Three Hundred and Eighty-Three-I Have to Wait for the Box Office Results

Whenever a blockbuster movie is released in Hollywood, there will always be some commotion from the leading actors, directors, or production companies, and then it will inexplicably subside within a short period of time, because it doesn’t take long for the competition in the theater market to be decided. , everything becomes clear.

If we continue to devote media resources to hype, it will all become useless. If there is no way to change the existing results, even the most shocking scandal will suddenly become unnoticed.

Both Wayne and Warner Bros. understand this, but they cannot just watch the situation unfold and wait passively. This will undoubtedly make more movie fans stay away from "The Matrix" when making movie viewing choices.

"Nina, what would you think if you went to see a movie and found out that the male protagonist was gay?" No one in the office expected this. Wayne turned to look at the silent female assistant next to him.

The assistant lady was stunned for a moment, stretched out her hand to push up her glasses, and replied without hesitation: "If it were me, I would find him disgusting. Of course, boss, I don't find Lee disgusting, just from the perspective of a strange movie fan... "

"OK, I understand."

After waving to the assistant lady, Wayne interrupted her explanation, then looked at the other people, shrugged, and said, "You see, I believe more ordinary people will think so too, or more At least some people will feel disgusted, we have to do something, simply asking Lee to issue a denial statement is obviously impossible to do."

If the early box office performance of "The Matrix" is not satisfactory, perhaps Bruce Rosenblum's first thought would be to let the situation develop, and then immediately cut back on subsequent publicity investments to stop losses in time.

Most production companies have the same approach. No one is willing to continue to invest more resources in films that cannot generate profits. Or the same situation can happen when inputs are not proportional to outputs.

But now that "The Matrix" is obviously performing well and will most likely bring a large amount of revenue to Warner Bros., it is absolutely impossible to let things continue to ferment.

"How about calling Brandon Lee back?" Bruce Rosenblum said: "They should have just arrived in New York now, and all activities have not started yet. We..."

"No, let them continue the propaganda." Jeff Robinov shook his head, lit the carefully trimmed cigar and stuffed it into his mouth, closed his eyes and blew out a large cloud of thick fog. "I need the first-day box office numbers for The Matrix. Wait, wait!"

The CEO of Warner Bros., who has always been as stable as an old dog, always gives people the illusion of being a good old man. In fact, there is not one simple person who can fulfill the role of the six top executives.

"What do you think?" Wayne looked at him curiously.

"It's a little early, Wayne."

Jeff Robinoff chuckled lightly, and pointed with the hand holding the cigar behind his large desk, where the Warner Bros. logo was on the wall.

"What?"

"What?"

Faced with the doubts of Wayne and Bruce Rosenblum, the CEO of Warner Bros. did not explain much, but there was no trace of worry in the smile on his face. "Just wait one more day, if The Matrix does well at the box office, I swear, all problems will become non-issues, but I need the box office numbers!"

"Okay, it seems I'm a little too nervous." Seeing that he didn't explain, Wayne simply suppressed his curiosity. No one would be more confident about this film than him, so he would just wait for the box office numbers to come out. .

The reason why he came here early in the morning was because half of the revenue from "The Matrix" belonged to Greenberg Studio. How the film performed was related to his income.

"Then I'll go back first. If you need anything from me, just call me."

After saying that, he nodded to the other party, stood up, straightened his suit, and prepared to leave with the assistant lady.

"Wayne."

Before leaving, Jeff Robinov stopped him again. The smile on his face faded and turned into a serious look. He warned: "Don't accept interviews from any reporters from any media. Don't comment on this matter." I don’t want to express any opinions on the matter, okay? At least not today.”

"I see."

Wayne nodded and agreed, knowing clearly what the other party meant. Homosexuality was too sensitive. Expressing opinions easily would very likely make him lose many fans.

Most parts of North America are far less open than Los Angeles, especially the central states.

Not expressing any opinions is the most conservative approach. Without expressing any opinions, there will be no media with ulterior motives to distort and report his words.

Before the matter becomes clear, whether it is speaking out in support of homosexuality or expressing disapproval of this group, it is inevitable that both sides will be at odds and offend a large number of people.

"Jeff." When there were only two people left in the office, Bruce Rosenblum suddenly said: "From the company's standpoint, I must remind you that Warner Bros. is only the publisher of "The Matrix" and occupies The investment ratio is very small!”

