retorted.

“The media has already started mocking our schedule for the two films, and if we don’t release it according to the confirmed schedule, it will definitely give a signal that people have no confidence in the quality of “Dark War”, which is very dangerous, because once When fans have this kind of misunderstanding, they will preconceived that “Dark War” is a bad film, and that is the most fatal blow to the film. In comparison, it is the safest way to release it according to the original plan, not because we don’t want to. Delay, but according to the current situation, we must not delay.”

“I also agree with Rhett, it’s not that we don’t want to delay, but we can’t. We are confident, we are afraid, “Dark War” is actually not as good as we advertise.”

“But once “Batman” has a slight drop of about 20% in the third week, it will still get a box office of about 40 million. , can you imagine how much pressure on the box office of “Dark War” will be under such circumstances?” The

crowd discussed in a frenzy for an hour. He just sat up straight, his eyes turned to Eric, who had been ignored by everyone and listened silently like himself: “Mr. Williams, I see that you haven’t spoken, why don’t you share your opinion?”

[End of this Chapter]