After attending the product conference of Firefly Electronics, on the second day, Eric took the VH-60N helicopter he retrieved from Larry Ellison and flew to Lone Pine Town, more than 200 kilometers away from Los Angeles in eastern California , Continue to shoot the exterior scenes of "Iron Man".
At the same time, entering the working day, under the hype of the three joint topics, "Ace Powers 2" continued to harvest the box office at a rate of more than 6 million US dollars in a single day.
Ultimately, "Ace Powers 2" took in $73.6 million for its full opening weekend, following a three-day opening weekend of $46.99 million. Created a first-week box office figure that many blockbuster films can hardly match.
In comparison, "City of Angels", which was originally the most favored by the media, only had a box office of 23.96 million US dollars in the first week, which was directly outnumbered by "Ace Powers 2".
The film quality of "City of Angels" is not too bad, and Warner's marketing is not careless. However, under the ingenious marketing method of Firefly, Fox and MGM, which completely drives the audience's emotions, "Angels" "The City" is almost completely forgotten by the audience. Although Warner tried its best to remedy it, it still failed to regain much attention from "Ace Powers 2".
Facts have proved that a film that lacks attention is often even worse at the box office than a bad film that has been criticized by everyone. What's more, although it was labeled as a bad movie by most film critics, the reputation of "Kingsman 2" among ordinary audiences is not bad.
Entering the week of Easter, "The Wedding Singer" and "Alien" were launched on a large scale at the same time. Encouraged by the excellent box office performance of "Ace Spy 2", the marketing departments of the three companies made persistent efforts, flexibly changed their promotion strategies, and hit ' More Choices' slogan continues to build momentum for Easter movie packages.
Although the topic of "Ace Powers 2" is very high, there are still a large number of people who don't like this shit movie. The release of "The Wedding Singer" and "Alien" just gave the group of people who want to enter the movie theater to join in the fun, but are not interested in "Ace Powers 2" a new choice. The marketing strategies of the three companies are also very accurate. concentrated on this point.
As a result, many theater operators have found that compared with previous years, the number of audiences entering the movie theater this Easter weekend has increased significantly.
And so on until Monday, April 13th.
Warner Bros. CEO Richard Parsons arrived at the Warner Bros. headquarters in Burbank early in the morning. The secretary had already placed the box office data for the Easter weekend on his desk in advance.
In addition to New Line and MGM's two new releases, there were other low-budget releases on Friday.
However, looking at the box office data in his hand, Richard Parsons frowned slightly. The three films of the Firefly system were undoubtedly among the top three in the box office rankings this weekend.
Due to the increased competition, this week did not repeat the situation that "Ace Powers 2" thriving last week.
New Line Cinema's "The Wedding Singer", as a heart-warming romantic comedy with the widest audience, earned a box office of 31.7 million US dollars within three days of its opening, firmly ranking first in the Easter weekend box office list.
Subsequent "Ace Powers 2", compared to the first weekend, the box office fell by a very impressive 45%, and it received another 25.85 million US dollars, ranking second on the box office list.
It is worth mentioning that, in just ten days, the total North American box office of "Ace Powers 2" reached 99.45 million US dollars, only a very small gap of 550,000 US dollars from breaking 100 million.
In comparison, the performance of "Alien", which focuses on sci-fi thrillers, was slightly weaker, with a box office of only 21.77 million US dollars in the three days of the first weekend.
Of course, this weakness is only relative to the other two films of the Firefly system. Because, the fourth-ranked Universal Pictures' new film "Hard to Get" had a three-day box office of only US$13.12 million in the first weekend, which is nearly US$9 million less than "Alien".
The fifth place on the list is Warner Bros.' "City of Angels". Squeezed by this series of films, "City of Angels" fell by 46% in the second week, leaving only $8.19 million at the box office in the second weekend. The cumulative box office in ten days was 32.15 million US dollars, which is still only one-third of that of "Ace Powers 2".
