Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1490 Inertia

From the process point of view, the Internet and the entertainment industry are different.But from a larger perspective, from the perspective of grasping the results, it is actually the same.

This is why Jobs was able to make Pixar the largest animation studio in the world, and why Netflix, Amazon and other platforms can start streaming media business in Silicon Valley.

Both are actually creative industries!

Thinking from the perspective of the Internet, Zhou Buqi is enough to be able to stand at the same height as Bob Friedman...or even a higher height to discuss Hollywood and MGM's strategic orientation in the future.

Creativity and conservatism are relative.

However, creativity does not mean that conservative genes cannot exist.

For example, the group buying on Xiaonei.com, the biggest reason for its success comes from a slightly conservative strategic design. It is not open to the public like many comprehensive e-commerce platforms, but conservatively puts the customer group in a small circle and puts college students.

It costs less and is simple to operate.

Even if it fails, the price is small.

After success, it will be able to firmly target the group of college students and become the preferred online shopping platform for college students.If you are too aggressive at the beginning, like Vancl, you will be overwhelmed by confidence, and you will probably be submerged in the tide of the e-commerce market.

Zhou Buqi said: "There is nothing wrong with conservatism, what is wrong is what kind of strategy to implement under conservatism."

Bob Friedman agrees: "Yes, MGM has had a tough time over the last few years, and it's right to be conservative in the business. But, they're wrong to be conservative. There are many conservative strategies. , but they chose the big star strategy that was gradually abandoned by the times.”

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "The advantage of the big star strategy is that it can quickly attract a large number of movie fans by taking advantage of the star's aura and influence. No matter whether the quality of the movie is good or not, first trick the movie fans into the cinema and buy tickets. "

"Yes, this style was at its peak in the 90s."

"Back then, in Hollywood movies, big stars and big directors were the biggest attractions. Under the influence of curiosity, impulsiveness, and public opinion guidance, movie fans entered the theater to buy tickets. This is actually impulsive consumption. But the Internet came, and the Internet created Cooling off period."

"That's right, it's a movie rating website!"

Bob Friedman was already the president of Warner's distribution business in the 90s, and he has come from that era.

He feels deeply about the changes in the Hollywood environment over the years.

Twenty or thirty years ago, when a big star of Tom Cruise's level released a new movie, the movie fans were like crazy, and they all lined up in groups to buy tickets to watch the movie.

Because before going to the cinema, everything about the movie is unknown.

How many sales of so-called professional film magazines?
How many people can watch it?

Even if someone watches it, there won't be any negative reports on commercial blockbusters above. Many professional film critics and film companies have mutual interests, and they are all commercial bragging.

But in the age of the Internet, everything has changed.

Rating site is out!
Under the word-of-mouth ratings of hundreds of thousands and millions of people, the mystery of the movie has disappeared, and it has become naked in front of fans.Good is good, bad is bad, you can’t fake it!
What about Tom Cruise?

In the past, relying on impulsiveness, curiosity, passion, and enthusiasm, I went to the cinema to buy tickets.Young people nowadays, look up movie ratings on the Internet...I'll go, the full score is 10, this is only 5.2 points, not yet a pass!

What a fart!

Subjectively, there was a certain sense of repulsion, as if a basin of cold water had been poured on the top of the head, and it instantly became calm.

"Human nature is the same." Zhou Buqi explained this phenomenon, "If you package a plate of cakes, consumers don't know what is inside, and they will accept impulsive stimulation to consume. You put a plate If the excrement is packaged, consumers will be willing to consume without knowing what is inside. If the package is removed, the real food on the plate is presented to consumers. One plate is cake and the other is feces. How do consumers choose? Help The tool for movie fans to cut through this layer of film encapsulation is the Internet."

Applaud Bob Friedman!

The reason why he was willing to promote Summit Entertainment to merge into MGM, besides having greater power, was because he was inspired by Zhou Buqi.

I think this young boss is very attractive and has deep insights into many business phenomena.

He achieved a very high position in Warner and Paramount back then, and the reason why he left twice was mainly because his views were increasingly divergent from mainstream Hollywood views.

But the current boss Zhou has many similar non-mainstream ideas with him.

The cake and shit analogy is a bit of an exaggeration.

But the distinction between a good movie and a bad movie can indeed be shown intuitively through movie rating websites.

Bob Friedman said: "Movies with low ratings are indeed easy for fans to calm down and give up watching movies. Many people may like a movie with a rating of 5.2, but they are embarrassed to admit it because it does not conform to the mainstream. , which indirectly reduces the spread of this film."

Zhou Buqi said: "Yes, the herd effect!"

Bob said: "The big star strategy in the past was the herd effect. The current rating website is another kind of herd effect. Under the influence of the Internet, the mysterious aura of the big star has disappeared."

