Chapter 386 - There Is a Murder Outside, but He Is Staying at Home with the Dog? !

"Ron, I suggest that all subsequent publicity investments for "The Incredible Hulk" be cancelled."

Early on Monday morning, at the regular meeting of Universal Pictures' top executives, a distribution executive spoke to the CEO without hesitation. The atmosphere today was quite dull, and everyone present knew why.

The box office of "The Incredible Hulk" took a big dive in the first weekend. It started with a super high US$20.31 million on Friday, halved to US$9.32 million on Saturday, and even dropped to US$4.43 million on Sunday. All the sweetness and beauty were retained on Friday.

When the film is determined to fail, the most important thing is to stop the loss, and investing more resources in it is just a waste.

Ron Meyer sat at the end of the conference table and looked at the distribution director Justin without saying a word. Whether "The Incredible Hulk" can be saved, the distribution director has the most say.

"I called AMG and American Artists Cinemas." Justin realized that everyone was looking at him, pondered for a moment and said, "They refused to maintain the current screening scale of "The Incredible Hulk". Imperial Cinemas We haven’t had time to fight there yet, but the result shouldn’t be too different. Unless the film explodes at the box office on weekdays, the screening scale of about 3,000 will only last until Friday.”

"Cut down the investment in follow-up promotions for "The Incredible Hulk" and stop the losses as soon as possible." Ron Meyer nodded, finally realizing the failure of this big production. "Also, put Bill Beckby and the male lead Lu on the company's blacklist. Universal Pictures will no longer cooperate with them in the future."

While speaking, he kept his head lowered and his eyes never left the newspaper in front of him. On the headline of the entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times, a line of dazzling box office figures seemed to remind him of his failure at all times.

"Warner Bros. moved too fast this time!" Justin and several other executives also saw the newspaper. Not only this "Los Angeles Times", but all the entertainment media this morning, the tone was surprisingly consistent, and they started Sing the praises of The Matrix.

"Homosexuality is still very controversial in public opinion. Should we continue..."

"Forget it, it doesn't make any sense." Ron Meyer shook his head and rejected the proposal. Originally they were the ones who broke the news, but now it has not affected the fans who chose not to talk about it, and it has allowed Warner Bros. to use the momentum to create a social hot spot.

When it has been determined that the film cannot generate revenue, there is no need to continue to struggle with the other party. There are other films to be released in the summer, so it is better to invest resources in films that have not yet been released.

"Jeff Robinoff, Wayne Greenberg..." Ron Meyer looked out the window and muttered in a low voice. "You two can't be so lucky every time. The summer season has just begun."

How powerful the online platform is, it only took three days for all companies in the industry to see it. The dazzling box office figures of "The Matrix" have already explained too many problems.

Coupled with the public opinion hot spots in the paper media, the film "The Matrix" has been directly pushed to the eyes of more ordinary people. Now it has become impossible to stop it.

Unlike Universal Pictures' dull regular meetings, the atmosphere at Warner Bros.'s high-level meeting is much more relaxed at the moment, with every executive more or less smiling.

The same "Los Angeles Times" was held in Jeff Robinov's hand and read over and over again.

"'The Matrix' is our first box office champion this year. Well, it's a good start, isn't it?" Bruce Rosenblum reached out and knocked on the table with a slightly teasing tone.

"not enough."

Jeff Robinov smiled and shook his head, looking around the conference room. After everyone looked at him, he continued: "This is just an R-rated movie after all. You can find out by looking at the box office trends. The problem, plus advance sales, is $24.55 million on Friday, $22.03 million on Saturday, and $13.02 million on Sunday.

This shows that the film has been greatly affected by the rating, and the disadvantage of the audience group is quite obvious. Have you seen the crazy sales of peripherals? We must drive all the potential viewers of "The Matrix" into theaters in a short period of time. "

Many people nodded unconsciously. They all knew the disadvantages of R-rated films. Now that the film has become a big hit, what they have to do is to create a bigger hit and squeeze out the profits of "The Matrix" in a short time.

Without giving others time to think, Jeff Robinov turned to look at John Gray. "Daisy, the leader of the Wayne fan organization, gave her another 5 million US dollars in publicity funds and asked her to hire more people to act on the Internet. Compared with other publicity channels, the input-output ratio of the Internet is too great! "

"Ok, no problem."

No one can accurately calculate how much of the US$59.6 million box office of "The Matrix" in its first weekend was obtained through the Internet, but it is conservatively estimated that it will not be less than one-third.

These young people do not believe in authority and are very generous in purchasing peripheral products. They are the main consumers in the theater market, especially for an R-rated movie.

After speaking, he looked at the distribution director. "Bruce, how is the investigation on that movie database site called IMDB going?"

