Three Hundred and Eighty-Five - The First Box Office Tragedy

The thing is actually very simple. After watching the premiere, Daisy mobilized other fans in the discussion group to leave a large number of positive comments about "The Matrix" on the Internet.

On this platform, which has never been commercialized, more young people are spontaneously discussing everything about the film. I am afraid that Daisy and other fans did not expect that it could have such a huge influence.

At first, it only used IMDB's special message board as its main position. Later, as more young people followed the trend, various discussion topics about "The Matrix" were posted to more other online forums.

"This is another hot social trend, a trend unique to netizens and young people..."

After listening to Nina's report, Wayne was filled with emotion. He originally thought that this kind of Internet trend would not occur until around 1998, when Amazon completely acquired IMDB and spent money to expand its operations. He did not expect that everything would happen so quickly.

Mainly influenced by the thinking mode of his previous life. In this land, the Internet has developed much faster than he thought. Obviously, there are more Internet users, mainly young people, than imagined.

Nina sat at the dining table, took a big sip of milk, and then sighed: "Daisy actually didn't expect that when she called this morning, she said that now as long as you open any web page, you can see information about " Various discussions on The Matrix.

According to my analysis, only a part of the people who go to the theaters now will go to the theaters later, and there will be more young people with Internet habits who will go to the theaters out of curiosity because of the ubiquitous movie information on the Internet. "

Wayne nodded silently. If he guessed correctly, in the future, more and more netizens would enter the theater. No matter how social hot spots are formed, once they become a certain popular trend, they will More people joined in.

When your classmates, friends and family are discussing the topic of "The Matrix", you will naturally want to join in, and the prerequisite for joining is to watch the film.

Hollywood has proven with many successful movies that movies that trigger social hot topics will eventually make a lot of money.

Even later, after the production company understands that this is the code of wealth, they will find ways to use means to arouse social hot spots and trigger national discussions. Marketing plans in this way emerge one after another.

"The Matrix is ​​so lucky. This movie is closely related to the Internet, so it can cause a sensation among so many young netizens." Wayne crossed his legs and leaned on the chair comfortably, not in a hurry to eat the breakfast in front of him, lighting up After smoking a cigarette, he picked up the newspaper on the dining table.

"Yes, Daisy said the same thing." Nina nodded and said while eating bacon: "She told me that the main reason for the people who started to spontaneously follow the trend and spread information was this. "The Matrix" and The connections between the Internet are so imaginative.”

That's why Wayne felt that it was a coincidence that, just like God was helping, between "The Matrix" and the Internet, there are so many topics for young people to discuss.

"Wow, Warner Bros. has done such a great job!"

The top one among the newspapers was not an entertainment newspaper, but a copy of the Washington Post. The assistant lady had obviously read it, so she put this social newspaper in the first place for convenience. He can see it immediately.

The head of the Matsin organization declared that America is a free land, and everyone has the right to love and be loved. Love has nothing to do with gender, race, identity or status. The gay community should receive due respect and should not Become the target of discrimination.

They call on more gay people to stand up bravely and make their voices heard. Love is sacred and should not be spurned by most ordinary people. People should give them the right to love.

The reporter then interviewed the women's organization Daughters of Bilidis, who also expressed the same views, calling on more women to stand up and bravely admit their orientation issues. There is nothing wrong with love itself...'

Publishing this thing in the social section of the "Washington Post" already represented too many things. He didn't know how Jeff Robinov could make this authoritative social media agree to publish such a thing. Sensitive and controversial reporting.

But anyone with any sensitivity will understand that such a report appearing in the Washington Post itself represents some kind of political correctness.

The Matsin Association was established in Los Angeles, California in the 1950s. It was the first modern gay rights organization in North America. The organization gathered a group of local gay men with the purpose of protecting and improving the rights of local "gay men."

As this group grows and grows, the number of people increases, and the area has expanded to include all of North America. It can no longer be described as a small organization in Los Angeles.

But after all, these people belong to a marginalized group in society and have no channels of their own to speak out, and it is impossible for any media to be willing to risk huge controversy to help them speak out.

Additionally, the first lesbian rights organization in the United States, the Daughters of Bilitis, was founded in San Francisco in 1955. These two are considered the largest gay organizations in North America. As long as they have certain channels to speak out, their influence can be said to be huge.

