When "Jurassic Park" was heavily publicized in the last period before its release, on May 28, Carlock Films' first summer film "The Great Peak" officially opened on more than 2,300 screens. It marks the official arrival of the 1993 film summer file.
"The Great Peak" is starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the story of a rescue team member played by Stallone and his companions who are reborn after encountering a group of gangsters on a snowy mountain. Produced by Rock Films and distributed by MGM, which has just undergone restructuring.
There is also an episode in this. The films of Carlock Films were originally distributed by Columbia. However, after Columbia and Firefly reached a cooperation agreement last year, Peter Guber canceled the cooperation with Carlock Films. After experiencing the Italian businessman Giancarlo’s fraud case, MGM was taken over by creditor Crédit Lyonnais of France. Credit Lyonnais, which held control, auctioned MGM at the end of last year, but no one was willing to take it over. Crédit Lyonnais Then MGM was reorganized, and Frank Macasso, John Carley and others who had been executives at Warner Bros. were recruited to form a management team. During the reorganization of MGM, it happened that Carlock Films was looking for a distributor for its own films. The new management team, which urgently needed to reverse the decline of MGM, signed a distribution agreement with Carlock.
However, fantasy is beautiful, reality is always cruel.
Although Stallone's performance is very hard, there are many thrilling scenes in the movie, but "The Great Mountain" will be released on May 28. It grossed only $16 million in its first three days. Accompanied by a demeaning voice from the critics.
Most critics gave the film low marks. Claiming that the plot of the movie is old-fashioned and naive, you can completely guess the rest of the plot of the movie after watching it for only ten minutes.
Moreover, a scene in which the protagonist burns money for warmth has also become the focus of a lot of media ridicule. The production cost of this film was 70 million U.S. dollars, and MGM spent another 30 million and 100 million U.S. dollars for the film’s publicity. The huge cost of US dollars is indeed no different from burning money. And with so much money burned, the movie just doesn't live up to what it should. Although the 16 million US dollars in the first three days is not too miserable, but with the release of the much-anticipated "Jurassic Park" in the second week, most box office analysis agencies estimate that the North American box office of "The Great Mountain" will stop. The price tag is in the $50 million range, which is not even half of the total cost of the "The Mountain" movie.
The North American box office is so bleak, and other distribution channels will not be too ideal. The situation of huge losses for the producers and distribution companies is almost doomed.
Of course, MGM's management team was not reconciled to such a bleak situation for the first heavyweight film released after taking over the film company. emergency meeting. After some consultations, a response plan was quickly come up with.
Because the film critics of "The Great Peak" are already difficult to reverse. MGM decided to find another way. On the second day, a large number of articles complaining about "The Great Mountain" appeared in many newspapers, claiming that the film quality of "The Great Mountain" was not as bad as the critics criticized. The one-sided situation is entirely due to the slander by competitors.
As soon as these articles came out, there was a lot of repercussions immediately. The release date of "Jurassic Park" was just a week after the release of "The Great Mountain". "Peak" and "Jurassic Park", so the "competitors" referred to in these articles could not be more obvious. Therefore, after reading these news, many people are subconsciously against the "Jueling Xiongfeng" The 'miserable experience' generated sympathy, and in the face of the increasingly powerful position of Firefly Pictures in Hollywood, the media controlled by other film companies did not mind taking advantage of the situation to add some trouble to Firefly.
In just a few days, a crusade against the "evil forces" in the film industry has formed in the media.
At the same time, "Jurassic Park" has also entered the last week of intense publicity. In addition to more intense print media and TV advertisements, since May 25, the main creative team of "Jurassic Park" has started a North American campaign. Tour promotional activities in major cities, and held preview events in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia and other places.
However, Firefly Pictures has remained silent in the face of the media's crusade against "Jueling Xiongfeng" being smeared.
Firefly's silence does not mean that some people will allow Firefly to remain silent. MGM's goal is to provoke a confrontation between the two films and achieve the effect of rebounding the box office of "The Great Mountain".
However, during the promotional tour of "Jurassic Park", basically all the media that were friendly with Firefly were invited, and MGM has never found any opportunities.
Because the UK will arrange for "Jurassic Park" to be released at the same time, the main creative team will fly to London on June 3 to participate in the UK premiere, and the North American premiere will be arranged on June 2. Two days before the release of Jurassic Park.
As usual, the North American premiere was held at the famous Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
Everything went well at the beginning of the premiere, but during the media questioning session, after it was his turn, a reporter asked Eric abruptly: "Mr. "What do you think about being smeared by competitors?"
Hearing this question, Charlie West, who was in charge of organizing the premiere, broke out in a cold sweat, and the atmosphere at the scene immediately fell into a state of stagnation.
Previously, it was not that Firefly did not discuss this matter internally. Eric’s final result was cold treatment without any response. Firefly’s distribution department also performed very well. Unexpectedly, in the premiere On the occasion of Minggan, there was such a big mistake.
Charlie West was wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. The executive standing at the exit of the backstage and looking down the stage wished he could rush forward and strangle the reporter who asked the question to death. You know, Fox TV is watching the premiere live broadcast.
"Mr. West, do you want to suspend the live broadcast?" Charlie West was at a loss. The person in charge of Fox TV has already come over.
Charlie West glared at the other party. Isn't this nonsense, the question just now has been broadcast live, and suddenly cutting off the live broadcast in this situation, isn't it slapping the face of that person on the stage.
