Chapter 122: Overseas Channels

From the initial release of the news in front of the audience to the release from all theaters in North America, "The Blair Witch" has caused a violent shock among the audience, from curiosity at the beginning, to enthusiasm in the middle, and to accusations and even abuse at the end. To some extent, this film has a bad reputation.

But what makes many media and people in the industry feel strange is that even after the main creators were interviewed by the media and exposed, there are still a large number of viewers who entered the theater amidst the scolding, went to watch this movie that is not even a movie, and then scolded while watching.

This also creates an illusion that the heat brought by the scolding can continue to the sequel.

When "The Blair Witch" finally left theaters, the North American box office stopped at a figure of 156.52 million US dollars.

With US$156.52 million, "The Blair Witch" temporarily ranked eighth on the North American box office list in 1999.

All of the first seven films are famous.

This year's tentatively ranked first is "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace", followed by "The Sixth Sense", followed by "Toy Story 2" and "The Matrix", etc...

Can be juxtaposed with these famous films, "The Blair Witch" has also been awarded by the media a title that may be recorded in the annals of film history-the ancestor of pseudo-documentary thrillers.

As the operator behind the scenes, Ronan is unknown.

This is also the effect he wanted.

Who wants to steal the limelight, just go for it, anyway, Ronan will not stand up foolishly.

Not everyone sees it as clearly as Ronan, such as the film's director Daniel Malik.

The director, who was pushed to the fore by Ronan, appeared on the cover of the new issue of "Time Magazine", almost stealing all the limelight brought by "The Blair Witch".

Subsequently, Daniel - Malik on the Oprah talk show.

The director takes all the credit for himself.

For a time, Daniel Melick had a bright future.

If the selection of "Hollywood Person of the Year" in 1999, Daniel - Malik will definitely be shortlisted.

DreamWorks Pictures also took advantage of this momentum to hold a press conference, announcing the start of preparations for the sequel to "The Blair Witch".

Only then did the media realize that the filming copyright of "The Blair Witch" had been transferred to DreamWorks.

For a while, quite a few media commented that the decision-makers of Theory of Relativity Entertainment had their heads flooded and they were a bunch of idiots.

Some media reporters even wanted to come to interview, but Relativity Entertainment adhered to Ronan's strategy and kept silent, counting money in obscurity.

Wretched development, don't waste time.

If this situation is going to be a wave, it is likely to be drowned by saliva.

With the release of "The Blair Witch", the North American box office will soon arrive. This film does not involve foreign investment, no special accounting is required, and the profits are only transferred between Relativity Entertainment and Embassy Pictures.

In the conference room of the embassy film industry, Garcia looked at the report and said, "Yesterday afternoon, all the North American box office revenues were credited to the account, and we received a total of 79.5 million US dollars in North American box office revenue."

As soon as the words fell, the conference room burst into applause.

Thomas, Director of Cinema Distribution, Terry, Director of Offline Distribution, Robert, Vice President, David Villa, Director of Propaganda, and Fianna, Financial Director who was just transferred from Mary, all applauded enthusiastically. To Ronan.

The external reputation is not obvious, but no one knows better than them that this is a victory for Ronan Anderson!

This kind of team leader with excellent ability, vision, mind and execution ability is so important to a company!

Ronan could feel the cohesion being formed by the embassy film management, so he applauded together, and after the applause paused, he said: "The success of this film is the result of the company's collective efforts. According to the revenue situation, formulate a reward plan.”

The applause sounded again, and more enthusiastically.

As the leader of a company, there may even be a larger team in the future,

If you want the team to exert more powerful energy and truly achieve 1+1 greater than 2, in addition to the leader's own ability and personality charm, whether it can bring benefits to followers and bring actual benefits is also quite critical the elements of.

Having experienced the great success of "The Blair Witch", Garcia has to admit that the ability of the new boss is beyond doubt, and the $79.5 million is the best proof.

In the past ten years, all the revenues of the Embassy Films added together did not reach 79.5 million US dollars!

This is just one movie, and there will be two movies, "Kingsman" and "Reaper".

Garcia has worked in this company for many years, and the slow-paced work and the conservative operating strategy of his former boss have almost worn away his previous ambitions.

At this moment, he felt that he could do more and go to a higher place to see a more beautiful scenery.

"Let's talk about the financial aspects," Ronan said.

Financial Director Fianna's voice was a little hoarse: "During the operation of "The Blair Witch", Embassy Pictures invested 12 million US dollars in publicity funds, 7 million US dollars in distribution funds, and 1 million US dollars in film purchase costs and other expenses. Disc distribution cost $2 million, and promotional distribution totaled $22 million."

Including Ronan, no one else spoke.

Anyone with a brain knows very well that this small production, which cost only US$80,000 to purchase, was a success in the market with huge sums of money.

