Chapter 294: Lower-than-expected performance
Cinema, publicity and public attention are the focus of competition for summer films, but all of these are for the release of the film. Whether the summer film is successful or not depends on the market response and commercial achievements. Speaking of which, as long as the film can sell well and stand out from the fierce competition, the negative news that appears in the media will only turn into a farce in the end.
Therefore, when the North American premiere of The Clash of Heaven and Earth was held on May 7, the three giants of DreamWorks appeared together to create momentum for the film.
The $80 million investment is definitely considered a big production in this era, and DreamWorks also held a lavish premiere for it.
The only discord was that there were a lot of minors' rights protection groups holding a rally near the Chandler Hall where the premiere was held, and the entire red carpet ceremony of the premiere was accompanied by protests, and Morgan Free Mann himself also did not appear at the premiere.
Protest has become the theme of the first week of the release of The Clash of Heaven and Earth. The four major TV networks continue to broadcast the scenes and reasons for the protests when the film is released, which inevitably leads to the loss of potential audience groups.
The Great Clash is rated PG-13. The target audience is naturally family audiences. However, the emergence of scandals and protests, especially the appeal of the National Federation of Teachers and Parents, has caused a considerable number of parents to be reluctant to take their children to watch this movie. a movie.
The quality of the film is only the basis of success, and there are too many factors that can affect the success or failure of a film.
So, when the new week started, Spielberg's face was extremely ugly.
A lot of teenagers still choose our films.
Facing the gloomy expressions of the DreamWorks Big Three and CAA's controller, DreamWorks deputy executive Melody Hobson remained calm enough, In terms of young audiences, we don't have much to lose. But family audiences... …”
She looked at the statistics in her hand and said, A lot of families have turned to Disney's family-friendly film Born Together due to the influence of the Morgan Freeman incident, and the reduction of the size of the release by the theaters has also affected us. It caused quite a shock.”
David Geffen's stern eyes floated across Martin Bob's face and said coldly. Box office numbers! I want first weekend box office numbers!
Melody Hobson directly said, 2410 theaters, $7.57 million on Friday, $9.21 million on Saturday, $6.24 million on Sunday, Clash of Heaven earned $23.02 million at the box office in the first three days of the first weekend. than the $40 million we expected.
Martin Bob spoke suddenly. However, we still beat the $19.88 million of Born to Be and won the weekly box office championship.
Hearing Martin Bob's reassuring words, David Geffen's face became even more ugly, Weekly box office number one? What use does a weekly box office number one less than $30 million do to DreamWorks? Martin, this is Did you promise DreamWorks success? We overestimated your abilities!
This is very ugly. Martin? Bob can not refute, he swears and promises, Clash of Heaven and Earth will bring a different situation to DreamWorks.
He did bring about a different situation, but this situation made DreamWorks' situation even worse!
David Geffen looked at Martin Bob and Steven Spielberg very coldly. Although he got his start in American music, he also knew the basic laws of how movies work. Unless Crash becomes the still-showing Titanic, the film will definitely fall below DreamWorks expectations!
DreamWorks management must explain to shareholders and investors.
Even Duke did not expect that the lower-than-expected performance of The Clash of Heaven and Earth in the first week actually caused the cracks between the Big Three to occur in advance.
but. None of this has much to do with him. Duke's primary concern is the box office trend of The Clash of Heaven and Earth.
The box office of such a giant production did not exceed 10,000 in the first weekend, and the performance can only be said to be very average. If the box office does not improve in the next weekdays, when The Matrix is released on the weekend, Clash of Heaven and Earth is bound to be unable to continue. Such a large number of theaters.
But how difficult is it to maintain a stable trend for a film whose first weekend box office was not as good as expected?
Crash is not Titanic!
On Monday, DreamWorks’ giant film shrank by a normal amount, and received $5.11 million, but on Tuesday, the film was plagued by negative news, and its stamina was obviously insufficient, and the single-day box office fell to $4.75 million.
By Wednesday, Clash Between Heaven and Earth only made $4.01 million...
Ahead of The Matrix's imminent release, Crash had grossed $34.89 million at the North American box office, falling short of DreamWorks and Martin Bob's expectations for the film's opening weekend in six days.