It can be said that "Ace Powers 2" is definitely the biggest winner of this year's Easter schedule.
Putting down the box office data file, Richard Parsons rubbed his forehead, thinking with some bitterness, maybe, if several companies in the Firefly system launch the "Easter Movie Package" next year, the internal will definitely be for who will be the first If there is a dispute in the lead, it may be very lively at that time.
You know, judging from the current situation, "Ace Powers 2" has a box office of nearly 100 million in ten days. In the future, at least two more weeks of concentrated box office revenue, at least another 60 million US dollars can be obtained for "Ace Powers 2" About the box office, the entire North American box office cycle, if the performance is a little stronger, the total box office of "Ace Powers 2" may even reach between 180 million and 200 million US dollars.
In comparison, whether it is "The Wedding Singer" or "Alien", according to the current start, the North American box office limit is only around 100 million US dollars, and this possibility is still very low. "The Wedding Singer" may be able to reach With a threshold of 100 million, "Alien" is obviously unlikely.
In the North American box office of 100 million US dollars in the Easter schedule, even if it is only 70 to 80 million, it is definitely an exciting success in terms of the low-cost production specifications of the two films. Compared with "Ace Powers 2", it is destined to be too inferior.
Faced with a revenue gap of hundreds of millions of dollars, Richard Parsons does not think the three companies will maintain the current state of close cooperation.
After consoling himself for a while, Richard Parsons thought of "City of Angels" by Warner Bros., and suddenly regretted that he did not try his best to facilitate the "Easter Movie Package" with the three Firefly families. cooperate.
Everyone can see that the three films released by the Firefly system are not too good in quality. The biggest reason for the success at the box office this time is the result of the three companies' spare no effort in marketing in the early stage.
Warner originally had a great opportunity to join this plan, and it was even a cooperation proposed by Firefly, but due to the delay of the specific executor of the distribution department, Warner missed this opportunity.
"City of Angels" cost $55 million to produce and $25 million to announce. The overall budget scale reached 80 million US dollars.
Now, according to the box office data of "City of Angels", the North American box office of this film is only about 50 million US dollars. Only around $10 million could be recovered.
Then, the funds that Warner can withdraw at the box office before and after are less than 40 million. The later DVD distribution and TV broadcast rights income, due to the long cycle, will not be considered for the time being, which means that in the short term, Warner's book loss on this project will exceed 40 million US dollars.
Although Time Warner Group has a big family and a big business, the loss of 40 million US dollars is definitely not a small sum.
Although Richard Parsons is not responsible for the failure of this cooperation, some people have already used this issue to attack him in the high-level meeting last week. Richard Parsons is also very regretful in his heart. After all, as the CEO of Warner Bros., if he wants to forcefully promote this cooperation that is not too big, no one can stop it.
However, although he is the CEO of Warner Bros., the film department of the group is also criss-crossed by various factions. Richard Parsons did not do this because he was worried that it might intensify internal conflicts in the company. A performance has turned into a mistake in decision-making.
Richard Parsons was thinking about how to resolve the possible impact of this incident on his future, when he knocked on the office door, the secretary opened the door and said, "Mr. Parsons, Mr. Levin is here."
As the secretary said, a tall man with gray hair had already walked into the office. It was Gerald Levine, the current vice chairman of Time Warner Group. Apart from his position at Warner, Gerald Levin Wen is also one of Time Warner's heavyweight individual shareholders.
Richard Parsons came to his current position step by step with the support of Gerald Levine, and he can be regarded as one of the most powerful men in the Gerald Levine series. Seeing Gerald Levine walking into the office, Richard Parsons hurriedly got up to greet him.
The two embraced warmly, Richard Parsons ordered the secretary to make coffee, took Gerald Levin to sit down on the sofa in the reception area, and said, "Jerry, why are you at this time come over?"
