In this era, the income of film critics mainly comes from two aspects, the public relations fee of the film company and the contribution fee of film reviews published in newspapers and magazines. Of course, the top film critics will also have other types of income, such as publishing books or appearing on TV programs. of.
And George Northam is obviously not in the top group, otherwise "Premiere" magazine would not dismiss George Northam easily after being pressured by Columbia.
Because of the blacklist, when the film company has a new film coming out, not only will George Northam not receive a penny of public relations fees, but he will also be unable to receive invitations to the trial screening or premiere of the film. If you can’t participate in trial screenings or premieres, it’s impossible to get first-hand viewing materials that are ahead of ordinary audiences. Newspapers and magazines are not too eager to criticize movies that have already been released, so even the income from film review fees will be greatly reduced. Adding up the two aspects, the lost income exceeded 80% of the original income.
Therefore, being blacklisted by the six major film companies means that it is impossible for George Northam to stay in the circle of film critics, and the reputation he spent many years building in the circle will also disappear.
In fact, as an old fritter who has been in the circle for many years, George Northon also clearly knows the rules of the game in this circle, and many lines cannot be touched, so he has never done anything out of the ordinary before. After years of hard work, he has also gained a lot of fame in the industry, and his annual income has even reached an enviable six-figure figure.
Perhaps it was precisely because of so many years of prosperity that George Northam was a little self-righteous and forgot his own duty, so he published several articles criticizing "Dark War" in a row. He originally only felt that he was being teased by Nicole , I wanted to vent my anger and take a little revenge on the other party, but I didn't expect that I had greatly underestimated the "influence" of that professional article, and it was too late to react, and I directly ruined my own. career.
After the end of the first week, perhaps because of the turmoil, or because of the publicity effect of Eric's appearance on "Sophia Talk Show", within the first four working days, "Dark War" won more than 1,600 The total box office in the first week reached more than 43 million, which is at least 3 million more than the estimate made by Columbia after the box office was released on the first weekend. This data makes Columbia full of confidence.
At the same time, with the clarification of the shooter's doubts in "Dark War", the "topic marketing" plan that had been discussed in advance was also launched. The incident started when several entertainment newspapers criticized the placement advertisements in "Dark War" fiercely.
"More than 30 Placed Ads, Are We Really Watching Movies?" "
"Shuangtang's joint advertising blockbuster, what we are watching is not a 'dark war', but an 'advertising war'"
"The Road of No Return for Eric Williams' Placement!" "
A series of very eye-catching headlines directly pushed the topic of "Dark War" to the cusp of the storm. The public opinion of the media was in an uproar again after the storm of doubts. Columbia also took advantage of the trend and began to vigorously manipulate it before other competitors reacted. The direction of public opinion has turned most of the media's commentary tone on this matter into a mocking gesture.
Soon, the "Los Angeles Times" published an audience survey report. The survey was done in advance by Columbia. the opinion of.
In the random check of 1,000 people, 76% of the audience did not feel the presence of advertisements in the movie, 15% felt the existence of advertisements, but did not care much about them, and 7% of the audience expressed that they were somewhat concerned about advertisements, but chose to hate them very much. Only a tiny 2% of ads.
In order to ensure its credibility, the "Los Angeles Times" also published a whole stack of photos of the spot check report on the page.
The story pretty much set the tone for the placement saga of Dark War.
Whenever this matter is brought up, many people feel that most people don't even feel the existence of the advertisement, which is actually nothing. Coupled with the publication of some other satirical gunman articles in Colombia, the public's thinking direction began to be reversed.
Immediately, Columbia also began to stand up and clarify, saying that there were indeed some placement advertisements in the movie, but they were not as exaggerated as those "irresponsible" media said. Columbia took out the gunman who just happened to question the incident, saying that it was a malicious slander against "Dark War" by its competitors.
As the guidance of public opinion continued, more and more people began to be curious about the advertisements in "Dark War", because as shown in that survey, when a large number of people watched the movie for the first time, Didn't even realize the ads in Dark Wars existed.
When Colombia's competitors reacted and began to manipulate their own media to reverse the direction of public opinion and lead the public to hate the placement advertisements in "Dark War", Colombia directly threw another blockbuster.
On the second weekend of the film's release, that is, early Saturday morning, several newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post simultaneously published a statement from Columbia.
