Hollywood Domination: The first step
"Yes, Brad, that's what I'm concerned about, the overseas box office of this film..." Jeff Robinov circled back and forth in his office, his palms Sticky sweat kept pouring out, Jeff turned his hands behind his back, rubbed his pants on his pants, and took a sip of ice water, but this still couldn't relieve his spinning feeling that day, he felt like he was sitting on a In a go-kart that is spinning around, he will spit out his internal organs in the next second. "In any case, the first day really can't explain anything, and there is a snowstorm in the east... If there is no snow, we can clearly see the potential of this movie. Now everything is hard to say..."
"Yes, the first day of Cameron's movie can never explain anything. I am still optimistic about its long-term development. The audience's enthusiastic response is almost the highest in the past two years. This level of word-of-mouth is easy to generate box office. Miracle..." Brad Gray on the other end of the phone has a more stable attitude than Jeff, which is somewhat of a relief to Jeff, but he is not sure if this is a trick of Brad— —Under the great panic, his brain has lost the previous aura, even if his intuition finds something is wrong, it is difficult to quickly calculate Brad's possible tendency in a short period of time. Of course, there is no doubt that the cost that Brad paid was not as high as that of Jeff. Street can't go anywhere, and it's only in the shooting stage now, everything can be salvaged, and the big dream doesn't dominate. ——The filming of "Code Shero" has already been finished, and Warner still has no right to speak in this movie. If you are dishonorably kicked out, then, then...
Jeff can't think of what to say next. The only thing he can be sure of is that if he doesn't have a good solution, he can only be in Warner until May at most... Wait until After "Code Shero" is released, if the movie becomes a hit, then he still has a chance, and if the movie hits the street, he may have to fail for a long time before he can find another home.
"Okay, keep in touch," this call was mainly just to get in touch with Brad, and getting comfort was just a surprise, Jeff calmed down, secretly hoping that his weakness would not be too obvious, "One week , two weeks? If you need it, call me anytime.”
"I understand." Brad had a knowing chuckle on the other end of the phone, "Keep in touch."
After hanging up the phone, Jeff circled around the office a few times, still feeling confused and unable to calm down. He simply took off his shoes and socks, and crossed his legs on the office chair, as if Zen Facing the empty office like a gentleman: the most noteworthy in Hollywood are six companies, and he has already called the CEOs of the other four companies, Sony's Michael Linton, Universal's Adam Ferguson, Pai Ramon's Brad Gray, and even Fox's Jim Gianlopoulos called him, using the excuse of expressing condolences for the box office and talking about big dreams with Jim. Except for the fact that he has just taken office, he probably hasn't settled down yet. He didn’t call Rich Ross, the president of Disney Films who gained power, and of course he didn’t contact Jennifer and Dameng. Apart from Robert Iger, who was closely related to Jennifer and Dameng, and even witnessed the wedding for her, Jeff believed that he was actually already a I initially took the lead to pull this network together: In fact, no matter what the final box office of "Avatar" is, unless it really explodes to Jennifer's nonsense 3 billion, otherwise this network will definitely be effective sooner or later. It could also be Jeff's last resort -- or at least his last -- to keep his place at Warner.
Judging from the feedback from the presidents, whether it is Michael, Adam, Brad or even Jim, they are all quite interested in Jeff's hints, and even Jeff suspects that it is very likely that several of them have already secretly Contact, intending to make use of several of Dameng's current cooperation contracts to make a fuss, and adopt a litigation strategy to drag Dameng down: This is also the only way to deal with a highly private non-listed company. If this is the case, then for Warner Said, no matter what "Codename Shero" looks like, or Warner simply spends all the investment of 100 million U.S. dollars in legal fees, plus a lot of income from "Millionaire", but this deal is very important. It's a good deal, after all, the several money-making series in Dameng's hands have made it more and more annoying-the most regrettable thing about this matter is that Dick Cook left in September last year, otherwise, The six parties will easily form a tacit understanding, and Dick can use various methods to make the participating big companies also get some benefits, unlike now, without Disney, there is no direct benefit for Warner to squeeze the big dream , On the contrary, it just fattened up the Disney headquarters. Of course, if everything goes well, there are other ways to obtain the equity of those gold mine series, such as establishing a relationship with Jennifer in turn. If Dameng really can’t go on, maybe she will have some other ideas Or, I can induce her to have some other thoughts...
