hollywood melon man

Chapter 379 The most profitable movie series in history

Let’s take a look at the situation of “The Return of the King”. From early May to early August, “The Return of the King” maintained a healthy trend.

"The Return of the King" basically has a place in the top ten of North American weekly box office rankings.

At present, the North American box office of "Return of the King" has officially exceeded 6.09 million US dollars, reaching million US dollars. The film has become the second film in North America to exceed million US dollars, second only to Titanic.

Globally, the film's popularity has gradually faded, and its current global cumulative box office is $16.89 billion, ranking second in film history.

However, Gilbert Jr. personally feels that the film's chances of surpassing "Titanic" are not very high.

Although "The Return of the King" has been grabbing box office revenue at a speed rarely seen in film history, it is also the fastest film to break through the $1 billion and $1.5 billion box office.

But what cannot be ignored is the fact that Titanic has an extremely long standby time and a long running time.

After all, "Titanic" could still occasionally rank in the top ten of the box office rankings more than half a year after its release, and its screening period in North America lasted for more than a year.

Since the beginning of the new century, a feature of the film market is that the proportion of the first week is becoming more and more important, while the screening cycle is constantly shortening.

In the past, a movie could stay in theaters for more than a year as long as the box office performance was good. But now, if a movie can stay in theaters for three or four months, it is considered a very long time.

For example, "Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" was released two weeks later than "The Return of the King", but it was taken off the screen on the first weekend in early August.

"Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" currently has a North American box office of 3.1 million US dollars. The Star Wars culture in North America is still stronger, and it is also the basic base of Star Wars movies.

The global box office was only 6.23 million US dollars. Although it is still being released in other places overseas, it is estimated that the box office will hardly exceed 6.5 million US dollars.

Nowadays, the overseas box office of Hollywood blockbusters is usually one to three times higher than the North American box office, such as "The Return of the King".

However, the overseas box office of "Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" is basically the same as the North American box office. It can be said that if it were not for the support of the North American market, this Star Wars movie would have been a flop.

It is also because of its poor quality that after consuming the enthusiasm of Star Wars fans, it is difficult to attract passers-by who are not interested in Star Wars.

As a result, the film’s box office dropped rapidly and was eventually withdrawn from theaters in early August.

Although 20th Century Fox did a lot of work in terms of theaters, the North American box office did not meet the requirements for continued screening, so it was forced to be withdrawn.

In fact, to be honest, Gilbert himself was a little surprised that "Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" actually had a box office of 3.1 million US dollars in North America.

Although he did not attend the premiere, he watched the movie in the cinema.

Honestly, he thought that even with the fan base, the North American box office of this movie would only be around $1.8 million to $2 million. But he did not expect that it would actually reach over $3 million in North America.

All we can say is that there are still many fans of "Star Wars" in North America, so many that even if the overseas box office is not ideal, "Attack of the Clones" can still achieve good results.

However, the box office is not the key to the profitability of "Star Wars: Episode 2: Attack of the Clones", but the peripheral products are.

Every time a Star Wars movie is released, there is always a frenzy of peripheral sales, and this time is no exception. Although the movie did not do well at the box office, the sales of peripheral products were good.

In some ways, the Star Wars movies are more like commercials for lightsabers, BB8 and other peripheral products.

This time, "Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" has generated more than 4 million US dollars in peripheral sales worldwide.

However, "Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" is not the movie with the highest peripheral sales this year. The movie with the highest sales is actually "Return of the King".

As a movie that has caused a huge sensation in the film market for three consecutive years, the "Lord of the Rings" series has formed a super IP effect. In terms of the momentum of the "Lord of the Rings" series in the past two years, in North America, "Lord of the Rings" is not weaker or even stronger than the "Star Wars" series.

Not to mention those overseas markets where Star Wars culture is not popular, "The Lord of the Rings" has no obstacles in these regions.

Maybe due to piracy and other factors in some regions, the sales of the Lord of the Rings series have been greatly affected. But so far, the sales of the three Lord of the Rings series have combined to create $20 billion.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy has now grossed $4.5 billion, making it the highest-grossing trilogy in history.

As time goes by, the peripheral aspects will gradually exceed the box office revenue.

Therefore, the peripheral products plus the box office, even using the most conservative estimates, will directly create revenue of tens of billions of dollars, which can be called huge profits.

Not to mention the implicit value brought about by direct performance increases.

For example, China, where "The Lord of the Rings" was filmed, has received hundreds of thousands of tourists every year in the past two years, most of whom were interested in China because of "The Lord of the Rings".

For example, if a movie sells well, the film company’s financial report will perform well, which will make the stock market more confident in the film company, leading to an increase in stock prices.

The development of other theme parks and series IPs will all be part of the subsequent profits.

In a meeting with senior executives from Disney and Warner, Gilbert Jr. made it clear that there was still a lot of room for development in the "Lord of the Rings" series.

For example, "The Hobbit" can also be developed into a trilogy series.

Gilbert Jr. recommended Peter Jackson to Disney and Warner to take over, but Peter Jackson planned to finish his current project "King Kong" before starting work on "The Hobbit".

In return for Gilbert Jr.'s recommendation, Peter Jackson recommended Naomi Watts to Universal Pictures to star in "King Kong", and Universal Pictures agreed.

In addition, after "The Return of the King" finishes its screening in theaters, Gilbert Jr. can also release a trilogy DVD and a director's extended edition to make more money.

In addition, after 3D projection technology matures, the film can also be converted into a 3D version, just like "Titanic 3D", to make more money.

In short, a hit movie series can be developed in many commercial directions without having to worry about revenue.

When it comes to the development of the series, we have to mention the "Harry Potter" series.

The film's post-production has been completed and it has entered the formal promotion and distribution stage. The first trailer has already been cut.

In terms of commercial potential, the "Harry Potter" series is only stronger than "The Lord of the Rings". In the previous life, the little wizard was studied as a model for the development of Hollywood commercial films.

Of course, a series of outrageous actions by Warner later, as well as some radical remarks by Rowling and the lead actress Emma Watson, cast a certain shadow on the Harry Potter series.

Now as a member of the Time Warner board of directors, Gilbert Jr. will of course interfere with the operations of Warner's senior management to ensure that the works go in the direction he wants.

As for Ms. Rowling, she has a good personal relationship with him, and young Gilbert will try his best to communicate with her.

Emma Watson was not like that at the beginning, and was influenced by the environment to a certain extent. This aspect can be clearly stated in the actor contract during her performance in "Harry Potter".

Or, it will take little Gilbert to educate and bring Emma Watson back.

Children are easy to educate.

(End of this chapter)