Rebirth In Hollywood

According to the general understanding, a film with such an overwhelming reputation should be a hit at the box office. However, since the 1990s, professional word-of-mouth and box office figures have become two different things with little connection, and "Bomb Disposal" Troops, a high-cold theme specially produced to cater to the Oscars, is indeed not very popular with ordinary audiences.

The film was screened in North America with a pitiful 4 theaters, and it got a box office of 145,352 US dollars in the first 3 days, and the box office of a single theater exceeded 30,000 US dollars.

This number seems to be not bad, but most of the theaters in North America that specialize in showcasing literary films are large theaters that can accommodate more than 500 people, and Natalie's last film "Black Swan" was shown in North America on a larger scale. It started filming, but got a score of over 90,000 US dollars for a single theater. From this point of view, the box office performance of "The Hurt Locker" is destined to be sloppy.

By the second weekend, the screening scale of "The Hurt Locker" was expanded to 60 theaters, and the single-house box office quickly fell to about US$10,000. In the three days of this weekend, it only earned a little more than US$620,000 in box office from North America.

This can be said to be the biggest tragedy of the Olympic film. If you want to recover the investment, you must rely on a long time to accumulate.

After two weeks of observing the box office trend, Disney and Miramax also roughly estimated the final North American box office figure of the film-between 15 million and 20 million US dollars.

If you want to count on the box office to get back your investment, Disney and Miramax can die.

"What else do I need?" Natalie asked Ryan.

Filling Natalie's cup with black tea, Ryan sat on the single sofa and looked across, "Alison, don't you claim to be very knowledgeable in public relations? You can talk about it."

"certainly."

Taylor put down the documents he was flipping through, brushed his honey-gold curly hair back, and said unhurriedly, "Nate, I'm going to be your teacher."

"Honey."

Picking up an orange from the fruit plate on the coffee table, Natalie threw it directly, "You can say whatever you want."

"Thanks."

After taking the orange, Taylor threw it to Ryan again, "This is the beginning."

"The biggest taboo in competing for awards is self-esteem. Don't talk about how high-end your films are. You should show a confident, amiable and humble side throughout the whole process. This will best win the favor of the academy members."

Ryan and Natalie were unimpressed,

Basically everyone in the circle knows this kind of thing.

"I also need to frequently attend various parties and events in Los Angeles to increase my exposure." Taylor continued. "Although we have an absolute advantage, we must show our face and sense of presence."

For Natalie, it was no problem, she already lives in Los Angeles.

This can also be regarded as one of the basic conditions for winning awards. Movie stars from other places often settle in Los Angeles temporarily during the awards season. For example, in the past few years, everyone thought that Daniel Day Lewis would win the best actor. His advantage is indeed It's big too, but even if it's withdrawn, it's almost Hollywood. The rogue actor still moves to live in Los Angeles during the awards season, attending various award shows to show his competition and desire for the award, and finally win the award smoothly.

"In addition, we have to prevent others from pouring black water."

Speaking of which. Taylor looked at Ryan, "Although few people are willing to risk his anger to do so, they have to guard against it. After all, the temptation of this award is too great."

"Leave this to me." Ryan took the initiative to take it down.

If it is said that relying on self-promotion and hard work to make a face is still a conscientious competition for prizes. That means no publicist would admit that he has done it - splashing dirty water on his opponents. This is something that often occurs in the process of Oscar awards in recent years, and there are many victims among them.

Although few people in this world dare to directly challenge Disney's films in this way. But Ryan had read a lot of rumors in his previous life.

For example, Eric Patterson, a member of the Academy, published a book in 2008 to reveal the secret, saying that the best picture of "Brokeback Mountain" was ruined by two veteran filmmakers Tony Curtis and Ernst Bognier. , the two told the audience on the Fox News station that we don't want to watch this kind of gay cowboy story. I believe that if Howard Hughes and John Wayne were still alive, they would definitely not watch this kind of movie. "

Although this is not the main reason for the failure of "Brokeback Mountain", it must have affected the result to a certain extent.

There is also the dispute between "The Hurt Locker" and "Avatar" in the previous life.

Although James Cameron has almost no interest in competing with his ex-wife for the best director, the two producers have frequently resorted to tricks in order to compete for the best picture.

The producer of "The Hurt Locker", Megan Ellison, regardless of the risk of violating the rules, wrote canvassing emails and sent them to a large number of academy members, calling on them not to vote for "Avatar". Cost the movie for sure, not the blockbuster that gave the global box office billions.

