Chapter 257 Sleeping Beauty Awakens

The second weekend box office results of the movie "Fast Times" were aggregated to Universal's distribution department, with a total of 3.2 million US dollars.

This result left Universal's distribution department, marketing department, media PR, and even several presidents speechless.

It's not that Ronald's genius shocked them, but that this result broke the rules and made them appear to be relatively incompetent.

In the second week, Universal's lab printed an additional 100 "fast-paced" copies and distributed them to theaters on the West Coast. The total screening line reached nearly 600 theaters.

Dividing the weekend box office by the number of theaters showing the film, the Universal Distribution Department discovered an embarrassing fact: the average box office per theater increased instead of decreasing.

Don't think this is a good thing, it shows that the distribution department has made a mistake.

Their box office estimate for "Fast Pace" was completely wrong. Without giving it more prime time slots and limited theaters, "Fast Pace"'s attendance and box office grew by relying on word-of-mouth.

The first reaction of the distribution department was to apply to the superiors to let the printing laboratory print another two hundred copies to meet the printing needs of more and more cinemas. This movie has great stamina, and its average box office per theater has exceeded that of "The Best Chicken Room in Texas" starring Dolly Parton.

The second embarrassed the head of the marketing department. There was no marketing material for "Fast Times" because the film originally had no marketing budget and more than half of it was canceled by Tom Mount's regional distribution strategy.

The film has attracted quite a bit of media attention, with some local TV stations starting to talk about the film's popularity among teenagers. At least there are more and more teenagers on the street who start to speak with a valley accent in every sentence.

This kind of movie that relies on word-of-mouth from the audience and counterattacks at the box office after its release has a proper term called "Sleeping Beauty-style hit". Newspaper reporters have already started calling the film another sleeper hit.

Every such report is a silent mockery of Universal's marketing department.

Therefore, their applications began to be sent to the desks of Shenberg, Ned Tanin and others, hoping to increase the marketing budget and at least allow several leading actors and directors to go on a road show along the originally planned route. Interviewed by local media in Dallas, Chicago, New York, Boston and other places in Texas.

And the marketing department went a step further and proposed a plan to break away from only showing on the West Coast, develop more copies, and seize the time to show it in East Coast and central cities.

This was not within their scope of work, but the supervisor, who was ridiculed by the media every day, couldn't bear it anymore and made cross-functional suggestions.

Otherwise, they will be ridiculed by the media on the West Coast. In the end, the film may still be screened on the East Coast and ridiculed by the media in New York. Their mouths are even more venomous, and they don’t know what ugly words they will say.

Sheinberg was very impressed when he received the application. I didn't support Ronald with all my strength, which seemed to be a minor mistake.

If this movie can be released simultaneously in thousands of theaters across the country, I am afraid that the total box office will exceed 50 million, or even higher. This kind of box office performance can rank among the top fifteen in the box office list of that year in this era when movie box office is generally weak.

If the two movies he supports both achieve top fifteen box office results of the year, then his authority in Universal Pictures will be greatly enhanced.

Moreover, this "fast-paced" film also collects a lot of pop music for interludes, which can be used as a movie soundtrack album. This will also be of great help to my voice in the music business of the parent company mca.

However, at that time, "ET" was already on track to win a big box office success, so I couldn't be wrong about my strategy of no longer taking risks.

The key is that I lack the courage to promote Spielberg. Once people sit in a high position, they tend to look forward and backward.

Even more regretful than Sheinberg was Ned Tanin.

He had obviously supported Ronald once and approved the budget for Brooke Shields to reshoot. Due to the controversy surrounding this release, he should really be supported to the end.

At that time, I still thought too much about balancing my strength and maintaining the safe operation of my position, so I made a compromise.

In the final analysis, as a senior person, he lacks the ability to empathize with the middle-class audience. Can any executive, including Sheinberg, really tell whether a movie is being appreciated by audiences?

After shaking his head and sighing, Taning quickly expanded the scale of the screening, signed the application for screening in the east coast and central and southern regions, and then rang the bell to call his secretary.

"When will director Ronald Lee come to talk about the new distribution plan? Well... remember to remind me that I want to meet him. I have to have a good chat with such a director."

Anyway, there is another Tom Mount who is worse off than me... Tanin thought with gloating.

Tom Mount sat blankly in his office. After receiving a call from his old father-in-law last week urging him to resign, he still didn't want to admit defeat.