Under normal circumstances, the cost of publicity and distribution of Hollywood movies is half of the production cost of the film, and some can be equal.

And what about this film? Garcia knew how much money was spent, but hearing the figure of $22 million still felt crazy.

Looking back, I was able to agree to and implement this seemingly crazy plan. One reason was the overwhelming response from the initial market exploration, and the other reason was that the copyright of the film was completely in my hands.

The total publicity expenditure of 22 million US dollars did not exceed Ronan's expectations. With such a large sum of money, the North American box office revenue alone was 79.5 million US dollars, followed by video tapes and DVDs, as well as TV copyrights, and Various overseas copyrights.

It's worth it no matter what.

This is the advantage of having an issuing company, and it is also the advantage of standing upstream in the industry chain.

The 22 million US dollars, even with the 25 million US dollars spent on the purchase of the embassy film company, is worth the release of "The Blair Witch".

Robert is indifferent to these costs, following Ronan's successive successes, he believes that as long as Ronan spends money, it will definitely bring more income.

His thoughts went elsewhere: "Why are you looking forward to the plan in Ronan's hands so much? Are you looking forward to the future trip to India so much?"

Fianna said at this time: "The 22 million US dollars all come from the loan of Relativity Entertainment. The loan and interest will be repaid within this week. The principal is 22 million US dollars and the interest is fixed at 15%. The total repayment is 2530. Ten thousand U.S. dollars."

"In addition, Relativity Entertainment transferred the 5-year offline copyright of "The Blair Witch" to Embassy Pictures for a total price of 18 million US dollars."

All of you here are Hollywood insiders, and they are no strangers to this kind of left-handed and right-handed financial operation.

"The remaining part." Fianna continued: "Temporarily used as reserves and working capital, it will remain in the account of the embassy film industry."

Luo Nan answered: "This part of the funds will be used firstly for the embassy film industry to develop overseas distribution channels. Our next step is to extend the distribution tentacles overseas!"

The establishment of overseas distribution channels is much more difficult than that of North American distribution channels. Now in Hollywood, except for the six major companies, only a few companies have the ability to distribute overseas, and even the ambitious DreamWorks is temporarily unable to do overseas distribution. issued.

But if you don't try to establish overseas distribution channels, you may be like DreamWorks, and you will not have overseas distribution capabilities until the end.

Think about it, Lionsgate Films did not have the ability to distribute overseas at the beginning, and the overseas distribution channels in the future were only really expanded through acquisitions and self-construction.

Not to mention anything else, if you want to remain independent like Lionsgate, instead of being swallowed up by a large group like those medium-sized film companies in Hollywood history, you must be able to distribute movies not only in North America, but also globally.

Afterwards, everyone discussed the establishment of overseas distribution channels.

This work needs a special person to be responsible, and the embassy film industry currently has no suitable candidates. Ronan plans to find opportunities to recruit people from his peers.

It would be best to poach a team.

There is also the distribution of "Kingsman" and "Reaper" is also the topic of this meeting.

Ronan once again emphasized that the publicity and distribution funds for these two films must be settled by borrowing from Relativity Entertainment.

Relativity Entertainment will immediately have 43.3 million US dollars in the account. For the time being, there is no need to consider the bank loan repayment. It can be loaned to the Embassy Films for the operation of the new film.

There is also the copyright of the sequel that Theory of Relativity sold to DreamWorks, and the transfer money will arrive in the account soon.

At that time, it will be able to take a large interest from the income of the two films "Kingsman" and "Death Comes".

This is legitimate income from Relativity Entertainment.

"Garcia, the previous business of the embassy film industry can continue." Ronan suggested: "Go overseas to acquire small independent productions, release them in North America or distribute video tapes. You have operated well before, don't give up this business."

Embassy Pictures used to rely on this business to survive, which shows that there is a certain profit margin.

Since you can make a profit, of course you can't give up.

Some overseas films have been brought to North America, and if they are packaged, they may not fail to sell well in the video tape market.

If I have time in the future, I will go to film festivals more often.

Two days before Halloween, the discs and videotapes of "The Blair Witch" were officially launched. The Embassy Pictures has distribution channels, and chain stores such as Wal-Mart and Blockbuster have placed the film and related posters in prominent positions.

It’s really hard to guess the audience’s psychology sometimes. The reputation of “The Blair Witch” is bad, but there are still people who are willing to pay for it. In just three days of its first week of release, it even earned nearly 7 million US dollars in sales and rental income.

The film's TV premiere copyright has also entered the negotiation stage.

After Halloween, Ronan was going to hold a celebration party. He didn’t invite people from the media. Except for the insiders of the two companies, he also invited some people who had worked with him, such as directors, actors, and other positions he had worked with or is currently working with. Important candidates are also invited.

Of course, it is impossible not to send invitations to the main creators of this kind of event.