In the original plan, the first part of "Lord of the Rings" will be released in three formats: 2D, 3D and imax.
The first part of "The Lord of the Rings" will be released on December 17, which is exactly four weeks before "Gravity". According to the normal box office decline of most movies, four weeks after the release of "Gravity", part of the 3D and IMAX screens can be made available for "Lord of the Rings".
But the current situation is that with the strong box office trend of "Gravity", this film is enough to support the current screen release scale for more than eight weeks.
Moreover, from a purely commercial point of view, even if "Gravity" has a certain box office drop, as long as it is not too harsh, the theaters do not want to transfer too many screens to "Lord of the Rings".
Because the film length of "Lord of the Rings" is too long, close to 180 minutes, so that a screening hall can only hold five shows at most every day, but the ticket prices of North American films may be adjusted due to the screening time. But it will not change because of the length of a movie.
In comparison, "Gravity", which is only half the length of "Lord of the Rings", can have up to nine shows per day in a single hall. This is equivalent to the same attendance rate, "Gravity" can earn nearly double the box office than "Lord of the Rings".
In the initial release stage, Firefly Group has actually taken this issue into consideration.
Therefore, the release of the first part of "The Lord of the Rings" is still mainly in 2D. The company has prepared 2800 pieces of 2D screens for this film, and 3D and imax screenings are just supplementary, which can also save copying costs to a large extent.
But now, since the advertisements for simultaneous release of 2D, 3D and imax formats have been released, and 3D and imax have received such a strong response, if the 3D and imax versions of "Lord of the Rings" are temporarily canceled, the long-awaited movie fans will obviously Will not let it go.
Facing the current hot situation and the strong demands of major theaters, Firefly Group finally made a decision to increase the number of 3D screens. Eric also approved it after discussing with the company's senior management.
However, in order to ensure the viewing effect of the newly added 3D theater as much as possible, Firefly only agrees to provide an additional 500 sets of reald projection systems for the theater, and needs to supervise the selection of venues, equipment installation and personnel training throughout the process.
With the major theaters already proposing to implement the buyout clause in the original contract, the 500 sets of reald projection systems this time will naturally not sign a guaranteed share contract. However, the Firefly Group unceremoniously offered a high price of US$500,000, which was equivalent to more than twice the manufacturing cost of the entire set of equipment, and five times the price of a film projector on the market of about US$100,000.
For this alone, Firefly Group will obtain more than 100% of the gross profit.
Moreover, according to the contract, when the theater needs to replace equipment bulbs, 3D glasses and other parts and other consumables in the future, it needs to purchase from Reald, a subsidiary of the Firefly Group, which can also bring a steady stream of huge profits to the company.
However, although the theater chain felt heartbroken for the firefly group's lion's big opening, they did not reject the offer.
You know, just in the first week of "Gravity", the average income of 2,000 3D screening halls reached 60,000 U.S. dollars. With the current popularity of 3D movies, theaters want to recover the 500,000 U.S. dollars in equipment investment , probably only takes a year. However, it often takes two to three years for ordinary 2D projection halls to recover the relevant costs.
Under the strict requirements of the Firefly Group, it will take at least a month to complete the renovation of the additional 500 3D screening halls.
Compared with the 3D projection hall, the transformation of the imax theater is more difficult. The Firefly Group does not expect to increase the size of the imax screen before next year's summer, so it can only distribute the existing 100 screens in major museums and science and technology museums around the world. A number of imax screening halls are used.
Katzenberg and Richard Galford were discussing the cooperation agreement with this part of the imax screening hall and the expansion plan of the subsequent imax theaters. One of Katzenberg's assistants came over and whispered something to him. sentence.
"Then, let's leave it like this for today," Katzenberg nodded after hearing this, without hiding anything from Richard Gelford, and said, "Kazuo Hirai, the CEO of Sony's US branch, is here."
When Richard Gelford heard the name, he immediately understood why Sony was here.
The core and most expensive components of the reald projection system are two custom-made film projectors. Out of various considerations, reald originally chose to use Sony's projectors.
The global order for 4,000 reald systems and the purchase of 8,000 projectors have already made Sony a fortune. This is actually one of the reasons why Sony succumbed to the pressure of Firefly and changed hands of Columbia Pictures last year.
