Chapter 153 153

"So, Hugo, how much do you think the premiere box office will be?" Alex asked in a low voice while drinking the coffee in his hand.

"Oh, my God." Joseph and Carl wailed at the same time, obviously not optimistic about Alex's proposal, Hugo smiled and shook his head, "I don't know how to play this kind of game, and I Not the boring media."

At this time, Hugo and the other five people were sitting in the coffee shop on the third floor of the Universal Cinema in the city center, waiting for the "Royal Sea of ​​Righteousness" at 4:30 in the afternoon.

The American projection industry is controlled by several big theater chains, including General Motors, United Arts, AMC, Carmichael, Marcus, and so on. At present, there are about 20,000 screens in the United States, of which 45% are controlled by these theaters, and they have gathered more than 80% of the box office revenue.

Of course, in addition to large commercial theater chains, there have always been independent and art theater chains in the U.S. film industry, and these art theater chains have provided strong support for the establishment of film studies courses in American universities. Now the No. 1 art theater chain in the United States is the Landmark theater chain. Although this Canadian theater chain, founded in 1965, currently has less than 30 theater chains in North America, its support for art films is unquestionable. of.

However, the location of movie theaters in the United States is quite special. Generally, they are located far away from the urban area, mainly because supporting commercial areas including parking lots and shopping centers will develop around the movie theaters, thus forming a large-scale entertainment facility. Just drive to the cinema for a full day of entertainment. So the cinema is rarely arranged in the city center.

The situation in Los Angeles is slightly different. In fact, there is no such thing as a city center in Los Angeles. The rich live in the suburbs, and the city center is only a place for work or errands, while ordinary old residents will live in the city center. Nearby, the city center mentioned here is only a geographical significance, an area radiating from the city hall as the center.

In fact, Los Angeles is a typical homonuclear city group. From a formal point of view, Los Angeles has various systems of cities and counties. However, from an urban form, Los Angeles is a metropolis composed of nearly one hundred homonuclear cities. These cities are compact and orderly arranged on a rectangular plot of nearly 10,000 square kilometers, with sharp outlines. The city hall is a central point that plays a dominant role and shoulders the mission of the administrative region.

So when Hugo and his party wanted to choose a place to watch a movie, they chose the city center, which is relatively less crowded. There is a general-purpose movie theater here, and the surrounding supporting facilities are also very complete. It is also the most prosperous area in the old city. . A half-hour drive from Sunset Plaza arrives at the Universal Cinema located in the downtown financial district, overlooking Little Tokyo and Central. National City, the surrounding high-rise buildings are obviously much more than the area around Beverly Hills, but compared to Manhattan in the center of New York City, it seems to be up. Hai and Shao. The differences are not comparable at all.

"Come on, just guess and choose a number." Alex was still reluctant to give up, this was the greatest joy before the movie was released.

"Don't scare him anymore, Alex." Charlize teased with an unscrupulous smile on his face, which instantly made Hugo frown, "When did I get scared?" Hugo said with dissatisfaction "I knew the opening weekend was going to be a success, it was an inevitable outcome to be expected."

Hugo hadn't forgotten to remind Charlize, "Don't forget, the premiere the day before yesterday was well received! I won't worry about it."

"Then just pick a number." Alex jokingly chased after him, causing Carl and Richards to sit across from each other and giggling, but Joseph's facial expression was very stiff, and he looked like a rain. Even more nervous.

Hugo looked at Alex's smile and shook his head to express his helplessness, "Okay." Then he thought about it carefully, but when it came to the box office, Hugo really couldn't remember too much. For details, he remembered that the global box office of "Avatar" was 2.78 billion, but he couldn't remember those specific numbers every weekend, not to mention that the memory of "Yihai Xiongfeng" was very vague, so the rain Guo thought for a while, "Ten million, huh?"

Hugo remembered that the Los Angeles Times predicted 12 million before the movie was released, so he said a more secure number, and then looked at Joseph who was so nervous, "Is that all right?"

Joseph shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not." His expression was not much, but today because of his nervousness, the lines on his face became more and more stiff, "If the premiere box office is 10 million, then we must look at the back. The box office has dropped, you know, investing 40 million is not a small sum.”

"Then how much do we need?" Hugo knew that Joseph and Columbia Pictures had been in close communication in the past two days, and he was obviously talking about this.