Eric held the microphone in his hand and was silent for a moment with everyone. After seeing the news a few days ago, Eric almost understood the ins and outs of the matter. These methods don't talk about this life, even if he didn't fully integrate into that circle in the previous life. I have seen too many similar situations.
If "Jueling Xiongfeng" is a good movie with many fans, then this method used by MGM will indeed have a concrete impact. A mediocre popcorn movie is unlikely to form a diehard fan base. Therefore, although MGM's method will arouse some people's sympathy for "The Great Mountain", and thus buying tickets in a rebellious psychology, most ordinary people will still only maintain the attitude of bystanders to watch the excitement.
At the same time, Firefly has not done anything to discredit "The Great Mountain". Therefore, it is impossible for MGM to obtain any substantive evidence to prove this point, and dare not blatantly name "Jurassic Park". Can only mislead readers with some ambiguous language.
And what MGM wants is for Firefly to take the initiative to respond. Once this is the case, then MGM's counterattack against Firefly's remarks will be justified, and it will also create an "established fact" in the hearts of ordinary people.
However, now, facing the live camera footage, Eric knew he had to respond on the spot.
After thinking for a while, Eric picked up the microphone again and asked the reporter: "Sir, do you have many friends?"
The reporter was taken aback. Although he didn't know why Eric would ask such a question suddenly, he was still instinctively vigilant: "Mr. Williams, this has nothing to do with my question. Could you please answer my question directly?"
Eric stared at the reporter sharply, and said in a deep voice: "The question you asked has nothing to do with this premiere, but I still decided to answer you, so tell me first, how many friends do you have?" ?"
Feeling the pressure in Eric's gaze, the reporter shrank his neck subconsciously, and blurted out: "It's... not bad, no, I mean, I have a lot of friends."
"Then do you often discuss movies with your friends?"
The reporter thought he had calmed down, and said, "Yes, Mr. Williams, I am an entertainment reporter, so they often ask me questions about movies..." The reporter was startled when he said this, Subconsciously, he thought that he was led into the pit by Eric, and he thought that Eric would ask him what he thought of the movie "The Great Mountain" next.
However, Eric did not continue to ask, but said: "Okay, then I can answer your opinion about you and me on your question just now. Hollywood movies have been developed for more than 80 years. Over time, movies have become an indispensable part of everyone's entertainment life. Even though many people will not go to the cinema, they can still watch movies through channels such as TV and video. Such a long time is enough to cultivate ordinary people's appreciation for a movie. Self-judgment of whether a movie is good or bad."
"Mr. Williams..."
The reporter heard that Eric still didn't answer his question directly, and was about to interrupt, but met Eric's sharp eyes, and immediately said back.
Eric continued: "Everyone's judgment of a movie is not based on the investment in the movie. Otherwise, the "Cutthroat Island" two years ago is probably the box office champion of the year."
Hearing this sentence, everyone present laughed, and the reporter couldn't help asking at this time: "Mr. Williams, you didn't answer my question."
"Okay, to answer your question, I don't have any opinion on the matter you just mentioned. The promotion of the movie is just a means of advertising to let people know that there is such a movie coming out, when in fact a person Will you choose to watch this movie? Apart from word-of-mouth in newspapers and media, the most important criterion is how people around them talk about this movie. As you just said, your friends will tell you this It’s the same for entertainment reporters to ask whether a movie is good or bad. So, if you feel that a certain movie has been discredited, then ask your friends who have watched the movie. If they say it’s good, then you can go to the cinema to see it , if they think it’s not good, of course you don’t have to watch it, that’s all.” Speaking of this, Eric smiled and faced the camera and said: “Of course, this method is also effective for "Jurassic Park". You can not pay attention to any evaluation of "Jurassic Park" in the media, and only determine whether you want to watch this movie based on the viewing experience of your friends."
Hearing Eric's confident tone, the audience at the premiere applauded involuntarily.
The reporter who just tried to disrupt the situation also sat down resentfully, and did not continue to entangle.
At this time, in front of the televisions of thousands of households, many viewers who originally felt sympathetic to the "smearing" incident of "Jueling Xiongfeng" silently changed their minds, although many people still have not completely turned to Firefly The innocent side, but many people are no longer filled with righteous indignation, but decided to ask the people around them what they think of "The Great Peak".
After the reporter sat down, the host of the premiere gave Eric a look and asked if he would continue the questioning session.
Eric nodded slightly.
The host continued to click on another reporter, and at the same time, he hoped that another troublemaker would not jump out.
"Mr. Williams, I'm very confident in the tone you just said, and Firefly broke the rules and arranged 3,000 opening screens for "Jurassic Park", so, you have your own box office for "Jurassic Park" Is your tone?" This time it was a black-haired woman wearing glasses who spoke, and the question was quite standard.
Many people couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief...
Eric glanced at the woman and said with a smile: "You know, before a movie is released, both the distribution company and some professional organizations have predictions about the movie's box office. Compared with the answer to this question, you It has been seen in many newspapers."
"Of course, all the forecasts indicate that the North American box office of "Jurassic Park" will be between 200 million and 300 million US dollars," the female reporter replied skillfully, and then looked at Eric slyly: "However, I think everyone is more curious. Since Mr. Williams, you can arrange 3,000 yuan for the premiere screen of this movie, what is your box office expectation?" (To be continued...)