"After the analysis of the distribution department, the reason why "The Blair Witch" is so popular mainly depends on the audience's voyeurism and curiosity. In order for this film to get a better box office, it is necessary to maintain the hunger and thirst of the audience as much as possible. Therefore, I think it is not suitable to expand the scale of the next screening too much at once, and 1,000 screens are enough. In the second week and the third week, the number of screening screens was maintained at around 1,000. If there is still room in the future, we can further expand the screening scale from the fourth week onwards.”
At the company's regular meeting in the new week, Kenneth Horn reported the box office data of the first weekend of "The Blair Witch", and then talked about the follow-up release of the film again.
An ultra-low-budget film with a total budget of only 60,000 US dollars has created a box office of 11.2 million US dollars in just three days of the first weekend. Not only the outside media were in an uproar, but the Firefly Group was also amazed by it. Therefore, this matter has also become the most important topic at the company's regular meeting this week.
After carefully reading the project information about "The Blair Witch", Robert Thompson, president of Bowell Publishing Company, although not in charge of this matter, raised objections: "I don't think so, Ken, the previous month, the company aimed at The publicity strategy of this film is to confuse the real ones with false ones, but since we declared that this is just a marketing campaign, coupled with the public release of the film, the truth has been revealed one after another, and the foundation of popularity brought by the original marketing strategy has begun to dissipate. Fortunately, The box office miracle created in the first weekend of the film happened to bring the topic of this film to the highest point again. Therefore, we should seize this opportunity to expand the screening scale to more than 2,000 screens at one time, and take advantage of the film as much as possible. Harvest more box office while the popularity is still there."
After listening to Robert Thompson's speech, Simon Pike, President of the Consumer Products Department, joined in the fun and said, "I still agree with Kenneth's plan. The popularity of "The Blair Witch" is enough to support a long box office curve. If you are too eager for success, you will end up with a lot of trouble. It backfired, and Hasbro's pre-Star Wars stumbles just provided us with a counter-example."
As soon as Simon Pike finished speaking, Thomas Schumacher, head of Firefly Pictures, said: "However, I have to remind everyone that the next two weeks without any competitors should be the best time for "The Blair Witch". The key. Two weeks later, the Easter schedule will start. I remember that only on March 26, there will be three new films released, Paramount's "The Trio", Universal's "Ed's Private Channel" and Warner's "Lola Run, and the competition for new films will intensify in the next few weeks, leaving no long run for The Blair Witch."
Hearing Thomas Schumacher's words, everyone paused and looked at Eric who was sitting at the top.
That's right, "Run Lola Run" was eventually snatched by the richer Warner Bros. for $12 million. Moreover, with the blessing of the popularity of watching the film in person during Eric Sundance, in order to strike while the iron is hot, Warner Bros. simply put this film on the Easter schedule.
Eric didn't pay too much attention to this matter. "Run Lola Run" is just a relatively different low-cost independent movie after all, with limited box office potential. Even if the subordinate wants to snatch the film over because of his optimism, Eric will not agree. His attention was still on "The Blair Witch". In order to prevent the management from getting into a dispute, he whispered a few words to Katzenberg, and Eric made a final decision: "Spread it as soon as possible, this film really has no Enough strength to go long-term. Next, let’s discuss the topic of setting up a dedicated network marketing department. Presumably everyone has already experienced the effect of network marketing. However, I must remind you that network marketing is only a part of the traditional film marketing model. This kind of supplement, at least, will be the case for a long time in the future. "The Blair Witch" can only be regarded as an example, it is difficult to replicate, I mean, New Line and Bowei each set up a dedicated network marketing office, everyone should remember Let’s face it, we are a big film company, and upright operations are fundamental, so don’t fall into this kind of slanted business thinking just because of temporary profits.”
Eric made a decision, and everyone no longer objected. Kenneth Horn said again: "So, Eric, regarding the sequel, do you need to establish a project as soon as possible?"
"No, this movie, we don't consider any sequel within five years."
In the past, there have been two famous low-cost pseudo-documentary films in Hollywood, one is "The Blair Witch" and the other is "Ghost Story".
Compared with "Ghost Story", which has been filmed in a row and sold well, the sequel of "The Blair Witch" can only be described as a failure.