At this time, Warner Bros. had given up the pursuit of Clash of the Earth in the media, and instead focused on Godzilla, which was released a week later, regardless of where the Renault scandal came from. , continue to launch hype, and Time Warner has been rooted in New York for decades, and it can be said that they have a deep relationship. Just on Wednesday, Jean Reynolds himself had to accept the summons of the New York police. Morgan? Freeman is a lot worse, and the impact is far less than the latter.
Of course, Jean Reno was so unlucky because he was French, and if he were an American actor, or even a British or Australian actor, none of these things could have happened.
Actors from continental Europe are second-class citizens in Hollywood, not just talking.
Paul, I just wanted to remind you that The Matrix is an R-rated film!
In the office of the artist management agency, Michael Ovitz was talking on the phone, Don't forget the relatively limited audience of R-rated films! AMG has invested too much resources in this film, and it is likely that the ideal will not be achieved. Effect.
thanks for your reminder.
The familiar voice in the receiver is completely business-like, AMG has decided to continue to reduce the scale of the screening of The Clash of Heaven and Earth, and there must always be suitable screening objects on the spare screen. AMG believes that there is no more suitable than the work of the king of summer. Yes. I see what you mean, Michael, but our theaters can't be vacant, and if we don't choose The Matrix, should we choose the French film Taxi Express?
We're old friends, Paul. Michael Ovitz added, I won't interfere with the normal business operations of AMG, but next week's Godzilla I'm in charge of will be released, and I ask you to mobilize more So many theaters and screens.”
It's no problem.
Although he said that, the meaning revealed in the receiver has not changed significantly, As long as the performance of The Matrix is not as good as expected, AMG will reduce the scale of its release, and the spare theaters will definitely be cast in Godzilla above.
Hanging up the phone, Michael Ovitz knew that his phone basically didn't work. If The Matrix did not perform badly, Godzilla would never have a chance to be released beyond the plan!
At this time, Michael Ovitz is very clear that he can only wait for the market response after the release of The Matrix.
He collaborated with DreamWorks to create the Keanu Reeves scandal, and then launched a relationship with Spielberg to get rid of the hope that The Matrix was rated PG-13. What will be the final result of the series of work?
The Matrix will inevitably be affected. Michael Ovitz can be sure of this since Warner Bros. lowered its first weekend box office forecast. So much!
The king of summer vacation is just a joke from the media, and it has not been recognized by Hollywood, but it can explain a lot of problems.
Godzilla is the first project he took over when he returned to the entertainment agency industry. The success or failure is directly related to the future development of the artist management company. It can be said that there is no room for failure.
According to the original idea, Michael Ovitz referred to the two Jurassic Park films and believed that the North American box office of Godzilla should be higher than Jurassic Park 2 and lower than Jurassic Park 1. After all, the monster movie craze in North America is a real fact.
Now that Michael Ovitz has decided to lower his expectations for Godzilla, the PG-13 film can finally be on par with the R-rated The Matrix, perhaps a victory?
Michael Ovitz has such a mentality, which has a lot to do with the current market's high expectations for The Matrix.
Advertisements, trailers, previews, online promotions, etc., all the news that has been revealed, all show that this is a conscience and excellent work!
Especially on the Internet, those who have seen the preview have become an excellent distribution point.
If you don't want to miss an epoch-making sci-fi movie, be sure to watch The Matrix.
In the chat room of Explosion Maniac, Shearer kept speaking with his Duke Nukem, This film is so cool and dazzling, I swear, if you don't watch it, you will regret it for the rest of your life!
I also attended the test screenings in the Los Angeles area.
A person named Big Ship Hits the Mountain left a message, The film uses a lot of new technologies and new scenes that have never been seen before, especially the action scenes. I don't know what language to use to describe it.
The Internet is the fastest and freest media platform for information circulation. It shortens the distance between people and can also share their opinions with others in the first time. The Matrix is closely related to the Internet, and a large number of Internet news And hype and publicity, have caused a phenomenon that has never been seen in the history of film - before the release, The Matrix has been red to purple on the Internet!
And whether the effect driven by the Internet can be converted into corresponding box office figures depends on the performance of The Matrix after its release! (To be continued ~^~)