At the same time, a large number of untrue reports about the combat methods of the soldiers in "The Hurt Locker" circulated in the media. Although 20th Century Fox never admitted that this was their material, anyone with a discerning eye knows who is causing trouble.

Also, in the last Oscar he saw in his previous life, Woody Allen's ex-wife Mia Farrow and her son Ronan Farrow brought up the old story in the media, claiming that Woody Allen had molested many years ago Mia Farrow's daughter, why do things that have been settled decades ago suddenly become so violent?

Never underestimate the power of fame and fortune!

Ryan has always kept that in mind, and his PR team isn't letting up during awards season.

"Then there are targeted public relations targets." Taylor picked up the document he was looking at just now, "I have the latest statistics here, and the whites account for 95% of the members of the college, and the proportion of men is 100%. Eighty-one percent of the members are under the age of 50, and no more than 11 percent of the members are under the age of 50, and the average age of the members of the college is 64 years old."

She curled her lips and said helplessly, "This is the group that decides the Oscar nominations and awards. That is to say, the old men in the academy are the main decision maker of the Oscar results."

"They are also the targets we are trying to win over."

"Honey." Ryan peeled the orange and distributed it to Taylor and Natalie, "Your analysis is correct."

"I heard that in addition to our public relations team," Taylor tossed a slice of orange into his mouth, "Harvey also hired Lisa Tarbeck to publicize for Nat?"

"That's it." Ryan nodded, "It's true that we have an absolute advantage, but there is no room for relaxation."

At present, the most prestigious awards season publicist in Hollywood is Lisa Tarbeck, and her previous position was the head of the public relations department of Miramax Films. She used a series of methods to help Miramax make "In Love" "Shakespeare" defeated "Saving Private Ryan" and won the Oscar for Best Picture that year, creating the biggest "unjust case" in the history of Oscar awards in the past 20 years recognized by movie fans, which is one of the most typical achievements of Lisa Tarbeck .

She used to be Harvey Weinstein's right-hand man and direct executor in public relations.

Although she later founded a public relations firm, she worked with the Weinstein brothers the most. She and her team have helped Miramax Films win nearly 30 Oscar nominations in the past few years.

Lisa Tarbeck and her public relations company can be regarded as another insurance for Ryan for next year's Oscars. After all, what he is going to do is a record-breaking thing.

For the old and conservative Oscar, change is sometimes the most difficult choice, and the power to persuade them must be strengthened.

Afterwards, the public relations party and the film meeting, Ryan was completely handed over to Natalie and her public relations team. Mrs. Shelley also flew to Los Angeles again. Although she was extremely dissatisfied with her daughter, Natalie was her only one. daughter.

Under Ryan's instruction, the 100,000 luxury CDs prepared by Disney were distributed to the academy judges and everyone related to the Oscars early on. Ornaments and keychains, these seem to be worthless, but they are unique editions.

Of course, small gifts such as champagne, flowers, and souvenirs are endless.

Even so, there is no guarantee that those judges who like Ryan like to vote with their feet will actually see "The Hurt Locker."

In this case, Lisa Tarbeck and her public relations firm played a role.

Lisa was the first person in Hollywood to use the "" method. Lisa and her team would call the Academy members almost every day, "Did you see the "The Hurt Locker" DVD I sent you? Did you really Check it out soon, it's really good."

After confirming that the members of the academy have seen the movie, Lisa will continue to bombard her with phone calls, "Everyone thinks this movie is very good, don't you think Natalie Portman deserves an Oscar?"

In addition, Harvey Weinstein also invited the public relations manager who had served as the president of Otto Heitan to coordinate the public relations affairs of Miramax, and sent an email to the media other than Disney for "The Hurt Locker", which was full of All kinds of stories about how good Natalie is in directing, how talented she is usually, etc., in order to 'brainwash' the members of the academy through the media.

Not to mention, Miramax Films even invited Charlie Chaplin's two granddaughters to hold a party to entertain industry insiders to convey how good the film is to the industry.

At the same time, Ryan is also taking action. He invited George Lucas, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg to hold a big party, entertaining many directors, movie stars and producers to promote the movie At the same time, Summer Redstone, Rupert Murdoch, Don Logan and other people who have the right to speak in the media were invited to watch the movie.

Completely different from the box office that has been falling all the way, the publicity of "The Hurt Locker" is astonishing, and even the exposure in the media is almost comparable to that of "Avatar".

The latter has entered the final preparation period and will soon land in major theaters around the world. (To be continued..)

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