"Fast Pace" may also be a film with insufficient stamina. Many such teen exploitation films rely on sensory stimulation to attract audiences in the first week, and their subsequent box office will quickly decline. Especially since Paramount's new film "An Officer and a Gentleman" was released this week, it is expected to continue to drag down some of the box office.

Who knew that the report he saw today on Monday, the dazzling numbers in the "fast pace" column, gave him a heavy blow. In its second weekend of release, it has already exceeded 8 million at the box office, and is expected to exceed 10 million by the middle of next week.

The application to expand the film to a nationwide release on the third weekend is also placed next to it, which looks like a provocation to oneself.

Alas, these department heads have probably heard some rumors and are no longer afraid of themselves.

Tom Mount opened the drawer and took out the resignation letter he had prepared. He straightened his tie in front of the mirror in the closet, combed his hair, smoothed the wrinkles on his suit, opened the door and walked to Sheinberg's office.

"This is my resignation letter." Mount handed the resignation letter over Xinberg's desk.

"You don't have to be like this..."

"I insist." Mount unbuttoned the metal buttons of his suit without losing his grace and sat down across from the desk.

"We are old friends. I will set up a private production company, have a distribution contract with Universal, and Universal's share investment in the new company as a joint venture..."

"Of course, everything will be taken care of." Sheinberg swept Mount's resignation letter into a drawer.

"Have a drink, Tom." He took out a bottle of brandy and offered his old rival a drink.

"The lawyers will take care of the contract matters, but Universal's investment in your personal production company will be reduced to half of the usual amount. Do you have any objection?"

"You!" Tom Mount stood up in protest.

"Sit down," Shenberg snapped.

Mount was startled by his sudden scolding and sat down again.

"This is the final condition. I have reached an agreement with MCA's... Mr. You will not be held accountable for your various dereliction of duty during your time in the company, as well as these romantic affairs that the lawyer helped you settle."

"You!" Mount was furious when he heard that he had given his father-in-law the legal documents that the company's lawyer had used to handle his romantic debt.

He was about to get up and leave, but when he thought that he no longer had a high-level job and needed the Universal President's nod to green-light his production company's movie, he sat back down.

Xinberg looked at his slumped look and felt a bad breath in his heart.

"Everything else is as usual. Your position will be retained in the company for six months, and the office will be reserved for you until the end of the year. Universal will sign a hair contract for five movies with your new company, invest..., and hold a proportion of shares... , I will ask the lawyer to give you the documents."

"Drink some." Shenberg picked up the wine glass and clinked it with Mount.

In the office of the copyright department downstairs, two film buyers from Global Television Network and NBC Los Angeles were still waiting in the conference room for the department head to return from the meeting.

"This fast-paced show was our first priority at Global Television Network, and we should be given the first-round broadcast rights."

"No, no, no. NBC's television network on the West Coast is bigger than Universal's. We should air the first round first."

The manager sitting opposite them felt funny watching the performance of the two buyers. It wasn't until I saw the TV station's entertainment news broadcasting more and more news related to this movie that I remembered that I still had a broadcast contract and came to seek the right to premiere it.

This director is really amazing, and now even social news has news about his movie.

The door was pushed open, and the head of the copyright department pushed in.

"Good news and bad news, gentlemen."

"The good news is that Universal has agreed to sell the TV broadcast rights to both of you at the same time. Each company will have ten broadcast rights." He handed over the contract as he spoke.

"The bad news is that the movie will be expanded to a national showing next week and your premiere will have to be postponed until after the movie is released."

At the same time, in the office of Paramount Pictures' president, president Michael Eisner was talking to production chief and vice president Katzenberg.

“An Officer and a Gentleman’s box office performance remains stable, with distribution expecting to gross over $100 million.”

"What's the status of our contracts with the two leading actors?"

"Deborah Winger still has a film contract, and Richard Gere has fulfilled it."

"How's the rest of the production going?"

"Brian De Palma's new film has encountered some difficulties, but they can be dealt with."

"Okay, let me know if there's anything you need me to do."

Eisner pointed to a column on the box office report and asked Katzenberg, "What is this Universal fast-paced movie? The director's name seems familiar?"

"It's a youth exploitation film. Ronald Lee was originally the screenwriter, and we also competed for the script he wrote for Jane Fonda. And then he recently helped Lew Adler reshoot the end of the movie."

"Oh, how's the quality?"

"Except for the MV-like ending, everything else is rubbish and it will be difficult to show it in theaters."

"Ha. Well, since it's a music video, why not send it to be played, and then release the movie. If it doesn't do well at the box office, sell it to cable channels as a late-night movie."

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