The entertainment industry shouldn't be like this

Chapter 160 Our North American folk customs are simple (two in one)

"Is it luck or is it really magical?"

Frank, the head of the Chinese region of Universal Pictures, put down his hands and reported the newspaper that "Silence of the Lambs" in his country and director Wang Wei "officially" responded to the "submission incident".

He took off from the Shanghai Stock Exchange and transferred to the flight once. It took him half a day and a night to return to Los Angeles.

Without having to rest, Frank first asked about the promotion and promotion of the movie in North America.

"Only one national newspaper reported it with headlines?"

"Yes." The answer was Frank's old friend Benjamin in the distribution department of the headquarters.

"You guys are too worried," Frank couldn't help but complain.

"It would be nice to have one. This is a national newspaper. If it weren't for the topic of this movie, I would like to make the front page of public relations? Don't even think about it."

Benjamin gestured for a while and then said: "What's more, there are dozens of regional newspapers, although not all of them are on the headlines, but they have also conducted related reports. Adding up, the publicity is not small."

Under such publicity, other viewers, horror film enthusiasts flocked to the cinema.

Perhaps because of North America's geographical location is isolated overseas, or perhaps because of the isolationist tradition, the American people instinctively look down on other countries in the world, and all their thinking is based on themselves as the absolute center.

He was just about to stop this guy's "unsubtitled thoughts" - after all, Hollywood giants like Global must know the preferences of the North American market best, so don't do anything bad.

However, investors always consider the security of capital at the first time, so no matter whether it is Huayu or Hollywood issuers, they will still choose to do this.

"It's been two days, and the magic of this movie attracting criminals to surrender has not grown on the land of North America after all." Benjamin looked at his old friend Frank with a little sympathy.

——Unless it is a sequel to a popular work.

"And our North American people are simple and have a level of public security at the forefront of the world. Violence between people has dropped to the lowest level in history, and there is no soil for breeding evil forces!"

This time, it was Frank's turn to shrugge,

After all, it is also for profit to explore new markets. If you can introduce many popular works, the money you earn in the local area is also money. As a gatekeeper, Frank will definitely be praised, and maybe he can also transfer from the East full of unfreedom.

Although, like Huayu, according to the distribution habits of the publisher and the theater company, as the screening time extends, the box office revenue obtained will be distributed more and more to the latter.

But for horror films with a very fixed audience, the influence of film critics is actually limited.

For those complex art films or dazzling action films, audiences may need the help of film critics to distinguish which ones are bad and which ones are worth watching.

"After all, the investment in publicity and distribution costs is too little." Frank continued to complain.

He also knew this was the truth.

Anyway, Wang Wei almost burst into laughter after hearing the statement that "our North American folk customs are simple"!

"Either our North American counterparts have a thick face that makes me feel inferior; or our definition of 'simple folk customs' is completely different!"

"The premise is that this movie is really magical and can copy magical records in North America." Benjamin's attitude became slightly serious.

...

It is hard to say whether criminals in North America line up to watch "The Silence of the Lambs"; but fans who like to watch horror movies in North America really line up to see after the movie was officially released.

After all, because of its "her own serial killer", this film has been labeled as "the most terrifying Oriental movie" by Universal Pictures.

Cough, it's been a long way off.

"Who knows? Anyway, I have a premonition that the company will definitely regret the caution in the investment in publicity and development."

Frank was speechless.

However, including his old friends, the distribution department of this department is more disagreeable.

"It's only costing 10 million US dollars, which is obviously not enough!"

"Hahaha……"

Moreover, it is one of the rare live-action movies that have been very successful in this animation film company.

He gave his old friends face and replaced "cowardly" with "caution".

According to Frank's plan, why can't he start at 30 to 40 million? Now he has cut at least two-thirds, so it's no wonder that the publicity is much lower than his expectations.

What to pray for?

Of course, I pray that criminals line up to watch the movie - so that even if its "magic" is discounted, it can "hit" one or two criminals.

The office is filled with joy.