"It's still too controversial." Wayne shook his head slightly. He understood Warner Bros.'s purpose, but this itself seemed to cause another social trend, which might get out of control.

If the incident does not gain the sympathy and recognition of the majority of ordinary people, it will eventually subside quickly and quietly as it has for many years.

In central North America and other states, a large number of conservative-minded people may also start to spontaneously boycott the film because of the identity of the male protagonist of "The Matrix". If not, the gains outweigh the losses.

Wayne shrugged and muttered as the newspaper turned to the other side. "Okay, I'm overthinking it."

At the back of the "Washington Post", there is a speech from a spokesperson for the White House. Zipperton's external spokesperson declared that the land of North America respects the demands of every minority group and that the federal government is willing to promote the freedom of same-sex marriage and so on.

Regardless of whether these words are for votes, as long as they are the voice of the federal government, they will indeed suppress a large part of the controversy.

What interests Wayne the most is that a former White House intern, now the governor of Texas, Mr. Shibb Jr., also expressed his personal views, expressing his willingness to respect this minority group and his willingness to promote the formation of a freedom of marriage bill. .

"Nina." He threw the newspaper on the table, picked up the knife and fork, pointed it at the scrambled eggs on the plate, and looked at the assistant. "Tell me, how did Jeff persuade Time Warner to take action? This is no small feat!"

"Everyone gets what he needs." Nina didn't take this seriously at all and explained in a casual tone. "Time Warner gave that group of people a voice, and that group of dirty politicians also saw an opportunity. In their eyes, this was a good opportunity to get votes."

"Maybe..., after all, everyone is here for profit."

Interest, this is an eternal truth in North America. Jeff Robinov didn't even wait for the box office numbers to come out the next day. On Friday afternoon, he began to contact the parent company Time Warner.

He no longer cares about the box office numbers of "The Matrix", what's even more surprising is the peripherals. If the current trend continues, the peripheral profits of this film will definitely create a miracle.

After Friday's day passed, not only Wayne saw these reports on Saturday morning. Many companies, including Universal Pictures, all guessed Warner Bros.'s purpose of doing this, but the heavy first-day box office report also Let them understand the significance of investing so many resources.

"The Matrix" and "The Incredible Hulk" opened on a large scale at the same time on Friday. The box office output of the two films on that day can be said to be very different.

"The Matrix" grossed 18.8 million US dollars on Friday. If the 5.75 million US dollars in advance screenings are included, the first-day box office almost reached Warner Bros.'s opening weekend expectations. The terrifying figure of 24.55 million US dollars can represent something Too much.

But this miracle first-day box office is not the most surprising thing, but the peripheral sales.

Including Neo's windbreaker, sunglasses, boots, Trinity's pendant, etc., "The Matrix" peripherals sold about 28 million US dollars on the first day, a figure that surprised many industry peers.

Warner Bros. prepared to sell the goods for a month in advance and shipped them all to the country on Saturday. The surrounding factories were working overtime.

More licensors have already flooded the distribution department with calls. Almost all companies have the same purpose: they want peripheral authorizations for "The Matrix".

Looking back at the performance of "The Incredible Hulk", Typical fought a battle of highs and lows. The extremely poor audience reputation affected the choice of movie fans on the first day on Friday, coupled with Wayne's disparagement of the film. , causing more fans to abandon "The Incredible Hulk".

Just relying on the huge popularity of Hulk, the large-scale publicity before its release, and the results achieved in advance on Thursday, the box office barely reached the threshold of US$20 million on the first day, closing in at US$20.31 million.

Judging from the box office numbers, this film is undoubtedly off to a successful start, and Universal Pictures should be celebrating.

In fact, they also discovered the problem. After one day of screening on Friday, the reputation of the movie fans has completely collapsed. There is a lot of criticism everywhere, which cannot be suppressed at all.

This situation was confirmed on Saturday and Sunday. The box office plummeted even before the first weekend. On Saturday, which should have been the main viewing day for movie fans, "The Incredible Hulk" only earned $9.23 million, which was directly cut in half compared to the previous day.

The same was true on Sunday, with the number falling to an unbelievable $4.43 million, the first box office disaster of this summer.