Since the Internet can affect more people, but the cost of publicity is still lower, Warner Brothers naturally focused on this website immediately.

"IMDB, Internet Movie Database." Bruce Rosenblum heard the inquiry and took out a prepared document. "This website first appeared in 1990, and in the same year it already included more than 10,000 movie and TV series information.

By 1993, the database had expanded to include trivia, biographies, movie plots, and more, with a centralized email interface for searching the database. Later that year, IMDb was moved to the Internet and can be accessed at will.

From 1993 to 1995, the website was maintained by donations and volunteers' free time. At the beginning of this year, the website was registered as a commercial company in the UK. The main profit channels are advertising, license cooperation, etc. "

"In other words, we can invest in them at any time?" An executive looked at Bruce Rosenblum and asked in a surprised tone.

"no!"

Bruce Rosenblum shook his head, faced the confused looks of the surrounding people and the CEO, and said happily: "It's not worth investing in them! All we need is publicity channels. Even if we don't invest in this website, we can still use their All functions. After the distribution department can set up an online marketing department, the cost to achieve the purpose of publicity is much lower, and there is..."

Having said this, he hesitated and looked at Jeff Robinov.

"What else? Just say it." Warner Bros. CEO frowned. This was inconsistent with his original idea. He had planned to propose to the parent company to acquire the website after completing the investigation.

"And it's because of Wayne." As soon as Bruce Rosenblum said this name, he immediately attracted everyone's attention.

It was Warner Bros., the major shareholder, who first wrote the script and plan for "The Matrix" and then strongly recommended Zack Snyder to direct it. The important thing is that he also accounted for half of the investment in the film. This also means that regardless of At least half of the revenue from this film belongs to him.

When it comes to movies, as long as this name is involved, the only word that can be associated with it is success.

"Wayne should have discovered the value of the IMDB website at least two or three years ago when it first appeared." Bruce Rosenblum said with admiration and admiration in his tone, watching other executives narrate. own understanding.

"Because Jeff asked me to investigate this website, the first person I asked was Wayne's personal assistant Nina. She told me a lot of information, including Wayne's reasons for not investing in this website earlier."

"What reason?" Jeff Robinov asked with a frown.

"The main reason is to burn money." Bruce Rosenblum answered without hesitation. "The profit model of Internet companies is immature. As long as they take over, they will become a hot potato, and the money required to expand the scale is absolutely astronomical. We just want a publicity channel, there is no need to spend hundreds of millions or billions. It’s not worth burning money to expand the size of a website.”

"Aha."

John Gray, who was sitting in a corner, suddenly laughed. Before anyone could ask, he explained: "I suggest that we don't touch projects that Wayne Greenberg won't invest in! You should know that I have cooperated with Wayne. I have known him for a long time, so I know him very well. Since he feels that a project is not worth spending money on, it must not be worth it. This scope is everything related to movies!"

These words remind all executives that as long as they think about the history of Wayne Greenberg's fortune, they will understand that what John said is not wrong at all.

As long as it has something to do with movies, Wayne seems to have a kind of magic power and can always make the best choice. For example, with "The Matrix" right before his eyes, think about the sky-high profits he can get.

"Let's put this matter aside for now." Jeff Robinov knocked on the table, attracting everyone's attention and said: "I will ask Wayne to talk about the IMDB website later to see if he has any ideas. .Bruce, where are the creative team of "The Matrix" now?"

"Phoenix, Phoenix."

"It's a big city, so the effect shouldn't be bad." After hearing the answer, he gently rubbed his chin with his fingers, thought about it for more than ten seconds, and then said: "Now the debate on homosexuality in the media has become more intense. Please look back. Inform the crew to hold a press conference for Lee tomorrow morning and push the matter to the top!"

"No problem." Bruce Rosenblum nodded and asked, "What about Wayne? Do you want to inform us as well?"

"Let us know that "The Matrix" has half of his investment, and he will understand our approach." Jeff Robinov knew that he must give the young man enough respect, but based on his respect for Wei En's understanding, all of this should be fine, he is a pure Jewish capitalist, especially after putting down the camera.

"By the way, what has he been doing these days?"

"Hiding in the manor." John Gray shrugged and said, "I heard that the other golden retriever he grew up with was in very bad condition, and he seemed to be preparing for Princess Greenberg's party at the same time."

"What?"

A production executive had a question mark on his face. "He started the war in the summer, and now there's a lot of violence outside, and he's staying at home with his dog?!"

"Hmm, what else?" John Gray raised his eyebrows and asked.

"..."

The error-free chapters of "Hollywood Drawing" will continue to be updated. There are no advertisements on the site. Please bookmark and recommend it!