Chapter 807： Seven North American Movies Summary

Studios generally pull people into the car for high-risk projects, which is the same as diversifying investment.

In recent years, the film and television market has expanded rapidly.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPIA) released a report on January 6, stating that in 2007 the domestic box office revenue of domestic films reached 10.15 billion US dollars, an increase of 6.3% over 2006.

The latest statistical report on the movie projection market pointed out that in 2007, theaters around the United States sold 1.54 billion tickets, an increase of about 3.7% over the previous year, and the average price of each ticket was $6.55, an increase of 2.3%. The increase was just one percentage point lower than the increase in average consumer prices.

The report also pointed out that last year, American films earned a total of $27.9 billion at the global box office, an increase of 14 percent over the previous year (2006), reaching the highest level ever.

In this regard, Dan Glickman, president of the American Film Institute, said that 2007 was a gratifying year for the film industry, with strong ticket sales showing that audiences around the world still regard going to the cinema to enjoy movies as a Lay's, this also shows that despite the challenges of the rapidly emerging new technologies, the film projection industry still has a strong vitality.

Of course, there are also many people in the film industry who blame the fiercer competition in the box office market in recent years (bad films have performed worse) on the popularity of new forms of entertainment such as the Internet, home theaters and video games.

However, from the analysis of big data in the market, the main reason why audiences are gradually staying away from the theater is the lack of good works that are appreciated by both refined and popular in the market, because the market performance of those popular works is still mainly based on improvement.

Another is that last year, the average cost of film production and marketing by American film companies reached about 103 million US dollars per film, which was slightly higher than the average level in 2006 - of which production costs accounted for two-thirds (indicating that high-budget films have Quantity output is more), and marketing expenses account for one-third.

In other words, the blockbuster era has really become the mainstream of the market.

And what drives all this development is the abundance of capital on Wall Street and abroad.

As long as you pay a little attention to the development of the film and television industry, it is difficult to refuse such a temptation to end up making money.

The specific manifestation is the emergence of a large number of investment banking companies wrapped in capital coats such as Legendary Pictures and Relativity Entertainment.

These people have money, but lack good project investment, and because they do not have production means and basic business capabilities, they are attached to major studios and invest more in platters.

But the studios are not stupid. They develop good projects themselves and will not send profits. Only high-risk projects will win over the gold masters, borrowing chickens to make eggs, and if the eggs die, they will not lose money. Too many, which creates a more distinctive Hollywood production environment.

Because investment banks are experts in venture capital, they are very cunning to invest in high-risk projects with a few lower proportions. In other words, they rarely talk about one department or one department. How many parts in the project.

If it is calculated by big data, this form of investment is easy to be profitable, because the movie market is prosperous, as long as you are lucky, half of it is hit, and the profit part minus the loss part, the probability is a positive value.

Warner Bros. Building.

As a studio that has occupied the top three in the market share for three consecutive years, it is naturally the target of capital pursuit, but everyone has their own thoughts, and it does not have a big impact on Warner.

Because Warner's production and distribution system is very complete, it does not need external forces very much, but occasionally, the risk-sharing thing will still be done - Time Warner's support for the studio is not so high, on the contrary, it needs Warner Films blood transfusion.

The reception room.

The investment bank elites who came to visit were polite to each other, while saying haha, while inquiring about other people's words, hoping to get more information and intelligence from others.

Of course, compared with these similar competitors, they can hope to get Warner's affirmation of their investment behavior, and then come up with specific projects to discuss, such as "Watchmen"...

In the president's office separated by a corridor.

Compared with last year, the performance growth has increased by 7%, which makes Jonson Campbell very relaxed.

However, the new year and the new atmosphere, still have to work hard.

He was half leaning on the boss's chair, approving some documents, and he didn't care much about the empty shell entertainment companies lining up to send money. Now he is more concerned about the project output this year.

With Warner's size, it is quite normal to shoot 14 or 5 films a year. If it is less, it will be a waste of its own distribution resources. In addition to its own production, it will take over the works that other studios are unable to publicize and distribute. very positive.

As for the recently prepared "Watchmen" project, he himself is not optimistic about the one that can be adapted successfully, but the voice is higher.

......

There is a later joke that says that Warner wants to start the "Watchmen" project.

"The world is too peaceful now, people are singing hand in hand, popcorn superhero movies are flooding, I don't know what type to make. Suddenly one day, the Dark Knight succeeded, a huge success, which made everyone start to think: Do audiences start to like it? A work of dark and deep curiosity? Well, let's shoot the watchmen!"

As a result, the projects that were shelved in the corner returned to the attention of Warner executives.

Because one of the reasons for the strong rejection before is that although the original comics of "Watchmen" are famous, they are relatively small, and the theme of the story is too dark and does not conform to the mainstream values ​​of American society.

In addition, although Moore created the Watchmen series of comics, the earlier black-hearted profiteer DC bullied Moore was a bit naive. He stole the copyright of Moore's works and stole the copyright of Moore's works in the contract. There are some nasty things that are easy to explode.

Therefore, Warner's internal attitude towards this project is very subtle and complicated, and it contains a power game - some people want to be in the position, but even if there are people behind them, they have to prove that they are capable of being in the position.

When Joseph listened to Lyman's order and came to Warner to discuss something, this is what happened.

The capital is optimistic, but Warner is divided internally, because the former does not understand the production, but only sees that the "Dark Knight" is so good. After analyzing the "Watchmen", it seems that it is more realistic, deeper and darker than Nolan's version of Batman, and I think it is beneficial. Can be pictured, but if you don’t think about it, you can’t shoot it. Will the audience like it when it comes out?

Jonson was a little surprised by Joseph's arrival. He thought it was to urge the division of accounts or to have some ideas for the last Batman movie to cooperate with, but he didn't want to say "Watchmen".

So much so that he became vigilant for a moment.

why?

The Batman trilogy, it's a mistake, plus Lyman's sturdy record, even if he thought "Watchmen" was very unreliable before, but what if?

The film and television industry is the most prone to emergencies.

Otherwise, there will be no small cost dark horses every year.

If the project is controllable, no matter how amazing the results are, it will happen within the estimates.

"I heard that you want to invite Zha Dao to join?"

"There is a meaning in this regard, don't fireflies want to let people go?"

"Ha, we are just partners. I just heard that the "Watchmen" project is a bit difficult, and I have learned about some things." Joseph smiled politely, "If it is financial, Firefly just has some spare funds... ."

I can't say too much Click here, because Firefly didn't want to invest in "Watchmen" at all.

Although the DVD sales of this film are good, the box office of 107 million in North America and 185 million in the world combined, compared with the cost... zizi, burst.

And at that time, only the theatrical version was released, and before the DVD was released to the market, the film’s word-of-mouth box office doubled, and investors were so lost that they wanted to jump off the building. Midstream), except for the support of a small number of fans of the original work, it is basically a complete smash hit from every aspect, and some media even criticized it directly: This is a big bad movie.

After the reversal, Warner executives released the final cut version of the three-hour content on DVD. The price was very expensive. Hundreds of thousands of copies were sold in January. Audiences who have criticized the film understand that it is not that the director is too bad, and even the basic logic cannot be explained clearly, but that Warner is too brainy.

Of course, that's what some audiences think. From a market perspective, Warner Bros. did nothing wrong, because a three-hour edited version is definitely not suitable for the cinema's screening mode, and the results are not necessarily better. Possibly even worse.