Three Hundred and Ninety Nine - Good Luck Warner Bros.

Another working day has arrived, and Monday represents the opening of a new calendar, which also heralds the latest round of results in a life-and-death competition in the theater market.

Among the six major Hollywood giants, Paramount is the only production and distribution industry giant that still really stays in Hollywood. The working atmosphere early Monday morning was quite strange and quiet.

This company with mountains as its totem is just like their status in Hollywood. In the first thirty years of its establishment, this company has been sitting on the map with many stars, high-quality films and chain theaters all over the United States. On the throne of the Hollywood Overlord.

In recent years, Paramount has produced excellent and successful movies such as "The Godfather", "Saturday Night Fever", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Forrest Gump".

From the 1960s to the 1990s, the real power figures of Paramount Pictures changed rapidly, but this did not affect the quality of the company's films, whether it was Robert Evans, Barry Diller, Shirley... Lansing is in charge, and this company always produces movies that are both popular and popular.

If you ask who has the strongest ability among these people, most people will immediately think of Shirley Lansing. It was the first female CEO of a giant in Hollywood Vanity Fair who allowed Paramount to quickly get through the pain period after the turbulent acquisition, and then made full use of Viacom's media influence to create a business far beyond the Revenue before acquisition.

And this CEO, who has always presented herself as a strong woman, allowed countless employees to see the unhappiness on her face during the short journey from the elevator to her office this morning.

Even Shirley Lansing's secretary, except for bringing in a cup of coffee at the beginning, stayed far away from the office. Every employee passing by subconsciously slowed down their steps.

"$1.87 million..."

The peripheral sales of "Mission: Impossible" during the first three days of its opening weekend were only a measly US$1.87 million. When she saw this data early in the morning, Shirley Lansing thought she was dazzled.

But the fact is that Tom Cruise may have some protection at the box office, but it may not necessarily work well with peripherals, which make up the bulk of a film's revenue.

After three days of the first weekend in the United States, there were only US$1.87 million in peripheral sales. This data is relatively rough. Normally it is just the most conservative number. But in fact, even if it is a little more, how much more can it be? ? $2 million? $3 million?

Paramount invested more than US$120 million in the film, including US$80 million in production costs and US$40 million in promotional expenses before and after the film was released.

In order to facilitate the cooperation with Tom Cruise, they not only paid a high salary of twenty plus twenty for the actor contract they signed, but also agreed to a series of harsh conditions for Pat Kingsley, that greedy woman. .

All this is for the revenue of "Mission: Impossible". The participation of superstars with huge box office appeal basically guarantees the box office figures of "Mission: Impossible", and the relatively eye-catching box office familiarity can also create A large amount of peripheral income and various offline income.

A strange thing happened. After three days of its first weekend, "Mission: Impossible" failed to overtake "Twister" at the box office on Saturday and Sunday, but it was still a solid success. The total box office revenue in the three days was 41.23 million U.S. dollars, which was well in line with Paramount’s expected figures.

But here's what's incomprehensible. Such high first-week box office numbers mean that there are quite a few ordinary viewers who went into the theater to watch "Mission: Impossible", and these viewers only watched the movie, but they didn't care about the party. Ramone turned a blind eye to the film's merch, which he invested heavily in.

What's even more ironic is actually another statistic placed on Shirley Lansing's desk. "The Matrix", which has passed its peak viewing period and has been in theaters for three weeks, had a three-day shipment volume of approximately US$14.38 million last weekend.

After thinking carefully for a while, Shirley Lansing discovered that although "The Matrix" slipped to third place on the box office list last weekend and only took in more than 17 million US dollars in three days, it also brought the total North American box office to about 169 million. The most important thing is that the total North American peripheral sales are as high as about 130 million US dollars!

This is Hollywood's standard money-making movie. It has successfully transformed the eye-catching box office figures into peripheral sales with even more terrifying profit margins. Now it seems that the offline operating income of "The Matrix" will only increase after it is released. high.

Everyone thought that Wayne was destined to be absent at the beginning of this year's summer season, but this film, which also bears the suffix of his name, successfully won all the wars in May in another way.

Is it possible that at the beginning of this summer season, as long as the film produced by Wayne Greenberg is completely invincible? Shirley Lansing couldn't help but sigh slightly, put down all the statistics in her hands, walked to the office window and looked in the direction of Burbank, the media capital.