But now, with the prospect of 3-D movies becoming clearer, the global film industry is destined to usher in a wave of equipment replacement.
At present, the number of movie screens in the world has exceeded 100,000, and has been showing rapid growth.
Among them, even if only 30% of the screens are turned to 3D, it means that 60,000 new projectors will be updated.
In fact, film projection equipment has a lot of similarities with the automobile industry, that is, the subsequent maintenance of consumables brings profits to the manufacturing company no less than the initial equipment sales.
Therefore, 60,000 sets of projector equipment, together with the subsequent maintenance of consumables and other items, will contribute tens of billions of dollars in additional revenue to the entire film infrastructure equipment manufacturers as a whole.
With such a rich piece of fat, in theory, film equipment manufacturers are naturally unwilling to be restrained by the Firefly Group.
But the current situation is that the reald system of the Firefly Group has taken the lead. Traditional equipment manufacturers only need at least half a year to catch up with the reald system in 3D projection technology, and half a year is enough for the reald system standard Dominate the world.
What's more, the follow-up promotion will not be successful without the assistance of Hollywood film sources.
Then, if these equipment manufacturers want to share this part of the profits in the short term, they can only become the core equipment suppliers of the reald system of the Firefly Group.
Although most of the profits will be taken by the Firefly Group, this can at least guarantee the market share of the equipment manufacturers and the subsequent income from consumable repairs. Manufacturers outside the 3D market must live well.
Therefore, in recent days, almost all mainstream film equipment manufacturers are in close contact with Firefly Group, hoping to obtain orders for projector equipment from the reald system.
Facing the frequent actions of other manufacturers, Sony, which has maintained a certain reserve due to various frictions with the Firefly Group, soon could no longer calm down. If Sony loses its position as a supplier of reald system projectors when it already has an advantage, Sony will definitely become the laughing stock of the industry.
After chatting briefly, Katzenberg sent Richard Gelford away and returned to his office in the studio.
Kazuo Hirai, the CEO of Sony's American branch, has a tall figure that is rarely seen in Japanese, but his eyes are small.
Seeing Katzenberg in the lounge, Kazuo Hirai immediately bowed slightly with the unique Japanese respect and extended his right hand to the powerful leader of the Firefly Group: "Mr. Katzenberg, hello, I am Hirai A husband."
Katzenberg shook hands with the other party and said, "Hello, Hirai, I'm glad you can come to Los Angeles."
After a few pleasantries, the two entered Katzenberg's office together and sat down in the reception area. The secretary served them coffee, but Kazuo Hirai mentioned another matter, saying: "Mr. Katzenberg , I contacted the assistant office of Mr. Williams, hoping to meet with him or visit him privately during Los Angeles, but was rejected, I wonder if you can express my sincerity to Mr. Williams again?"
"Well, I'm afraid you won't have a chance this time," Katzenberg shook his head and said, "Eric is on vacation recently, not in Los Angeles."
Kazuo Hirai asked again: "Is it in New York? If that's the case, I can still visit after I go back there?"
"No." Katzenberg shook his head again, and said, "I spoke to him yesterday. Eric is in Florida, and he doesn't want to be disturbed during this time."
"Oh, that's a pity."
Katzenberg took a sip of the coffee brought by the secretary, put down the cup, and said, "Then, let's talk about the reald system. Hirai, first of all, I regret to inform you that Sony wants to monopolize the reald system." The supply of projector equipment is no longer possible.”
…
Katzenberg was so busy in Los Angeles that he didn't touch the ground, but Eric was sitting leisurely by a tennis court at the img Sports Academy in Bradenton, Florida, watching with great interest a tall, young man with a young face. The girl carefully played tennis with Emma and Kevin.
Hawaii sat next to Eric a little bored. Although the little girl was wearing a beautiful tennis outfit, she didn't intend to play at all. Accompanied by Eric on the other side were IMG Group CEO Payne Forstmann, who happened to be in Florida, and img's ace manager Max Eisenbud.
Since Cindy had already entered the due date, Eric hurried back to New York a few days before the release of "Gravity".
On Thanksgiving, Eric took Virginia, the others and the three little ones to spend at the manor on Martha's Vineyard.
Although it is impossible for women to fully accept each other from the bottom of their hearts, they all maintain harmony on the surface. Joanna also offered to stay on Martha's Vineyard to look after Cindy for the next period of time until her baby was born.