Of course, the people of almost all countries do not care much about international affairs and only care about their own lives, but isn’t it useless for them to care about them?

His old friend could not deny it and shrugged, "You said too, this is not a story that happened in the North American country."

However, Universal Pictures, as the publisher, was not too happy.

For the imported movies, just like original movies, even the Big Five Hollywoods do not dare to place rash bets on promotion and distribution without the support of local box office data.

——The movie's North American box office could reach an estimated $50 million to $60 million.

Now that things have come to this point, all he can do is pray.

If the box office data on the first day and next day of the movie are average or even worse, the investment in publicity and distribution will gradually decrease or even be cut off directly in order to quickly stop loss;

On the contrary, if the data is good, they will quickly invest the funds and manpower that they have prepared long ago and hype up the popularity of the movie as soon as possible to get more profits.

In this regard, Frank, who insisted on introducing this movie, remained silent.

Moreover, its reputation has been maintained quite well.

At this moment, in an interview, a vice president of Disney Films was asked whether "Is "The Silence of the Lambs" the biggest competitor in the same period?" He laughed,

"I haven't seen that movie yet, and we are one of the competitors now, so it's hard to just comment on anything, but I really don't think it's our biggest competitor."

"You say it is magic? But I think it is the evil force from the East. Only in the land in the East can evil force be attracted by evil force!"

It’s not that Frank doesn’t understand this. The problem is that he believes that “The Silence of the Lambs” is a highly topical hit and should be treated the same as the popular sequel.

After watching the film, the distribution department of this department readily agreed to introduce the film. However, in terms of promotion and development investment, it was not at all good!

But Frank scoffed: "If the magical story surrounding "The Silence of the Lambs" happened locally, it would definitely be the front page of all newspapers!"

"You mean, it might really have some kind of magic?"

Frank's main job in China is to explore the Eastern market.

So, at the end of May Day, "The Silence of the Lambs" finally launched an "offensive" on the North American battlefield.

If the box office in North America can reach 60 million US dollars, it can also rank in the top four among the imported Chinese films - if we consider the investment scale of the top three, this Oriental film can't be successful in North America anymore.

What disappoints the world even more is that-

Frank breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You haven't seen it, it can be regarded as a Hollywood work made by Chinese people!"

He is waiting for a turning point.

Of course he knew where his old friend's dissatisfaction came from.

In fact, this is also the consensus view of many box office forecasting agencies in North America.

because--

...

The next day, Sunday, he continued to win a single-day box office of over 10 million US dollars.

——This is so high-profile because it was released at the same time, but with a weekend box office of more than 40 million US dollars, it was unsurprisingly pressed on "The Silence of the Lambs". The movie that ranked first in the box office list was produced and released by Disney.

"Then wait and see." Frank shook his head.

When the reporter reminded him that "this movie is said to have some kind of magical power and has a fatal attraction to murderers", the vice president said even more disdainfully-

Benjamin still shrugged.

"Audiences who like horror themes don't care about the reviews of film critics," Benjamin said so.

Benjamin took it for granted: "To be honest, there is already a lot of investment in 10 million yuan in publicity and development. You must know that this is a film made by Chinese people after all."

To be honest, this is already a high evaluation for a thriller - even in the current North American film market, the box office of over 100 million US dollars is definitely a success and a big seller.

At the Dunhuang headquarters on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Wang Chuanqi and Wang Wei are also waiting for news from the other side.

"I also think the three 'murderers surrender incidents' are magical, but as its director said, it was just a temporary luck. After the initial popularity, it was a normal thriller."

After a while, Wang Wei stopped laughing hard and asked, "What is the saying of Global? If they step on people so outrageously, I will take the initiative to do it myself!"

"Actually, it's already everywhere." Frank looked at his old friend, paused, and told the latest news he had just gotten off the plane.

"You may see this news in the media tomorrow - this movie is in Annan, continuing its magical record: another serial killer, after watching the movie, went to the police station to surrender!"

In their opinion, they are engaged in an arduous battle. The movie "Silence of the Lambs" is their army, and the film markets of various countries are the battlefields they want to conquer one by one.