"So, the conservatism under the big star strategy is gradually fading out of the stage of history."

Zhou Buqi can easily draw such a conclusion by relying on foresight.

But conclusions alone are useless, only convincing analysis of phenomena can move people.

Only through this set of analysis of the Hollywood situation under the influence of the Internet can we further penetrate the fog of the future and formulate a more correct and confident strategic line.

Zhou Buqi had already planned it.

Why did he pick Bob Friedman as CEO of MGM?

Because after this buddy became the chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment, the first thing he did was to buy the copyright of the best-selling book "Twilight", and then made it into a movie.

Foresight can help.

The future is the era of big IP!
The reason why Bob Friedman was selected as the CEO of MGM, and the reason why he was willing to take over the hot potato of MGM, is because many of the two ideas are surprisingly consistent.

He said in a very relaxed tone: "Summit Entertainment is a small company. It is reasonable to say that it should be more conservative than MGM. In fact, it is also true. MGM's conservatism wants to be reflected through big stars. I choose Remake."

Zhou Buqi absolutely agrees, "Yes, a remake!"

Bob Friedman said: ""Transformers" is based on Hasbro's toys; "Superman" and "Spider-Man" are based on comic characters; Ruth has cooperated, but what they are focusing on this time is not the big star strategy, but the sequel "Mission: Impossible". Remake, adaptation, remake, sequel, some successful ones with great social influence and popularity It is not only easy to market, but the risk of production is also small. The characters, plot, and frame of the film are basically determined. There is an expected imitation object, which will be easier to succeed than the original. Lian Scorsese A great director of Si's level also won an Oscar by remaking a Chinese film."

These words really touched Zhou Buqi's heart, and he said with a smile: "For this phenomenon, I call it 'inertia effect'."

"Inertial effect?"

Bob Friedman didn't quite get it.

Zhou Buqi said: "This is some rules I summed up when I was running Ziweixing, an Internet company. For example, Twitter and YikYak are two very similar websites, both of which are mine. YikYak entered the market early, and YikYak entered the market late. During product design, YikYak has more and more interesting ways to play, but users in the United States still choose Twitter. Not because YikYak is doing badly, but because of inertia. They have already I am used to using Twitter and I don’t want to change it. Inertia can largely overcome the quality of the product.”

Bob Friedman's eyes lit up, "Yes, just like the movie!"

Zhou Buqi said indifferently: "The inertial thinking of movies is the key element for Hollywood movies in the new era to break through the blockade of rating websites!"

"That's right! That's very well said!"

Bob Friedman took a deep breath, his heart shaking inexplicably.

Sure enough, he is the Internet boss!
Be a World Class Entrepreneur!

Insightful!
The emergence of movie rating websites has really dealt a fatal blow to the traditional model of Hollywood, making the current big star strategy almost unplayable.

Even a superstar like Tom Cruise can't stand it!
This is the most painful problem that plagues contemporary Hollywood producers. How will future Hollywood blockbusters be produced?

Unexpectedly, Boss Zhou gave a solution lightly.

inertia!
Yes, inertia!
Bob Friedman only knows that the adaptation of the novel "Twilight" is a project with a high probability of success under conservative experience.But he didn't think about deeper theoretical analysis.

Now the big boss Zhou gave him a solution.

If you want to solve Internet problems, you still have to have professional Internet experts to answer them.

When Hollywood makes a movie, if the package is complete, movie fans will enter the movie with a sense of "mystery". Even if it is a bad movie, as long as it has enough mystery and good publicity, it can make a lot of money at the box office.

But movie rating sites have given Hollywood a run for its money.

The mystery is gone!
Even for Tom Cruise, a movie with a score of only 5.2, how many people are willing to take the risk of "watching a bad movie" to buy tickets?

"Inertia" is the key to solving this problem.

Make a sequel, make an adaptation movie, make a remake movie, make a reboot movie, make a branded big movie...

No one likes to watch a movie with a score of 5.2, but what if this movie is "Mission: Impossible 4"?With the fans and branding accumulated in the first three films, even if the rating is very low, it can't break the inertia of movie fans!
Even if it's a bad movie, watch it!
Another example is "Twilight", which is really not a good movie, and it can also be classified as a bad movie.After the filming, the score was really low, but the box office was very high!
Is this a bucking success?
No, because this is inertial success.

Countless "Twilight" book fans will flock to the cinema to watch the movie, and under the influence of inertia, the plot of the book will be filmed.Inertia has broken through the blockade movie rating sites have had on Hollywood.

At this moment, Bob Friedman was overwhelmed with admiration.

For the first time, I felt that the distance between the Internet and Hollywood is so close, as close as brothers. They are both creative industries, and the strategic concept and product logic are so similar.

(End of this chapter)