~： Three hundred and ninety-nine - Good Luck Warner Bros.

Another working day has arrived, and Monday represents the opening of the new calendar, which also heralds a life-and-death competition in the theater market, with the latest round of results.

Among the six Hollywood giants, the only production and distribution giant that is still in Hollywood, Paramount, the working atmosphere on Monday morning was quite eerie and quiet.

This company with mountains as its totem is just like their status in Hollywood. In the first 30 years of its establishment, this company has been sitting on the market with many stars, high-quality films and chain theaters all over the United States. On the throne of Hollywood's hegemony.

In recent years, Paramount has produced excellent movies such as "The Godfather", "Saturday Night Fever", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Forrest Gump".

From the 1960s to the 1990s Paramount Pictures had a rapid change in power figures, but this did not affect the quality of the company's films, whether it was Robert Evans, Barry Diller, Shirley - Lansing is in charge, and the company always produces hits and misses.

If it is said that these rulers are the most capable, most people will think of Shirley Lansing for the first time. It was the first female CEO of Vanity Fair in Hollywood, who made Paramount quickly go through a period of pain after its precarious acquisition, and then made full use of Viacom's media influence to create a company that far surpassed its reputation. pre-acquisition revenue.

And this CEO, who has always shown herself as a strong woman, walked from the elevator to her office this morning. Countless employees could see the unhappiness on her face.

Even Shirley Lansing's secretary, except for a cup of coffee at the beginning, avoided the scope of the office far away. Every employee who passed by here subconsciously relaxed his steps.

"$1.87 million..."

The sales of "Mission Impossible" in the first three days of the first weekend were only a pitiful $1.87 million. When she saw this data early in the morning, Shirley Lansing thought she was dazzled.

But the fact is that, Tom Cruise may have some guarantees at the box office, but it is not necessarily easy to use in a film that earns a lot of money.

Three days after the first weekend in the United States, there were only $1.87 million in peripheral sales. This data is relatively rough. Normally, it is only the most conservative number, but in fact, even if it can be a little more, where can it go? ? $2 million? $3 million?

Paramount invested more than $120 million in the film, including $80 million in production costs and $40 million in promotional costs before and after its release.

And in order to promote the cooperation with Tom Cruise, the actor contract they signed not only paid 20 plus 20 high remuneration, but also promised Pat Kingsley, the greedy woman, a series of harsh conditions. .

All of this is for the revenue of "Mission: Impossible". With the participation of superstars with huge box office appeal, the box office figures of "Mission: Impossible" are basically guaranteed. A large amount of peripheral income and various offline income.

Strange things happened like this. After three days of the first weekend, "Mission Impossible" failed to overtake "Tornado" at the box office on Saturday and Sunday, but it can be regarded as a steady game. The total box office revenue of the three days was 41.23 million US dollars, which well met the expected number of Paramount.

This is what makes people incomprehensible. Such a high first-week box office figure means that there are quite a few ordinary audiences who walk into the theater to watch "Mission Impossible", but these audiences only watch the film, but they are not interested in the party. Ramon's heavily invested film peripherals turn a blind eye.

Even more ironic, it is actually another statistic on Shirley Lansing's desk. After the most popular viewing period, "The Matrix", which was released for three weeks, shipped about $14.38 million in three days last weekend.

After thinking about it for a while, Shirley Lansing found that although "The Matrix" fell to the third place in the box office list last weekend, it only received more than 17 million US dollars in three days, but it also accumulated the total North American box office to about 169 million. On top of that, North American peripheral sales total around $130 million!

This is Hollywood's standard money-making movie. It has successfully transformed the dazzling box office figures into peripheral sales with even more terrifying profit margins. Now it seems that the offline operation income of "The Matrix" will only increase after the downgrade. high.

Everyone thought that this year's summer season started, and Wayne was destined to be absent, but this film, which also bears his name suffix, successfully won all wars in May in another way.

Could it be that in the beginning of the summer season, as long as it is a film produced by Wayne Greenberg, it is really completely invincible? Shirley Lansing couldn't help but sighed slightly, put down all the statistics in her hand, walked to the office window and looked in the direction of Burbank, the capital of media.

"Good luck Warner Bros..."