However, counting the girls who came to join in the fun as usual, a group of women gathered together, and the manor in Martha's Vineyard even felt a bit like a country of daughters.
As a result, Eric, a big man, suddenly seemed a little different in it. After all, it was impossible for women to have no complaints against Eric. Therefore, after living in less than a week, Eric was kicked out.
Of course, this description seems a bit exaggerated, but it is basically the case.
Virginia used the excuse that Eric seldom accompanied the children, and asked him to take the three little guys around. Emma was the first to shout to go to Disneyland, and Eric took the three little guys. Guy flew to Orlando first.
Due to its location in the tropics, it is now the peak tourist season in Florida, and Disney World in Orlando is even more crowded. Due to safety and other considerations, it is impossible for Eric to mix with a large group of tourists with the three little guys.
As a result, for three consecutive days, certain attractions at Disney World in Orlando were closed for 'repair', and then the local tabloids boldly revealed that this was a venue reserved by a certain big shot for their own children to play alone, which immediately aroused complaints from tourists.
After all, it is their own property, and the impact must be paid attention to. Eric can only flee with the three little guys.
Speaking of which, the Firefly system still has many industries in Florida.
Needless to say, Disney World in Orlando covers an area of more than 20 square kilometers. The digital field also has a branch in Florida, and has built the world's largest rendering farm near the southern Florida nuclear power plant. ABC Group and MGM-owned Rainbow Media also own a number of local TV stations in Florida.
In addition, it is the img group that Eric acquired some time ago.
img group is headquartered in new york, but the company has img sports academy with an area of more than 500 acres in bradenton, florida.
Most of the sports stars under img train frequently in the img academy. For this reason, many sports stars simply settle in Florida. img also hosts many tennis and golf events in Florida every year.
Bradenton is located on the west coast of Florida, only a hundred kilometers away from Orlando.
Since there was no way to continue playing at Disney World in Orlando, Eric took the little ones to the img Sports Academy in Bradenton.
"Maria was originally trained by her father. Because of the lack of systematic and scientific training methods, he only knew how to squeeze the girl's potential. During the last physical examination, we even found a dark wound on her shoulder. If it goes on for a long time, the result will be very bad. Mr. Bollettieri is in charge of Maria's training now, and she has worked hard enough, and her future achievements will definitely be much higher than Anna's."
Beside the tennis court, Penn Forstmann personally introduced Maria Sharapova's situation to Eric. As he was talking, Emma ran over from the court, and Eric took over. She passed the tennis racket in Emma's hand, wiped the sweat off the little guy's face, and asked, "Are you tired?"
Emma took Eric with one hand and wanted to drag him into the arena: "Maria is amazing, Dad, can you come and fight her?"
"Dad can't," Eric shook his head, looked at Kevin who took Emma's place under Natasha's care, and said with a smile, "Maria is older than you, so of course she's amazing. Now, go ahead and play." Let's take you to eat delicious food tonight."
Emma didn't leave, she lay on Eric's lap, raised her head and said, "Dad, the baby in Aunt Cindy's belly is about to be born, shall we go back to New York, I want to see the baby? "
Although she really wanted to stay by Cindy's side to watch the birth of the child, but since she was surrounded by a group of women, and this was not a world of palace fighting, Eric was actually very relieved. Putting the tennis racket back into Emma's hands, Eric said, "We'll go back after playing for two more days. Kevin still wants to go to the Bahamas. It's not good to only think about yourself."
Emma hummed earnestly, but did not leave, and said, "Dad, I thought of another name for the little baby."
Eric smiled, "What?"
"Tony, Tony Williams," Emma said with wide eyes blinking, "it's the same name as Dad in "Iron Man", how about it?"
"Well, after you go back, you can talk to Aunt Cindy, if she wants."
During this period of time, the name of the little guy who is about to be born has become the most interesting topic for everyone, because it has been confirmed that it is a boy, and a group of women also expressed their opinions.
On Thanksgiving, the girl also chose a name of "Manhattan" for the little guy according to the naming rules in Hawaii. Eric immediately thought of a blue man who didn't like to wear clothes in the DC comics, and then ruthlessly put it in the girl's head There was a knock on it.