After sorting out for a period of time, the current situation seems to be a lot clearer. Jeff regurgitated the few phone calls just now: Michael is the most indifferent one. After all, Sony can't get any benefits from the downfall of Dameng. The rest of them can at least swallow the share of the cooperative movie. Adam is more enthusiastic, Jim is very ambiguous, and seems to still have confidence in the overseas box office, and Brad is of course the most secure. The relationship between him and Da Meng In the past, Warner intends to take the lead in squeezing the big dream, and Brad must open champagne. Well, if you calculate it this way, you only need to wait another week or so. After the second weekend is completely over, the global box office momentum of "Avatar" should be fully released, and everyone's attitude will be clear at that time-if If the world can still collect 1 billion, then Jeff thinks that his position is relatively stable for the time being, but it will be clouded by Jennifer's nonsense. If it really fails to go down, then there is nothing to say That's right, I must try my best to dismantle the big dream, and use the blood of this rising star to wash away the scapegoat I will bear. Considering that this matter was carried out with Bix's approval after all, as long as I can give an excuse No matter what, Bicks will say a few words for himself, so the possibility of him staying in Warner will be correspondingly increased...
Just when Jeff was completely immersed in his own thoughts, the intercom phone rang suddenly—although he was so shocked that he almost fell off the chair, but Jeff was not unhappy at all, on the contrary, he seemed like a tiger preying on his food Same, picked up the phone.
"Is the result out?"
"Yes, sir." On the other end of the phone, the chief secretary's voice obviously paused, as if he was also shocked by his urgency, but he quickly regained his composure and calmly reported, "Jo Just released overseas box office statistics, "Avatar" has become the first film in history with an overseas box office of over 100 million on its first day, with a cumulative box office of 110 million... This brings the total global box office to 140 million, which should be the highest global first day in history... ..."
Perhaps he guessed the internal reason why the president is so urgent, his voice was beaming: 2 billion to 3 billion, this is definitely unthinkable, but it was almost a miraculous performance on the first day, which also made "Avatar" The possibility of the box office breaking through 1 billion has greatly increased, and this is of course good news for Jeff. As his secretary, he naturally knows many things well.
"What did you say?" Jeff was anxious and almost slipped off the chair again, it took him a while to untangle his entangled legs, "110 million—are you sure this is really just one day's worth of data? Is there any country that released it in advance?"
"The 81 countries that are currently in theaters were released on a large scale yesterday." The secretary replied affirmatively, "As far as the release plan announced by Fox is concerned, only China and Japan, two big box office countries, will be postponed to the next day. It was released on Christmas, and the box analysis article said that this may really be a film with the majority of overseas box office. Such a high first day proves the market's interest in "Avatar", as well as Jennifer Jefferson and James. Cameron's appeal, they are quite optimistic about the trend of overseas box office."
"Okay, I see." While listening to the phone, Jeff had already opened the web page, he ended the call hastily, and opened the news web page, carefully reading it himself .
Almost thoroughly understood this article word by word, and after confirming that he did not miss any valid information in the news, Jeff opened the paywall again, and checked the overseas box office details that had been counted into the warehouse ——Breaking 100 million on the first day overseas, what kind of concept is this? Even he couldn't give a clear position. This sentence is like 'the sky is red' and 'the moon is square'. It belongs to a problem that a person with common sense would never measure, so he You also need more data details to support your own thinking.
110 million US dollars on the first day overseas, what does this mean? 81 countries were released at the same time, which means that each country contributed about 1.3 million US dollars to the box office. After averaging, the data is actually not that scary. Jeff glanced at the report and made several calculations. He found that "Avatar" has such excellent overseas data, mainly thanks to Fox's outstanding coordinating ability. They really managed to open the film on the same day around the world: almost 100% of the countries where it was released opened on the same day. There is no precedent, and Jeff also knows how difficult it is and how high the communication cost is - almost every country in the world will censor and classify movies before they are released, a country with conservative culture and local protection strategies There are not a few of them. Thinking about it, it is simply a feat to ensure that films in 81 regions can complete so many procedures at the same time and be released on the same day. Fox, which can and dares to do this, is indeed Not to be underestimated.