This is mainly because "Ghost Story" also adopts the pseudo-documentary mode, but it is a real horror movie with a very good horror atmosphere. Therefore, audiences will still buy the sequel of "Ghost Story".
"The Blair Witch" is different. This film, if there is no rich background story carefully forged by the main creator, the film is completely just the various surprises of the protagonists. It seems that there is not much horror. Most of the audience watching this film is completely just a kind of inquiry psychology under the influence of overwhelming public opinion. Once the interest passes, they find that there is nothing special about the whole film, so they will no longer have any interest. , many people will feel cheated.
In this case, starting the sequel immediately, there is really no other possibility except failure.
However, if the project is started five years later, or even longer, the result will definitely be different.
As for the reason, it boils down to two words, nostalgia.
The two-hour regular meeting ended, and everyone returned to their jobs one after another. Eric and Katzenberg still stayed in the conference room.
This afternoon, Katzenberg will rush to Washington to participate in the consultation meeting initiated by the Federal Department of Justice to the entire information and media industry regarding the merger of AOL and Time Warner.
As the first large-scale merger and acquisition of new and traditional media, with an unprecedented scale of 140 billion US dollars, the Department of Justice is very cautious about this merger and acquisition. Of course, this is also full of secret games between various forces.
According to the merger announcement issued by AOL and Time Warner, once the two parties merge, the new company will rely on AOL's huge user base and Time Warner's content advantages to create an integrated network access, cable TV, and fixed-line telephone business. comprehensive media group.
At that time, AOL-Time Warner will be involved in all mainstream businesses in the information media field, from channel services to content production. If it can really develop according to Steve Case's vision, the new company in the future will undoubtedly develop into a super media oligarchy.
So, in theory, any company that competes with AOL and Time Warner should try to stop the merger.
Firefly Group and Yahoo Networks, the two major companies of the Firefly System, both have a very direct competitive relationship with America Online and Time Warner. However, Eric has no intention of stopping this merger. Use your own influence as much as possible to facilitate the completion of this merger as soon as possible.
According to Eric's expansion plan, the Firefly Group will set foot in the field of cable TV service providers in the next step, which is actually a step that the Firefly system must take.
After all, whether it's Firefly, MGM or the allied 20th Century Fox, they all operate multiple cable channels. With the further popularization of cable TV networks in North America, if the Firefly system does not get involved in the cable TV supplier business at all, it is likely to encounter the dilemma of channel providers in the future.
"If AOL's merger with Time Warner gets rejected by the Justice Department, it will be very difficult for us to get involved in the cable operator business in the future. I have already talked to Ian, and he originally wanted to talk to AOL in advance. Reach some restrictive agreements, but I think this is completely unnecessary. Now is not the time to fight for a moment, helping America Online to merge Time Warner is helping ourselves," Eric rubbed the bandage on his arm gently through the shirt fabric After thinking for a while, he said to Katzenberg: "In addition, after you arrive in Washington, you can meet with the president and his wife in private. After going through so many things, I think he should be able to see the reality clearly, instead of pushing In order to fight a war to divert domestic attention from his personal political taint, I think the attitude of Hollywood will help him even more."
In February, after the last round of impeachment votes in the U.S. Senate, Clinton finally survived the zipper door.
At this time, in order to divert domestic attention from the zipper door and reshape its own image and political influence, the White House is trying its best to lobby the Federal Ministry of Defense to launch a war against Kosovo, or even an all-round ground war.
Katzenberg nodded seriously, but still said: "Eric, don't you worry about the impact of the merger of AOL and Time Warner on us?"
"There is nothing to worry about," Eric said with a smile, "Look at Steve Case's personnel arrangements for the new company. After the merger, although AOL's management will lead the new company, Time Warner's internal However, the power structure has not changed in any way. He can’t even control 100% of the new company, do you think Steve Case can successfully implement his own development plan?”
Katzenberg thought about it for a moment, and obviously agreed with Eric's point of view, and said: "What about you, Eric, if you came to dominate AOL-Time Warner, what would you do?"
Eric stopped rubbing his arms, with a cold expression on his face, and said: "First of all, of course it is a big cleansing. Either all disobedient people will get out, or I will get out. Phoenix Nirvana, nothing can be destroyed .”