“Good luck Warner Bros.…”

Strong women who have always been known for their personal abilities are suddenly particularly envious of Jeff Robinoff of Warner Bros. Women want to succeed in this absolutely macho vanity fair, and they need to put in more effort than men.

And all the hard work, work ability, etc., in the end were not as successful as Warner Bros.' Jeff Robinov. Even if he allowed Wayne to mess around in the summer, as long as he hugged the young man's thigh, Warner Bros. would naturally That's enough profit.

"Twister", which was released at the same time last weekend, unsurprisingly beat "Mission: Impossible". With a total box office of US$57.08 million in its first three days in the first weekend, "The Matrix" successfully succeeded "The Matrix" to hold the box office championship for two consecutive weeks.

This puts the film "Mission: Impossible" in an awkward position. Compared with the film "Tornado" released at the same time, it is undoubtedly at a disadvantage in terms of box office trends and audience reputation.

Everyone can see that, unless there are any big surprises, the gap in box office figures between the two films will get wider over time.

Since the box office cannot be compared with other films released in the same period, judging from the situation in the first week, it should not be a problem to rely on the box office to recoup the production investment. Anyway, the most profitable point in Hollywood has never been the box office, which does not even account for 20% of the total profits.

But the peripheral products that Paramount had high hopes for were a complete failure. Put it next to "The Matrix" which was released for three weeks, and "Mission: Impossible" which took in $40 million in box office in its first week, such as Like a joke.

"call."

Shirley Lansing took a deep breath, turned around and sat back behind the large desk, picked up the phone on the desk and dialed the number of the distribution department.

"I'm Shirley Lansing. Yes, I will increase the promotion of "Mission: Impossible" and I will apply for some publicity funds..."

This summer, Paramount's head project is "Mission: Impossible" with Tom Cruise. Now that the first three days have passed, the box office figures collected have absolutely nothing to do with the failure. In any case, continuing to increase publicity and promotion is the most correct way out.

Starting from this Monday, Paramount has significantly increased its investment in promoting "Mission: Impossible", from various billboards on the roadside in the city, movie posters posted in movie theaters and Blockbuster stores, to trailers and papers on TV In advertising promotions in quality media, Tom Cruise’s handsome face can be seen everywhere.

"This is a revolution in spy movies. "Mission: Impossible" can be called the shining pearl among spy movies, an unprecedented spy movie!"

"Everyone is familiar with the plots of undercover, mole, multiple spies, passwords, secret codes, connectors, pen guns, and poisonous needles. Rainy nights, windbreakers, top hats, and sunglasses have also become standard equipment for spies. At this stage, a breakthrough and innovation is really needed. Mission: Impossible is, in a way, a benchmark for that kind of transformation."

Similar advertisements and hype appear everywhere, forming an overwhelming momentum. Looking back, Warner Bros., as the main competitor, has always maintained its own promotion rhythm and was not panicked by Paramount's sudden effort. .

According to statistics, the film market in North America is the most developed and the world's largest box office. People have only noticed the rapid expansion of the entertainment industry, but they have not noticed that the country's population has not grown explosively.

This shows what? In the theater market, this shows that the number of moviegoers has always been so large and there has been no growth.

The chain reaction is that if a certain movie has a large number of viewers at the same time, other movies released at the same time will fall into a situation where the audience will decrease, or even become deserted.

"Mission: Impossible" suddenly launched a large-scale promotion, and they were afraid of becoming a victim like "The Incredible Hulk", but Warner Bros. is not worried about their own film at all. They are now more than one position ahead of their opponents, and they follow the steps without making mistakes. This is the safest strategy.

"'Mission: Impossible' was squeezed by our two major productions and fell into an embarrassing situation of being neither good nor bad. If I were a Paramount executive, I would try my best to expand publicity and try to compete at the box office of the film. .”

In the office of Warner Bros. CEO, Bruce Rosenblum carefully trimmed a cigar and talked about the media news of the past two days in a relaxed tone. "A film with a superstar on board has been pushed to this point. It seems that we have done a very good job, doesn't it?"

"Never underestimate that woman Shirley Lansing."

Sitting opposite him, Wayne was also trimming a thick cigar. These are the collection of Jeff Robinoff. The reason why he reminded him like this is because this woman is too famous.

As a movie projectionist in his previous life, Wayne had heard of this legendary female manager, which shows how capable Shirley Lansing is. In fact, this was also the case. When this great female executive left, Paramount also It quickly fell into a period of turmoil.