Of course, this does not mean that "Avatar" itself is an ordinary movie. For Warner, "Batman: The Dark Knight" is of course the leading movie in recent years, but even if all countries in the world It may be difficult to exceed 100 million yuan at the box office on the first day of the film's premiere - 100 million a day in the world, and it is reasonable that there will be no drop in the first weekend, which is 300 million in three days. After that, there will be three weeks of concentrated box office. In the revenue period, even if the sum of the entire week of the next Monday is equal to the first weekend, and then the most conservative estimate of a 50% decline in each week after that, the movie has steadily exceeded 1 billion worldwide, not to mention the reputation of "Avatar". Well, the second weekend is likely to be only 20% or 30% lower than the first weekend, if this is the case...
The 2 billion that Jennifer said is a bit exaggerated, but 1.5 billion should still be hopeful... Jeff stared solemnly at the web page, and before he knew it, beads of sweat had already rolled down his temples: 1.5 billion, also It is the critical value of "Avatar"'s box office return, and it is far better than the 300 million record of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", which is the second highest box office in global history. This also means that Cameron will create another record, that is One person monopolizes the champion and runner-up on this ranking—and Jennifer will also become the runner-up and third-place female lead, and will win three movies in the top five... Whether it is her or Cameron, of course, they will also set a new record. Pile of rest of the records.
What this means, to be honest, Jeff really doesn't know, it's the same as "breaking 100 million on the first day overseas". —Of course there are investors, not to mention what role Jennifer played in the film, but only the overseas box office. No one can question her investment vision. On the London premiere day, her The prophecy is absolutely accurate! She said that the overseas market of the film will take up the bulk, and the first day is three times or nearly four times that of the local film——
However, she said that the film's box office will even be 2 billion, 3 billion——
"Yes, this number sounds incredible and counterintuitive, so it sounds like crazy talk, but the fact is, if you can see this ure, you will find such an assertion It’s not groundless, the technical reserve has reached this stage, and there may be lucky people at any time—and also very powerful people, who will become the chosen ones to realize the pace of advancing the times.”
Pressed the pause button to stop Jennifer who was talking at the press conference. Jeff stared at the screen, his thoughts had already entered a boundless blank. After entering this industry for so many years, he The first time I felt what it means to be at a loss, 2 billion? 3 billion?
...Forget it, these are still a bit too much, he shook his head: Jennifer may be a genius, but she is still a little too young, her eyes are always looking at the future, maybe she ignores the things under her feet Ups and downs, maybe in the ideal model, "Avatar" can get this data, but the reality is that it is an ideal curve to reach 1.5 billion after starting with 300 million in the first start, unless "Avatar" can set a record— —God knows, a few weekends of 0 declines, or even reverse declines and other miracles, otherwise 2 billion is a too far away number after all, let alone 3 billion, even dreaming of such a high.
"Weekend 0 drop--" After tentatively muttering the word, Jeff couldn't help laughing. He shook his head again, got rid of this absurd idea, and reopened the homepage. After clicking on the news, I revisited the report, and at the same time couldn't help but say to myself: "140 million on the first day, 140 million on the first day..."
Chewing this word repeatedly, Jeff's expression became more and more relaxed, the original eye-catching forehead wrinkles gradually dissipated, and the corners of his lips turned up involuntarily. Finally, he leaned back , comfortably picked up the water glass, while sipping sweet Evian mineral water, while comfortably thinking about the strategy at hand-needless to say, after such an impressive first-day record, originally The vaguely formed big network will naturally collapse temporarily. At least before the release of "Code Shero", Warner will never find trouble for Big Dream, and the rest needless to say. The only one that is not involved is Sony. Without cooperation, it is impossible In order to fight alone, and in this brand new situation, his career crisis has been easily resolved. Regardless of the box office of "Code Shero", the success of "Avatar" has given Jeff a bargaining chip. In fact, maybe he should think about it now. Before "Code Shero" is released, how should I grasp the short period of strategic advantage and work hard to become the CEO of Warner Entertainment...