The situation of this film is a bit special. There is an investment of 40 million US dollars, which was made by Greenberg Studio, and the other half of 40 million US dollars, most of which came from the International Film Fund, or they brought it in in the name of Wayne. of.

If the film has good profitability, Warner Bros., as the distributor, will not make a penny less. If the box office performance is not satisfactory, at most it will lose the promotional funds advanced in advance. This is why the distribution company stands at the absolute upstream of the industry chain.

"No, Bruce." Jeff Robinov looked out the window and shook his head, puffs of smoke blowing out of his nostrils. "You have ignored the peripheral income and the subsequent offline operations of the film. Of course, the premise of all this depends on the box office figures of "The Matrix". Is it worth our increase in resource investment..."

There were some things he didn't say clearly. The box office numbers were for others to see. What he needed was a justifiable reason for taking action. Of course, everyone is happy with "The Matrix" making money, but he has to ensure that Wayne's investment will not be easily wasted when the film does not perform well. The reason is simple. There have been rumors within the board of directors and the company that it is very simple to become the CEO of Warner Bros. All it takes is establishing a good relationship with Wayne Greenberg.

Jeff Robinov has never denied this rumor, and he still agrees with this view in his heart. If you want to continue to maintain or deepen the relationship between the two parties, you must reflect your own value and ability, which is important to both parties.

In front of the Warner Bros. Building, Wayne squeezed into his car under the protection of security personnel and maintained a code of silence in front of a large group of reporters outside the car.

He is also very curious now and wants to see what methods the CEO of Warner Bros. will use to eliminate the impact of homosexuality.

As Friday is the last working day, theaters usually enter peak customer traffic in the evening. One of the theaters under the AMC chain of theaters, it is located near the bustling Fifth Avenue in New York. It is a large theater that ranks among the top three in the Big Apple in terms of foot traffic.

Ever since the theater opened at nine o'clock in the morning, the sudden abnormal situation today aroused the vigilance of the theater manager Sam Mills. Shortly after nine o'clock, at least no less than 200 young people arrived without warning. Entered the cinema hall.

The ticket window, which was supposed to be deserted, instantly formed several lines. If these young people hadn't shown order, he might have chosen to call the police immediately.

While he was leaning against the ticket gate, observing these abnormal men and women, Ramon Miller, the ticket seller at the front desk of the theater, came towards him with two young men.

"Sam, they are the organizers of these movie fans and want to talk to you." The ticket seller explained, leaving the two people and the theater manager behind, turned around and hurried back to the ticket window.

"Hi, how can I help you?" Sam Mills said with doubts in his tone, and stretched out his hand to shake hands with the two people in front of him.

"We are students at the New York Film Academy." One of the boys noticed his confusion, pointed to the two of them and other people behind them, and introduced himself. "There are about 260 people here this time. Can you put us in a hall? The ticket sales staff just told us that there is no large theater arranged to show "The Matrix"."

Sam Mills really knew about the New York Film Academy. This school was established only a few years ago. If I remembered correctly, it should have only appeared in 1992. After hearing the origin of the other party, he put down his last worry. Elite College students under education are always more likely to gain favor from strangers.

"No problem, I can make temporary arrangements for you." The theater manager nodded, waved to call over the projector who was watching the excitement, and said: "The first show of "The Matrix" is in Hall 1, hurry up and get ready. copy."

"No problem, boss."

The first goal of a theater is always to make a profit. As long as profits can be guaranteed, it is not difficult to temporarily change the order of a screening.

"Do you need any other help?" After making arrangements in front of the two of them, Sam Mills shrugged and asked again.

"Thank you, don't need anything else, thank you very much."

The two young men thanked them politely and returned to the crowd with smiles on their faces. After a while, a burst of cheers broke out from the excited student group.

Sam Mills was very curious. Organized movie viewings like this were not uncommon. What was unusual was that there were so many people early in the morning.

But then when the audience lined up to enter, he probably figured out the specific reason from the chat among the crowd. A large part of this group of young people are fans of Wayne Greenberg. They usually gather on IMDB to discuss movies.

A few lucky fans attended the preview screening of "The Matrix". After returning to school, they showed the film to their classmates early and praised it as a great science fiction masterpiece. Then came the This movie viewing event.

After knowing the specific reason, Sam Mills shook his head and sighed with emotion about the infinite youth of young people. He returned to his office. However, what he did not expect was yet to come. This group of young people seemed to have made a start. More abnormal passenger flow is yet to come.