Lao Wang almost laughed out loud: "I guess it's the latter. Because everyone is holding guns and has abundant martial ethics, Dezhou is said to be the most simple place in North America's folk customs."

Because as we all know, although May Day - the world's first working people's festival, the working people's festival, originated in North America, the North American people themselves are the only ones.

The outbreak of this movie… “It basically ends here.”

Especially North American film critics, they all gave very high reviews, saying that this is an oriental thriller with "stunning", "deep theme", and "full of Western elements".

He often wanders around branches around the world and doesn't know that the American people are notoriously unwilling to care about the world outside of America.

They combined the release scale of the film and the random surveys conducted on the street to show that North American audiences are interested in the film, giving relatively conservative box office expectations.

However, in front of Hollywood's first-line productions, its size is a bit insufficient to watch.

It is of course more valuable to open up a new market, but it requires a lot of resources and a long time. If Frank doesn't want to stay in a foreign country all his life, he has to make some achievements as soon as possible - such as introducing several big hits.

When Lao Wang saw the eager expression on this guy's face, he felt a headache.

——In other words, large-scale promotion and distribution will be unfavorable to the production and distribution companies in terms of revenue.

It is true that after the box office hit, it is not impossible to strive for more screenings, but as mentioned above, if you fight for it after the big hit, you will not be able to get the best interests.

The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

Oh, no, there is no May Day in North America.

"Okay, I'm right. But I think the company will regret it, and I will definitely regret it." Frank kept expressing his dissatisfaction.

Not to mention, most critics don’t appreciate horror movies very much—don’t look at them giving a positive review of an oriental thriller, to a large extent, it’s just based on curiosity.

In his mind, the famous saying - Gotham City is simple and talented, and Arkham has emerged!

After all, the distribution department almost blocked the lower limit of the issuance agreement that he negotiated with Dunhuang, and only won more than 2,000 screens to open.

Frank remained silent.

They usually prepare two plans-

He sent the latest news in North America.

Nowadays, the Eastern battlefield can be confirmed to have a "complete victory", and to conquer the Western battlefield, the North American battlefield must be the first to conquer it.

As one of the world's leading countries, America is often desperate for its ignorance of the overseas world!

However, his ideas belong to him, and the shrewd merchants do not see rabbits or show eagles.

"But the characters are basically Eastern and Eastern, aren't they? Generally, Chinese movies introduced are promoted and distributed according to this scale."

Thanks to the large number of horror film audiences in North America, "The Silence of the Lambs" won more than $12 million in one fell swoop on Saturday, the premiere day.

Then the secretary came in.

In a sense, if a movie wants to sell well, it is even more important to promote it than the movie itself.

Of course, this is not a "simple folk customs", but there is also a well-known reason behind it - the capitalist base, and we have always feared the concepts of "proletariat" and "working people".

Frank, who does not have much sense of family and country, does not feel desperate. He just had a toothache because Universal Pictures headquarters cannot make full use of the overseas momentum of "The Silence of the Lambs" to carry out publicity and promotion.

"Watt?" Benjamin straightened his waist, which was a bit surprising.

Judging from its performance on the first weekend, it is equivalent to their belief that when it comes to workday, the box office results of this movie will definitely drop sharply, even far greater than the decline of ordinary Hollywood movies on weekdays, and the decline is even faster!

Of course, they also said that if all the characters were replaced with white actors, their North American box office might be able to reach 90 million to 100 million US dollars.

Therefore, suppressing and belittling the opponent is a trivial matter for Disney, who is now in a prosperous life.

The distribution rights of "The Silence of the Lambs" in North America were handed over to Universal Pictures, and Universal Pictures naturally had to bear the first responsibility for the promotion and development investment.

As Lao Wang looked at it, his mouth wider and wider, and he could finally stuff a duck egg.

After a moment, he met Wang Wei's curious gaze and swallowed with difficulty: "I was wrong. The simple customs of North America are really not something that can be covered!"

...

I...ah...

(End of this chapter)