Being involved in the intricate struggle within Warner, Jeff had to be cautious. He pressed his chin and thought about it for a long time. Found a number and pressed the dial key.
"Hello——Jennifer," Jeff said with a smile as soon as the other party answered the phone. His tone was kind and familiar, as if the friendship between the two was so good. Called you - well done girl, gotta say, you really slapped the skeptics, including me - slap in the face..."
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"140 million on the first day?"
"140 million on the first day!"
"Great job! j.j, I knew you were (of course) not crazy! OMG, OMG - I'm speechless -"
"If this news could come out one day earlier, how many unnecessary quarrels would have been avoided? Of course, this would also make us lose a lot of drama experience, wouldn't it? So, maybe this statistical result should come out later It's better, smile*smile"
"Even if there are 140 million on the first day, it can't explain that the global 3 billion is not nonsense. Blind fans can calculate for themselves. If it wants to reach 3 billion, what kind of box office will the film theoretically achieve in the future? Curves. So, with some logic, Jennifer Jefferson is still a crazy woman out of control, which you can't deny at all."
"The first day overseas hit a record 110 million. The president of Fox said that he is optimistic about the profit prospects of "Avatar". 'The box office of this film should be concentrated in overseas regions'"
"God, can Jim Gianlopoulos be manly? This is disgusting, when j.j is under the most public opinion pressure, why doesn't he come out and support her? Now when the box office comes out, Did he start postponing? Did he think he could steal the credit for himself? Sorry, we will always remember who had such a unique analysis.”
"Inventory of Jennifer Jefferson's genius investment, let you know what a wonderful girl j.j is"
The passers-by wondered, '140 million? ’, the fans wildly cheered ‘140 million! 'At that time, all kinds of news and responses from all parties sprung up like mushrooms after the spring rain, and they grew wildly on the weekend of December 19th, while "Avatar", which performed stably in North America, closed at 29.1 million on Saturday, 19th, a small drop of dozens of dollars. 10 million, fell slightly to 28.7 million on Sunday, and reported 87.9 million in the first week. Unfortunately, it failed to break through 100 million. After the overseas box office feedback on Monday, the first weekend was 305 million overseas and 87.9 million domestically. A series of records have been made, and it has become the focus of media reports from all over the world. In the following Christmas week, how "Avatar" should exert its strength has also become a hot topic of analysis by independent box office analysts and box office analysis agencies, and even some radical ones. The website has already published the headline 'Jennifer Jefferson is right, "Avatar" may eventually reach 3 billion at the box office, in order to sensationalize and attract users' clicks. And on many gossip forums, many good people have given their own professional comments. These data controllers do analysis work no less than those professionals—although they don’t understand the film industry regulations, they benefit from the extremely With the flood of data sources, a graduate student in the mathematics department can easily make a model to demonstrate how much box office "Avatar" needs to get at least every day if it wants to reach 3 billion.
"After looking through box office reports for the rest of the year's blockbusters, I've found that Avatar is actually — and it should be, although it's not obvious from the domestic box office — that it's supposed to be a fan flick...
——Don’t rush to object, before you object, listen to my opinion: First of all, I excluded the first week of the mainland from the scope of analysis, because there is an unestimable variable in this week, then Just the weather on the East Coast, which obviously affected the box office over the weekend, and we lack a similar comparison to estimate the ideal box office for the week excluding the snowstorm. But judging from overseas data, the box office in the first three days actually showed a slight decline, which is a relatively rare trend for non-fan movies. Generally speaking, the highest box office of a week always occurs on Saturdays. And Sunday will be slightly higher than Friday. According to overseas statistics, Saturday’s daily income is 105 million, and Sunday’s daily income is 98 million, both of which are slightly lower (yes, in terms of global volume, millions It also fell slightly), which shows that Friday's high point came from the premiere midnight show, from fans of Jennifer and James Cameron. And both of them are indeed supported by global films. The former's "A Week with Marilyn Monroe" has achieved extensive success around the world, and we all still remember "Titanic". So, while it's the first episode of the series, it can indeed be considered a fan film.