"Although according to the survey, the product placement in "Dark War" did not affect the viewing experience of the majority of movie fans, but in order to thank the fans for their support, after communication with all parties involved in the film production and distribution, we decided to release "Dark War" The 2 million US dollars of placement advertising fee received in the film will be given back to the fans. From the date of this statement, viewers can send all 12 guessed placement advertisements by letter to the following address, and we will broadcast them during the live TV program , 200 lucky viewers who are all correct will be drawn on the spot, and each will be rewarded with $10,000 in cash.”
Subsequently, this statement left the mailing address, deadline, and anti-brush restrictions such as each citizen ID is limited to one letter, and repeated delivery is invalid.
In an instant, the entire American media was in an uproar again. Even many viewers couldn't help but realize that this was a blatant hype.
But even if this is discovered, it still cannot stop the enthusiasm of many viewers. After all, it is the late 1980s, and for many American families, $10,000 is considered a huge sum of money. Anyway, during the holidays, everyone has the habit of watching movies. What is watching? If you watch the movie and spend tens of cents to get an envelope and mail out your guesses, you may get a $10,000 prize. Why not for. Moreover, the number of winning prizes for 200 people seems to be quite high.
On the second day after this statement was issued, many movie theaters that played "Dark War" were immediately full. On the day the statement was issued, "Dark War" received a box office of 13 million US dollars on the day, and the box office on Sunday also reached 10 million. 11 million, plus the box office of more than 8 million US dollars on Friday, the total box office of "Dark War" reached 32 million in the three days of the second weekend, miraculously achieved a nearly 20% drop in the box office in the highly competitive summer file, It is also the only movie that has seen a box office drop this summer.
After seven days in the second week, "Dark War" once again won a box office of more than 49 million in the second week, and the total box office has reached 92 million.
In comparison, "Ghostbusters 2", which has already begun to weaken at the box office after five weeks of its release, has only earned a box office of just over $90 million, while "Batman" has been affected by the trend of "Dark Wars". The box office fell again by 44%, and only got 16 million US dollars at the box office. Although the cumulative box office reached 168 million, if the box office of "Batman" drops by about 40% again in the next week of release, the box office will only be 100 million US dollars. It can be kept within the tens of millions, and with the box office trend of "Dark War", the weekly box office data of tens of millions may be maintained for three to four weeks. It is really hard to say who will win the box office champion of this summer.
Many film companies were dumbfounded by this result. Even many senior executives of Columbia Pictures had a sense of emptiness that happiness came too quickly to adapt to. Breaking through US$4.5 billion, Sony, which has initially reached an acquisition agreement, became anxious. It was originally planned to complete the acquisition by the end of September, but the person in charge of Sony sent several requests, hoping to sign the final agreement in August. The other party also realized that It is understood that if "Dark War" overtakes "Batman" and wins the summer box office championship, the rise in the stock price will definitely not stop.
When the box office of "Dark War" fell by 26% again in the third week and won more than 38 million box office, the puzzled media could only attribute this trend to the masses' desire for windfall.
Although many film companies also want to learn from Columbia's lottery model for publicity, it is a pity that the wave of summer movies is over. "Dark War" can be said to be the last wave of big-budget movies released. It doesn't make much sense for the movie to carry out similar publicity.
And the movies released after "Dark War" are basically less promising works that entered the theater at the end of the summer vacation to make money. Therefore, other film companies dare not spend 2 million at all, even if it is 1 million, it is very difficult. Few people are willing to spend it. After all, this kind of risk is too great. Even if a movie gets 100 million box office, after the theaters are divided, the remaining half needs to be divided among investors, producers, and distributors. After paying taxes, profits are usually only in the millions. A "Home Alone" like Eric earned hundreds of millions of dollars, which is unique in the industry. Even the "Star Wars" series, which is currently recognized as the most profitable, can't get such a high profit for Lucas at the box office. .
And this time, Columbia achieved a big reversal at the box office by using hype-embedded advertisements, and it is destined to become a classic marketing case to be studied by major film companies.
Eric is not worried that this method will be learned by others, because this time the operation is completely slanted. To put it bluntly, once or twice is fine, and the audience will think that guessing the placement of advertisements is quite fresh. Once you use it a few times, the audience will definitely have a rebellious mentality of 'I am here to watch movies for entertainment and entertainment, not to count commercials', and doing so will only be counterproductive.