"I just met up with Steve Case over the weekend, and I'm going to talk to you about something," Gerald Levine said, noticing that Richard Parsons' face hadn't completely faded worried, said: "What's wrong with you?"
Richard Parsons got up with a wry smile, went to the desk and took the document he was looking at just now and handed it to Gerald Levine, saying, "It's still about the Easter box office."
Gerald Levine took the document and glanced at it, then threw it away, and said in a relaxed tone: "Don't worry, as long as we finish the next thing, these little things won't affect you in any way, let alone What's more, Fred who is in charge of publishing is Semel's person, you can completely blame them for this mistake."
While chatting, Richard Parsons' secretary brought coffee to the two, the conversation paused for a while, and the two continued their conversation after the slender blond beauty left.
"I have already talked with Steve Case in detail. As long as we can jointly promote the merger of AOL and Time Warner, he is willing to control the future new company with us. At that time, Time Warner will still be us. It's up to you."
Since last year, Gerald Levine has been in secret contact with America Online CEO Steve Case to discuss the merger of the two companies. As Levin's close confidant, Richard Parsons has always known the inside story of this matter.
Just picked up the coffee cup, Richard Parsons was a little puzzled when he heard what Gerald Levin said, and said, "Jerry, you mean that this merger is led by America Online?"
Gerald Levine nodded: "Theoretically, it is true. America Online initiated a merger with Time Warner, and we will respond accordingly."
Richard Parsons frowned slightly. In recent months, with the return of a large amount of hot money caused by the Asian financial turmoil, the North American Nasdaq Index began to rise rapidly again. As one of the most watched technology stocks, the US The online market value has exceeded 30 billion US dollars.
However, Time Warner's market value is also close to 50 billion US dollars, and this is only the gap between the stock market value on the surface.
In terms of underlying strength, Time Warner is even more capable of leaving AOL far behind. Not to mention other things, just the annual turnover, Time Warner Group is fully 5 times that of America Online.
Therefore, it is difficult for Richard Parsons to accept that this acquisition is dominated by AOL. He does not think that a company like AOL, which has been inflated by the wave of new technology, is qualified to acquire an established media giant like Time Warner.
However, it was hard to accept that Richard Parsons quickly figured out that only by giving up the dominance to AOL could they ensure that they would gain enough power in the new merged company. Otherwise, if Time Warner led the acquisition, as a group with weaker forces within the group, it would be impossible for the Lewins to take control of this acquisition transaction.
Step by step to today, Time Warner has basically been regarded as a publicly held company, and important individual shareholders like Gerald Levine have basically maintained single-digit shareholdings in the entire Time Warner Group within.
Because shareholder power is too scattered, no one has a decisive say. Therefore, the management of Time Warner Group is basically the controller of this media giant. As long as he can get the control of Time Warner, even if it involves his own interests as a shareholder, Gerald Levine is willing to make certain sacrifices, not to mention the interests of other shareholders of the group.
Therefore, after getting the promise of Steve Case, Gerald Levine did not hesitate to give up the power to lead the acquisition.
Thinking through this quickly, Richard Parsons took a sip of the coffee in his hand, put down his cup, and said, "So, Jerry, the most important question is what is the attitude of Firefly? They are the No. A major shareholder?"
"Chris Hansen, the head of Firefly Investment, made it clear that AOL is developing in the direction of a comprehensive media group. This is probably what Eric Williams meant. They don't want AOL to get involved in the media industry, but want to It concentrates on being an Internet service provider," explained Gerald Levine: "However, Firefly Investment only holds 30% of AOL's shares, and Steve Case is lobbying AOL's other shareholders. On my side, he made it easy for me not to worry, we just had to fix Time Warner's side of things."
Richard Parsons nodded and said, "Then what do you need me to do?"
"I also need to lobby the directors and shareholders of Time Warner during this time. What you have to do is to discuss the details of the merger plan with Steve Case in detail. I hope that the two parties can reach a preliminary merger intention by the end of the year."