If we can accept this concept, we have a reference target when predicting the box office curve-as the best fan movie this year (although I personally have no idea why), "Twilight: "New Moon" had a legendary opening day, with a box office of 77 million, which made it into the 100 million club without any suspense in the first week, but it has been falling all the way since then, which shows that the first week of fan movies must be very good. Strong, but starting from the next week, the performance will not be so satisfactory. "Avatar" may not have such a decline in the next week in North America, because after the blizzard is over, there will be a rebound in the pent-up viewing demand on the East Coast , and even the decline in the third week should be better-the second week happens to be the Christmas weekend, and many movie fans on the east coast will have to cancel their movie viewing plans, but these declines are to make up for the first week of the downturn. It is said that the trend should be biased towards fan movies. From the next week, the overseas box office should not surprise people, and this also proves that the 2 billion that Jennifer Jefferson said is true for "Avatar" It is still an unattainable goal, but even so, it should be relatively easy to exceed 1 billion. Congratulations to her for setting a personal record again, and taking another step towards the best-selling actress in North America. If this movie is included, her cumulative box office should be able to shake off Emma Watson and become the real champion..."
In the discussion area of imdb, it is unavoidable that such prediction posts appear, and the following replies are also divided into several factions - although the tone of the poster is very objective, fans still think he is Jennifer's hater , and the real hater scolded him for flattering Jennifer Jefferson at the end, and many movie fans were not satisfied with him posting this article on imdb, "This is the place of the movie, let's talk about after watching the movie Feelings, okay?"
"At least this is more meaningful than the 'so cool' throughout the film review section?" It's not that no one supports the host.
Yes, for a box office blockbuster, the "Avatar" review section is probably the most monotonous, not as high quality as "Batman: The Dark Knight", not like "Transformers" It is full of attacks on the plot, even scolding. The comment section of "Avatar" pays very little attention to the plot. Almost all the comments are related to the visual effects. There are only a few long-form film reviews that mention the plot. There are a lot of posts complaining that they are watching the 2D version, and many movie fans blame the 3D equipment in the theater for being too old, or how high the requirements for seats are in 3D. The difference in the viewing effect of the position is not so big, but in the 3D version, if you sit too far in the corner, the feeling of almost going out of the screen will be greatly weakened, which makes the position a must. resource.
"It's so cool, this movie makes all the previous 3D movies become 2.5D!"
"This movie changed my view of movie theaters, no, can't say changed, I still feel like driving to the theater on a Sunday, wandering hopelessly in the underground parking lot, hoping to find a suitable parking space, queuing Buying a ticket and then sweating in the crowd to get in, enduring all kinds of deodorants, body odor and grunts to see a movie is not worth it, I didn't even go to the theater for Transformers See, but after watching Avatar, I realized that if this is where the future of movies is going, then I can only change myself - unless I want to miss out on more great movies and only hear from other people How amazing the special effects of a certain film are."
"Absolutely cool, Jennifer is amazingly beautiful, but more importantly Pandora, and Hallelujah Mountain, I think Fox should build a Pandora theme park, as long as it can actually make a floating mountain , I will definitely go!"
"Okay, I haven't seen the movie yet - **** New Yorker, but I'm already stoked to hear y'all talking about it, and now the big question is, if I don't see it on Christmas day, How difficult do you think it is to get 3D tickets for good theaters during the rest of the holiday?”
"No matter how high it is, it's worth going to see. Brother, I suggest you buy early tickets. There are usually not many people who can get up early in winter."
Judging from the tone of imdb's film reviews, although the story of "Avatar" is not discussed by many people, unlike the discussion area of "Titanic", it is all about how I cried at the end of the film However, the word-of-mouth of this movie is still very good, and like "Titanic", with its own spectacular picture, potential audience groups have an urgent need to watch the movie, and from the feedback of imdb, " Avatar goes even further than Titanic in this respect.