"12 million, and the box office drop in the second week can't be higher than 20%." Joseph said worriedly, "If it exceeds 15 million, then the situation may be easier."

"15 million?" Carl, an industry insider, pouted when he heard the number. After entering September, there were only three films with the box office threshold of over 10 million, namely "Qianlong Bang". In the 14-week schedule, only three films exceeded 10 million at the box office when they premiered, and a movie like "The Hero of the Sea" did not. It is definitely a daunting task to achieve this level of action, no explosions, and no special effects in a plot movie.

"Fifteen million to his, I made my own predictions," Alex said triumphantly. "Three-one-one-one-two-six-thousand-eighty-three dollars."

It was actually one dollar, which was unexpected. "How did it come?" Joseph looked over with a surprised look.

"A dollar more than the premiere box office of 'Home Alone 2'." Alex laughed immediately, "'Yihai Xiongfeng' will be the premiere box office champion in the fall and holiday seasons!"

"Are you serious?" Hugo was amused by Alex's words, "'Home Alone 2' is a sequel, the first one was a big hit, this time it's relying on the mass base to reach this box office figure Yes. I think Columbia Pictures' 15 million is a bit more plausible."

This is a fact. "Home Alone", which swept the US $280 million box office two years ago, was only 17 million in its opening weekend. This time, "Home Alone 2" has a sequel advantage and only won 3,000 The box office of the premiere of more than 10,000 yuan is naturally not comparable to "Yihai Xiongfeng".

"Don't think about surpassing Kevin, it's more reliable to aim for 12 million US dollars." Kevin, here refers to the name of the actor of "Home Alone", Joseph said, he did not want to continue to impose box office. The pressure is on, for Hugo, for himself.

The box office is not a movie. Movies can be controlled by the producers and directors, but the box office is in the hands of the audience, which is simply uncontrollable. Many times, a movie company launches a work with confidence, and the result is a failure. Who could have predicted it?

"I think no matter what your predictions are, it's time for us to find out." Charlize pointed to the clock on the wall. "At least all five of us contributed to the box office, didn't we?"

"It's a fact. Seeing five people sitting in the movie theater makes me feel more at ease, at least it won't be without one." Hugo nodded earnestly and directly angered Charlize. I gave Hugo a slap in the face, but in the past six months, Hugo has learned to be smart, and the conditioned reflex has been avoided.

Charlize looked at Hugo who was smiling, gritted his teeth, stood up and chased after him. Hugo quickly ran away, and the two of them ran towards the entrance of the cinema. Looking at the two people fighting, the remaining three shrugged their shoulders at the same time, and Carl didn't forget to say, "Children are always naughty..."

After the five people entered the cinema, Hugo began to look around, and then whispered to Joseph, "There are so many people coming to the cinema today, this is a good sign, isn't it?" The screening hall that people entered is almost full, and there are still five minutes before the movie starts, which means that no one is late, and the attendance rate is very high. This news is really good.

Joseph nodded, "I still asked Rick to buy tickets, because I heard that several large theaters have started to line up to buy tickets." Originally, Joseph thought it was Rick Rosen's joke, but now he sees it with his own eyes. After that, my heart suddenly felt more at ease.

"I just saw that the tickets for the 4:30 show are all sold out." Charlize patted Hugo's arm and said in a low voice.

Although Hugo had been pretending to be calm just now, only he knew the tension in his heart. After witnessing the attendance rate of over 90% at this moment, the boiling emotions finally calmed down. But Hugo couldn't help but wipe his sweat. It turned out that the pressure at the box office was like this. It was invisible and intangible, but it was as heavy as a thousand jins, making people breathless.

In the past, seeing an actor as a leading role in a movie still felt infinitely beautiful, but now I finally realize the hardships behind it. Actors who cannot become leading actors have their heartaches, and actors who play leading roles also have their own troubles.

Hugo pulled the corner of his mouth at Charlize, "I hope this situation is not deliberately created because they know that I am coming to this theater." Hugo remembered that when he was in China, he led the inspection to the countryside. Prosperous scene, specially convened, take care of the good side for leaders to visit. That's why Hugo made such a joke.

As a result, Charlize rolled his eyes, "I don't mind helping if you think you have too much money to spend."

"Me too." Alex's voice suddenly came from Richards' left hand, and he gave a big smile, which made Hugo's smile stuck in the corner of his mouth.