The strong woman who has always been known for her personal ability, suddenly envy Jeff Robinoff of Warner Bros. at this moment. Women who want to succeed in this absolutely macho Vanity Fair have to put in more effort than men.

And all the hard work, work ability, etc., in the end, it is not as successful as Jeff Robinoff of Warner Bros. Even if he is letting Wayne fool around in the summer, as long as he hugs the young man's thigh, Warner Bros will naturally enough profit.

"Tornado", which was released at the same time last weekend, unsurprisingly overwhelmed "Mission Impossible". With a total box office of 57.08 million US dollars in the first weekend of three days, it successfully took over "The Matrix" as the box office champion for two consecutive weeks.

This puts the film "Mission Impossible" in an embarrassing position. Compared with the film "Tornado" released at the same time, no matter the box office trend or the audience's word of mouth, there is no suspense at the lower end.

Everyone can see that if there are no major surprises, the gap between the two films in box office numbers will gradually widen over time.

Since the box office cannot be compared with the films released in the same period, it can be seen from the situation in the first week that it should not be a problem to rely on the box office to recover the production investment. Anyway, the most profitable point in Hollywood has never been the box office, which does not even account for 20% of the total profit.

Paramount's high hopes can be said to be a complete failure. Putting it next to "The Matrix", which was released for three weeks, let "Mission Impossible" earn $40 million at the box office in its first week. Like a joke.

"call."

Shirley Lansing took a deep breath, turned and sat back at the large desk, picked up the phone on the table and dialed the number of the distribution department.

"I'm Shirley Lansing, yes, increase the promotion of "Mission Impossible", I will apply for a department to announce and distribute funds..."

This summer, Paramount's head project is "Mission Impossible" with Tom Cruise. Now that the first three days have passed, the box office figures gained have absolutely nothing to do with failure. In any case, it is the most correct way to continue to increase the intensity of publicity and promotion.

From this Monday, Paramount has significantly increased its investment in the promotion of "Mission Impossible", from various billboards on city roads, movie posters posted in movie theaters and Blockbuster stores, to trailers and paper on TV In the advertising promotion on the quality media, the handsome face of Tom Cruise can be seen everywhere.

"This is a revolution in spy movies. "Mission: Impossible" can be called the shining pearl of spy movies, and the spy movie that never came out!"

"Everyone is familiar with the sections of undercover, moles, multiple spies, passwords, passwords, connectors, pen guns, and poison needles. Rainy nights, trench coats, hats, and sunglasses have also become standard for spies. At this stage, we really need a breakthrough and innovation. Mission: Impossible is, in a way, the benchmark for such a transformation."

Similar advertisements and hype appear anywhere, completely forming an overwhelming stance. Looking back at Warner Bros., the main competitor, it has always maintained its own publicity rhythm, and has not panicked because of Paramount's sudden force. .

According to statistics The film market in North America is the most mature world's first ticket warehouse that has been developed. People have only noticed the rapid expansion of the entertainment industry, but they have not noticed that the population of this country has not experienced any explosive growth.

This shows what? In the theater market, this shows that the number of moviegoers has only been so many, and there has been no growth.

The chain reaction is that when a certain movie is watched by a large number of people at the same time, other movies released in the same period will fall into a situation where the audience is reduced or even deserted.

"Mission Impossible" suddenly launched a large-scale publicity, and the fear is to become a victim like "Hulk", but Warner Bros. is not worried about their own films at all. They are now more than one position ahead of their opponents, and they can follow the steps without error. It is the safest strategy.

"Mission Impossible has fallen into an embarrassing situation under the pressure of our two major productions. If I were an executive of Paramount, I would try my best to expand the publicity and try to win the box office of the film. ."

In the Warner Bros ceo office, Bruce Rosenblum carefully trimmed a cigar and talked about the media news of the past two days in a relaxed tone. "It seems like we've done a very good job with a movie with superstars in it, doesn't it?"

"Don't underestimate that woman Shirley Lansing."

Wayne, who was sitting across from him, was also trimming a thick cigar. These are Jeff Robinoff's treasures. The reason why he reminded each other this way is because this woman is too famous.

As a movie projectionist in his previous life, Wayne had heard of this legendary female manager, which shows how capable Shirley Lansing was, and in fact it was the same. When this great female executive left, Paramount also quickly descended into a period of turmoil.