Chapter 136 Public Relations (Additional updates, please subscribe)

After seeing off Sophia and the others, Link continued to hold a meeting with several other executives to deal with the current public opinion crisis.

The two news reports from the Los Angeles Times and the Hollywood Reporter have had an extremely negative impact on "The Blair Witch Project" and must be responded to in a timely manner to avoid causing greater box office losses.

"Joe, Michael, go check who leaked the news about the merger of Guess What Pictures and Triangle Entertainment. According to regulations, this news cannot be revealed before the movie is removed from the shelves. Exposing it in advance will affect the movie's box office, which is very disadvantageous to us."

"Understood. We will investigate later. If the information was leaked by an insider, he will be severely punished."

Michael Rison and Joe Fillemer nodded.

"Jon, Sean, the LA Times report that claims that Blair Witch viewers are poorly educated is a complete slur and needs to be silenced by all means.

At the same time, we contacted some highly educated professors, experts, and celebrities, and asked them to come out and declare that they like The Witch. This is a high-IQ movie, and people with low IQs simply can't understand it. No matter what method is used, the negative impact of this report must be offset. "

Link looked at Jon Gordon, the head of the publicity department, and Sean Tang, the head of the legal department.

The Los Angeles Times' investigative report had a worse impact than The Hollywood Reporter's report.

In this report, they equated the low-educated group with the audience of "The Blair Witch Project", which is equivalent to calling people who like "The Blair Witch Project" illiterate.

In the next few weeks, even if some people wanted to watch "The Blair Witch Project", they would not go to the cinema to watch it because they were worried about the label of "low education".

This report is very unfavorable to the film and timely public relations must be done.

“Okay, boss. Our publicity department has already responded and told everyone through the media that the Los Angeles Times’ investigative report is nonsense. If only people with low education like to watch The Witch, why would geniuses like Richard Gere and Robert Downey Jr. publicly praise this movie?

This proves that the Los Angeles Times's investigative report is very one-sided. We will arrange for a large media outlet to re-do the investigative report and adjust the proportion of low-educated viewers to a lower level."

Jon Gordon said.

"Our legal department is also preparing to sue the Los Angeles Times for alleged 'education discrimination' and urge them to make a public apology."

Sean Tang said.

Link nodded. "Also, the PR department needs to strengthen its ties with the media. If there are reports like this in the future, we need to know in advance. We can't wait for the article to break out before trying to figure out a way to deal with it. That would be too passive."

“Okay boss!”

Michael Rison is next.

After seeing off the four people, Link called his agent Sam Haskell and asked the WMA public relations department to help with public relations and to pay their public relations fees.

Currently, Guess the Movies does not have an independent public relations department, but only a public relations team, and its public relations capabilities and efficiency are not high.

WMA has a professional public relations team and extensive connections in the media industry. When it comes to dealing with public opinion crises, WMA has an advantage.

After the various departments of Guess What Pictures began to take action, a lot of confusing news immediately appeared in the media.

For example, the famous host Ira Vince ridiculed the Los Angeles Times' investigative report on the show, claiming that the movie with the lowest educational level among fans was not "The Blair Witch Project" but Disney's animated films, and that only elementary school students liked to watch such movies.

Newspapers such as the New York Post and the Washington Daily News published articles criticizing the Los Angeles Times, saying that their survey divided the masses based on their educational level, which was a wrong practice. This survey not only violated the principles of media objectivity and fairness, but also involved academic discrimination, racial discrimination, and unfair competition.

The Los Angeles Times should issue a statement to apologize to all viewers who have watched "The Blair Witch Project" and make financial compensation to Triangle Entertainment that has suffered losses.

On the same day, Triangle Entertainment filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Times for "unfair competition," demanding that the newspaper pay Triangle Entertainment $100 million in compensation.

At the same time, after watching "The Blair Witch Project," Michael Burton, professor at Harvard Divinity School, John Levitt, tenured professor at Stanford University's School of Arts and Sciences, and others said that it was a very thoughtful film that showed human beings' longing, yearning, and sacrifice for mysterious powers, and that it was worth recommending.

There are also many famous film critics who have made in-depth analysis of the film, believing that it is a very deep and meaningful film, with one thing leading to another, and it is impossible to understand it without watching it carefully. Those who claim that the plot of the film is simple just did not understand it.

Director Ed Merrick was also invited to be interviewed by many TV stations, and he explained the story behind the movie by answering questions from the hosts.

Thanks to the efforts of various departments of Guess What Pictures, negative media reports about "The Blair Witch Project" began to decrease, and the box office data of various theaters are slowly recovering.

In its fourth week of release, "The Blair Witch Project" grossed $11.07 million in North America, a 52% drop from last week. It is clear that the Los Angeles Times report had a great impact on the movie's box office.

After the fourth week box office came out, the total box office of "The Blair Witch Project" reached 117 million US dollars, and the North American box office is expected to be around 150 million.

"Cheers!"

"cheers!"

On Hollywood Boulevard, at the Coraline Champagne Bar, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck and several actor friends were having a party.

"Matt, Ben, you two are amazing. Your first film grossed over 100 million U.S. dollars. This result is much better than many big stars in the industry."

Actor Brendan Fraser praised, raising his glass.

Brendan Fraser is a good friend that Matt Damon met when he auditioned for "School Rush" last year.

Brendan Fraser got the leading role in the audition, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck got two small supporting roles, but in the end, in order to compete for "The Blair Witch Project", the two did not act in the film.

"Yes, how much did the film The Witch cost to make? Was it $100,000? It cost tens of thousands but earned over $100 million at the box office, which is not much different from Paranormal Activity. If the subsequent film distributors can also make some hot news, perhaps the North American box office can exceed $200 million."

Cole Hauser, the supporting actor in "School Rush", continued.

"It's difficult. There was a lot of negative news about The Witch, which caused a big drop in the box office. 150 million is probably the highest value."

Matt Damon said.

"The first movie you starred in earned over 100 million yuan at the box office, which is already very good. Many actors have been acting in movies for their entire lives but none of their movies have grossed over 100 million yuan at the box office."

Brendan Fraser said enviously.

"Yes, the movie is a big hit, and you guys have become big stars, haha. Matt, Ben, how does it feel to be a big star?"

Joaquin Phoenix smiled mischievously.

(End of this chapter)