Even now, Time Warner's media resources in all aspects are not weaker than Firefly Group.
Warner Bros., Time Media, Warner Cable, Turner Broadcasting, DC Comics, CNN, HBO, etc., are all very high-quality media assets. However, even if it is a premium acquisition, the price that AOL offered Time Warner was only 63 billion U.S. dollars, only half of the general valuation of Firefly Group by most media.
The reason for this situation is, in the final analysis, the endless internal struggle of Time Warner Group.
Speaking of which, if Steve Ross, who founded the Time Warner Group at the beginning, could continue to be alive and kicking for twenty years like old men like Murdoch and Redstone, Time Warner would never have the current situation. Unfortunately, Steve Ross passed away in 1992.
As for Steve Case.
Even if there is no memory of the past, just seeing that the other party has begun to compromise on the issue of control before the merger of the two companies has completed, Eric is very pessimistic about the future of this new company.
Entering the working day, the popularity of "The Blair Witch" in the 200 screening halls in North America has not diminished at all. Because of the strong shortage of supply, almost all the screening halls continue to maintain a state of full capacity.
On March 12, when the box office of "The Blair Witch" was released for the first seven days, it once again shocked many people's attention.
Although the box office of "Dangerous Man" lagged behind "Dangerous Man" by 3 million US dollars in the first weekend, after the accumulation of working days, "Blair Witch" relied on 200 screening halls, and finally reached an astonishing 21.27 million US dollars in the first week's box office. "Character" overtook and won the box office champion of the week.
Affected by the sharp drop in attendance on weekdays, "Dangerous Man" finally had a box office of only 20.54 million US dollars in the second week, which unfortunately ranked second. This film, which cost as much as US$90 million to produce, has a cumulative box office of just over 46 million in two weeks, which is almost doomed to a huge loss.
At the same time, after intensive operations, starting from March 12, the screen size of "The Blair Witch" has increased to more than 2,100 screens at one time, and it has officially rolled out across all theaters in North America. New Line Cinema also temporarily allocated a promotional budget of US$10 million, and began advertising "The Blair Witch" through traditional media channels.
After the first meeting, it took a full week before Universal Music responded again.
Eric set up another meeting with Edgar Bronfman on Friday morning, this time without Universal CEO Doug Morrison.
Firefly Studios, Eric's office.
After a few simple greetings, Edgar Bronfman put forward his request straight to the point: "Eric, since the Yahoo Music Store needs to get a commission from digital music sales, I think the record company also has the right to get a commission from Firefly." Get a certain benefit from the sales of electronic hardware."
Eric put down the coffee cup he had just picked up, shook his head and said, "Ed, there is no such reason. Have you heard of the fact that the equipment company that sells the projector gives the movie company a profit share?"
"There is no such reason," Edgar Bronfman said calmly, "but I believe you should understand what I mean."
Eric naturally understood what the other party meant. Seagram wanted to take a stake in Firefly Electronics.
However, if Firefly Electronics is just a portable music player company, Eric may agree, but in fact, this company involves too much Eric's layout of the future electronics industry.
Eric was thinking about how to speak next, when someone knocked on the office door, Caroline pushed open the door, gestured to Eric with a mobile phone in her hand, and said, "Sorry, Bronfman Sir, and Eric, but there's an emergency call from New York."
Eric looked at Caroline and asked, "Can't you wait a minute?"
"It's Mr. Paul Rowland from WM Company," Caroline said. "He said that there is a very urgent matter. He is already rushing to Kennedy International Airport and is about to fly to Europe."
Hearing that it was Paul Roland, Eric knew it must be related to Carmen Kess.
I don't know what happened to this girl, which required Paul Roland to rush to Europe in such a hurry.
Could it be that he bit someone else again
Thinking in his heart, Eric stood up apologetically and said, "So, Ed, I'm really sorry, just wait a moment."
Although Edgar Bronfman was a little displeased, he didn't show it. He smiled generously and said, "It's okay, you can answer the phone first."
Leaving the office, Eric took the mobile phone handed over by Caroline, looked at the girl standing quietly beside him with clear eyes, walked to the outside corridor with some guilt, put the mobile phone to his ear, and asked: " Paul, what happened?"