Chapter 238: Surrender, Link
In its third week of release, "Se7en" earned $17.32 million, bringing its cumulative box office to $68.34 million.
The weekly box office ranking dropped to fourth.
The first place was the action blockbuster "True Lies" produced by Fox Film, with a box office of 25.86 million US dollars in its first week.
The second is "Forrest Gump", with a weekly box office of 24.12 million US dollars and a cumulative box office of 143 million US dollars.
The third is the suspense film "The Client" produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, which took in 17.84 million U.S. dollars in its first week.
After the weekly box office results were released, media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Post and America's Express said that after "The Uncanny," films produced by Guess What Pictures once again suffered a box office setback, indicating that Link's judgment of the film market is declining.
Some media also analyzed that after the first round of financing, Link made hundreds of millions of dollars, became complacent, and no longer paid attention to movies, so it was inevitable that the company's performance declined.
Media under the seven major media groups collectively predicted the pessimism of Guess the Movies.
Wall Street investment firms are also preparing to downgrade their investment assessments on Guess the Movies.
To this end, Guess What? The film industry held several meetings to focus on how to improve box office performance.
"Boss, there is no doubt that Seven is a good movie, but the current box office is not ideal. I think the main reason is that the publicity is not in place. The influence is not as good as Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project. In view of this, I suggest that we increase the publicity efforts to let more audiences pay attention to this movie."
Joe Fillem, head of the distribution department, said at the meeting.
Link said nothing and looked at the other supervisors.
Jon Gordon said, "The situation is different now. We are suppressed by the seven major media groups in terms of publicity channels. The publicity costs have increased. The recent publicity expenses have reached 15 million US dollars. If we continue to increase the expenses, the risk of losses will also increase. It is not cost-effective."
"If we don't expand the scale of publicity, the audience won't know about the film and won't go to the cinema to support it. The box office performance of Seven Deadly Sins can't be improved, and the box office revenue that should have been earned is not earned. This is a big loss for the company."
Joe Fillemey said.
The main reason for the fierce competition during the summer vacation is that there are too many blockbusters and too much publicity for them. Whether on TV or in newspapers, there is different information about new movie releases every day.
To make the audience notice "Seven Deadly Sins" among many new movies and be interested in the plot of this movie.
Publicity plays a big role.
But the dilemma that Guess What Pictures is facing now is that "Seven Deadly Sins" has been blocked in distribution by films under the seven major film studios, squeezed out in publicity by other films, and taken advantage of by seven major media groups.
If they want to expand publicity, they must continue to increase their investment, which is equivalent to giving money to the seven major media groups.
In the end, no matter how much the film industry earns, the seven major media groups will be the biggest winners.
"cough!"
Executive producer Daniel DeVito adjusted the legs of his glasses and said, "Seven has been released for three weeks and has earned more than 68 million US dollars at the box office. By the end of the screening period, it will not be difficult for the North American box office to exceed 100 million US dollars. This result is very good. However, continuing to increase costs and compete head-on with the seven major studios is too risky and the return is too small. I don't agree with it."
Content operations officer James Shams suggested, "There are many blockbusters in the summer vacation, and competition is fierce. Increasing publicity efforts will lead to increased costs. However, the movies released in the summer are mainly commercial films, with high box office in the early stage and weak box office growth in the later stage. The quality and reputation of "Seven Deadly Sins" are good, and the current box office decline is not large. We can consider increasing publicity investment appropriately after the summer vacation, depending on the market and box office situation."
"I agree with James."
Deputy Executive Producer Ted Hooper spoke.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Leeson and head of public relations Liu Xiaoli also agreed to stay out of the spotlight and wait and see how things develop after the summer vacation.
"That's it. We will continue to release the film as planned. Whether to increase the publicity efforts later will depend on the box office performance."
Link proposed to adjourn the meeting.
Jon Gordon followed up and said that the reason why the publicity effect of "Se7en" was not as good as "Paranormal Activity" and "The Blair Witch Project" was mainly because it did not create more controversial topics for hype.
Jon Gordon proposed to find suitable criminal cases in various places, bribe the police and the murderer, and link the case to the "Seven Deadly Sins" to create another "Murrieta Murder Case".
Link rejected this proposal. Not to mention that such a thing had too many loopholes and could easily be used by opponents. Even if it succeeded, one or two small cases would not help much at the box office and would also bring some negative impact to the film.
The disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
Link told Jon Gordon not to be anxious, as the current box office performance of "Seven Deadly Sins" is good and the company's situation is also good, not as bad as what the newspapers say. He is in charge of publicity and he should not let the outside publicity affect his personal judgment of the situation.
"Haha, Link, I heard that your new movie's box office isn't very good, do you want some help?"
After returning to the office, Michael Ovitz called, his voice full of the triumph of a winner.
"Oh, how can you help me?"
Link asked, leaning back in his office chair.
"Haha, it's very simple. You sell another 50% of the shares of Guess What? at a market value of $300 million. I can help contact the seven major film companies and lobby them to stop targeting Guess What? How do you think of this proposal?"
“$300 million?”
This guy is really calculating. Link sneered, "Guess the Movies released two movies during the summer vacation this year. Speed currently has a North American box office of over 120 million U.S. dollars, and it won't be difficult for Seven to break 100 million in North American box office. Two movies in a row have a North American box office of over 100 million. This achievement is not something that even the seven major film studios can achieve. A market value of 300 million is too low for Guess the Movies at this stage."
"How much do you want?"
Hearing him give in, Michael Ovitz laughed and thought to himself that to deal with a tough guy, you have to hit him with a sledgehammer. Let's see if Link will give in.
"My offer is not high, $1 billion. With two more movies that grossed over $100 million, the market value only increased by $500 million. Is this offer reasonable?"
"One billion dollars? Haha, you, a film company that has been established for less than three years, dare to offer one billion?"
Michael Ovitz's laughter grew colder.
"Michael, the value of a film company cannot be measured by how early it was established, but by its ability to make money. Guess the Films' market value is less than 1 billion. Last year, it ranked sixth in box office revenue and ranked first in net income. This year, Guess the Films' revenue situation is more optimistic than last year. A 1 billion offer is reasonable."
"No room for negotiation?"
"One billion is a friendly price."
"Hehehe! Very good, Link, I hope Guess the Movie will break 1 billion soon."
"Thank you, I will definitely do that"
Beep beep beep
Before he could finish, the call ended with a tone from the receiver. Link shook his head. This guy was too rude. He didn't even say goodbye before hanging up.
After rejecting Michael Ovitz, there were more negative reviews of "Seven" in the media, and more voices were speaking ill of Guess What Pictures.
Many media reported that the production and promotion costs of "Seven" exceeded 50 million US dollars, and the current box office is less than 70 million. Guess What Pictures suffered serious losses, and many film projects were halted. Guess What Pictures is about to go bankrupt.
The story sounds so convincing that if you are not an expert, you might actually believe it.
"Link, why don't you think of a way to promote Seven Deadly Sins? Don't worry about people accusing you of breaking your promise. For a film company, box office revenue is the most important thing."
Robert Shea couldn't help but call and ask.
"Robert, don't worry. Seven has been out for three weeks and the North American box office has reached over 68 million. This is a very good result. It won't be a problem for the North American box office to exceed 100 million."
"Is your goal just to break 100 million in box office?"
Robert Shea was in disbelief.
In the past, Link made movies with tens of thousands of dollars, and the global box office reached 300 million to 400 million, 500 million to 600 million.
The production cost of "Seven" is more than 30 million. According to his prediction, the North American box office should be more than 300 million US dollars.
But now Link told him that the goal was only one hundred million.
This was hard for him to accept.
Link didn't go into much comforting of Robert Shea, he just told him not to worry, "Seven" was still in theaters with good attendance, and the box office performance would gradually improve over time.
In addition to Robert Shea, Vanguard Capital and Morgan Investments also called to inquire about the situation.
Greg Davis, investment officer of Vanguard Capital, joked that he was slacking off. Given the current situation, it would be good if the studio could survive the pressure from the Big Seven studios and avoid bankruptcy, let alone swallow up the Big Seven studios.
Link told them to leave it alone, because Seven did not lose money, Guess What Pictures did not go bankrupt, the shareholders did not suffer any losses, and they should not interfere in the company's affairs.
No matter how the outside world views Guess the Picture Company, Link still sits firmly on the Diaoyutai.
Originally, he predicted that "Seven Deadly Sins", despite the pressure from the seven major film studios, would slowly break through the 500 million to 600 million US dollars box office with its strong momentum, and finally surprise everyone.
However, something happened that accelerated this process.
(End of this chapter)
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