Chapter 2629 Centralization in Hollywood

Xu Baihui came to New York and looked a little tired. She obviously didn't get much rest on the plane.

When I heard that Boss Zhou wanted her to be a temporary female secretary and go to meet the newly appointed CEO of HBO, Richard, she was very reluctant, "What are you doing? I'm still jet-lagged, I'm exhausted!" "

Zhou Buqi said: "To help you solve the trouble of platter investment!"

"Ah?" Xu Baihui's slightly distracted eyes suddenly brightened, "Really or not? Didn't you say it can't be solved?"

Zhou Buqi nodded, "It's not easy to solve. Hollywood's business logic has changed."

Xu Baihui asked: "You always say that it has changed, but what has changed?"

When she arrived at Boss Zhou's house, she took off her black and white skirt as if she were at her own home, revealing a set of black underwear underneath.

Then, in front of him, she put on a brand new set of home nightgown that Ning Lu brought her.

Although the brand is "Hermès", the Zhou family's life is relatively luxurious now, and pajamas like this are often disposable. I have prepared countless sets at home.

Zhou Buqi turned a blind eye to her graceful figure and said with a smile: "It's not surprising that you can't feel it. Many old guys in Hollywood can't keep up with the times and don't want to change. Especially Time Warner, it's not a good life."

Xu Baihui rolled her eyes at him, "Then tell me!"

Zhou Buqi coughed and said seriously: "Actually, it is technological Hollywood. A big feature of technological products is that the winner takes all and the head takes all. In the past, Hollywood's model was more of an 'equal land system' '. Although Hollywood blockbusters are very profitable, the scale of making money is also relatively limited. They rely more on quantity to win, with blockbusters earning more and small films earning less."

Xu Baihui nodded lightly, "It was still like this in the past few years. Jieyu Media's platter investment included projects that were not divided into art films, feature films, or commercial blockbusters with huge investments. But it's no longer possible now. No one seems to be willing. It’s time to share the platter with Hollywood blockbusters. Platter investment can still exist, but you can only participate in ordinary movies, and you can no longer participate in the first movie.”

Zhou Buqi said: "Yes, so it is a change in the model. It is now 'centralized'. In the past, half of the movie company's income came from Hollywood blockbusters. It is different now. With centralization, Hollywood blockbusters will account for More than 80% of all movie revenue."

Xu Baihui analyzed and said: "It should be the influence of technology, right? Today's giant screens, 3D, Dolby sound effects, etc., the viewing experience of these technologies is tailor-made for Hollywood blockbusters with special effects."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "There are many reasons. What you mentioned is only one aspect. There is also the ticket price. The ticket price for ordinary movies is only 5 US dollars, but the ticket price for blockbuster movies can reach 10 US dollars. The preferences of young people are also decisive. factors. Today’s young people have too many entertainment choices. Unlike in the past few decades, watching movies is the largest entertainment consumption. No matter what kind of movie it is, it will have a huge market and appeal. For today’s young people For people, if you go to a movie theater to watch a movie, you must experience happiness that cannot be experienced outside the movie theater. This needs to be combined with technology, including giant screens, 3D and Dolby Surround."

Watch an ordinary drama movie...

How big is the difference between watching it in a cinema and watching it on TV or iPad at home?

There are even bigger advantages at home!

In the past, movie theaters were a private place. After the lights were turned off, no one knew what was going on inside. Young couples could try some exciting games in the movie theater when they were deeply in love.

This is no longer possible. There are infrared cameras in movie theaters.

Even if the lights are turned off, you can still take a clear picture.

It's different when you go home. You can have fun as you want. Men and women go out on dates. If you have other ideas, you could go to the cinema before, but now it's "go to my house and watch a movie."

Even with the popularity of Netflix, a new popular phenomenon has emerged among young Americans, called "netflix_and_chill", which roughly means "go to my house, watch Netflix, and have sex."

Technological cinemas no longer have this function.

When going to the cinema to watch a movie, the biggest attraction is no longer the romance, but the cool special effects pictures from Hollywood blockbusters, and even many bad movies, which can sell good box office.

This was impossible under the past movie model. Good movies may not necessarily have high box office, but bad movies must have poor box office.

Now, Hollywood has adopted a "centralized" model, and all major film companies must focus on developing Hollywood blockbusters.

The most important thing every year is to make money from those Hollywood blockbusters.

Under such circumstances, it is of course impossible to allow outsiders to participate and take a share of the pie, forming a barrier to the platter investment model that has become popular in Hollywood over the past decade. Unless it is a project like "Warcraft" that no one is optimistic about and no one invests, it will attract funds from the outside to operate it.

Xu Baihui said: "The advantage of the equal share system is that it can balance the risks so that the loss of one project will not drag down the whole. But the centralized system is a bit troublesome and the risk is too great. I bet all my money on a few Hollywood blockbusters. , once one department fails, it will drag down the performance of the entire company."

"So reduce the risk."

“If we don’t raise funds, how can we reduce it?”

"If you look at the current Hollywood blockbusters, they are basically sequels. It is difficult to see any original blockbusters. Only a few top producers or directors have the opportunity to do some Hollywood blockbuster-level projects."

"Either a sequel, an adaptation, or a remake..." Xu Baihui shook her head, "This trend has affected the country. This can indeed reduce the risk of movie failure, which may not be a good thing for the film industry. "

Zhou Buqi said: "You can't say that. The artistic attributes of movies can exist, and the commercial attributes will definitely change with the changes of the times. The movie only has such a short length, so it is destined to only tell a very simple story. . If you want to tell a complete and profound story, the medium of film itself is not suitable."

Xu Baihui took a deep breath and said, "TV series."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Yes, American dramas. This trend is already obvious now. Hollywood movie giants are putting more energy into Hollywood blockbusters. Those traditional outstanding feature films have the opportunity to get project approval. There are fewer and fewer. Those Hollywood producers, directors and screenwriters who are good at telling stories have little chance in the film industry, so they all go to make TV series. We can foresee that the golden age of American TV series is coming!"

Xu Baihui nodded repeatedly, "I'm obsessed with "Breaking Bad" recently. Oh my god, it's so good!"

Zhou Buqi said: "Watching movies is a situation of budget constraints. But the new situation under the influence of the Internet is time constraints."

"What's the meaning?"

Xu Baihui was a little confused.

Zhou Buqi explained simply: "Streaming media like Netflix adopt a monthly membership system. As long as you have a membership, you can watch the content on Netflix as you like. For viewers, there is no budget issue. It’s not a limit, it’s a time limit. No matter who you are, whether it’s the richest man in the world or a waiter in a coffee shop, everyone only has 24 hours a day.”

Xu Baihui squinted her eyes, very smart, and said slowly and thoughtfully: "Budget restriction is to do as many projects as possible and let the audience buy more tickets. Time limit, the number of projects is no longer important, but Time. It is originally a movie, but it can enrich the plot with more details, show more plot advancement, and lengthen the time to become a TV series."

Zhou Buqi said: "Yes, Netflix is ​​the same, and the traditional TV channel HBO is the same. For membership subscription models like HBO and Netflix, which are based on time constraints, self-made TV series are more in line with the platform positioning than self-made movies. ."

Xu Baihui blinked and said: "But many high-quality American dramas require even more investment than Hollywood blockbusters. For platforms like HBO and Netflix, they also need to bring in external funds to share risks."

"That's right!"

Zhou Buqi laughed haha.

Xu Baihui understood what he meant, "So the platter investment project can still be carried out, but it needs to be adjusted, from movies to TV series..."