Paul degarabidean - senior media analyst for media assessment and research firm rp closed the imdb page and clicked his mouse thoughtfully - he also seems to be infected with jeff The fault of "Avatar" unconsciously murmured the word "2 billion" - after the first week, few people doubted that "Avatar" would not break through 500 million or 1 billion, and even many analysis agencies began to discuss "Avatar" The possible profit path of Avatar predicts the scale of Fox’s profit in this movie, but, as said in the previous analysis post that still has something to say, 2 billion? The current performance of "Avatar" is still far from this goal, and Fox will have to go through several rounds of copyright operations if it wants to pay back, but anyway, this is still a stimulus for Fox's stock price. Before that, it was affected by the box office of "Nine". The slump, and the influence of "Avatar"'s midnight box office pre-sales, Fox's stock price has been falling for more than a month, and before the overseas box office of "Avatar" appeared-God bless, if it is not Saturday, Paul Everyone believes that Fox's stock can plummet by at least 5%.
Opened a bunch of calculation software again, calculated nervously for a while, pulled out the comparison results and studied it, Paul opened the document, pondered for a while, and typed out this line briskly: "Although I really hope to see Until "Avatar" created a miracle, but no matter how you calculate it, on the basis of the box office trend in the first week, the possibility of "Avatar" breaking through 2 billion is close to zero, and its more likely range should be between 1 billion and Between 1.5 billion, it is possible to become the second highest box office after "Titanic", but the dvd sales of this film are uncertain, because the audience is obviously more interested in 3D visual effects. The profit in this film is still unknown..."
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"Yes, I know, Bob, I admit, maybe I was a little impulsive at the time... Yes, I admit that this is an unnecessary controversy, maybe it does have some impact on the box office... Yes , It's a bit too much to steal the limelight... yes, yes..."
Just as the world's movie market was being stirred up by "Avatar", and there was a heated debate surrounding Jennifer's '2 billion' theory in the market, Jennifer once again embarked on the journey to the airport. On the way, in the nanny car that was moving at high speed, she still couldn't let it go. She just hung up the concern call from Robert Iger, and then picked up another, another, and the third from the heavyweight The congratulatory call from the character: Her mobile phone has never been idle these days, and Jenny even has to make calls while charging, and she can only secretly pray that she will not become a victim of a mobile phone bombing.
"I understand, Meryl, yes, yes, I will never say that again next time, God, you don't know how much trouble my words have brought me..."
Compared to the call with Robert just now, in the phone call with Meryl Streep, Jenny's words were more coquettish and more sincere. She talked more with Meryl After a few minutes, they talked about some homework, and then ended the call because Meryl was going to prepare Christmas presents.
Waiting for the phone screen for a few seconds, only to find that it didn't turn on again, Jenny stretched out in relief, threw the phone aside, and complained, "My God, it's only the first week That's all, the performance of these people has already made me feel like I saved the whole world."
"Although this is still a long way from the 2 billion you set aside, the first week has already demonstrated the potential of "Avatar"," Cesare sat beside her, and said firmly, "For this matter, the popular belief is not wrong: if you hadn't said that sentence, your victory would be more glorious now, and the crown on your head would be more fine."
"Yes, so those who blame me on this matter are trustworthy, aren't they?" Jenny nodded in approval, "On the contrary, those who are full of flattery need to be vigilant—— Have you received a call from Brad about this matter?"
"No." Cesare raised his eyebrows and shook his head again, "Is there anything worthy of my attention?"
Cesare has just returned from a business event near California, and the two of them have hardly seen each other these days, and Jenny is not surprised that Brad contacted her directly, she nodded, "The plane will fly later Let’s talk about it later, we should have a good chat about this matter—about the attitudes of the six major parties on this matter... This is a very important issue, isn’t it?”
"Of course." Cesare nodded, and he looked out the window towards the private airport that was gradually approaching, and the medium-sized aircraft that could be seen from such a long distance—this aircraft was painted with the News Corporation logo and was capable of The private plane flying across the ocean is the private car of President Murdoch. "We have plenty of time—it's a long flight from Los Angeles to China."