The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 1307 Targeted Delivery
Escaped!
Sure enough, in Hollywood, every step is cautious and you need to be vigilant at all times.

If Focus Features had been a little greedy and changed the film's positioning and strategy, it might have been caught in the storm by now, and it would be too late to withdraw.

A wrong distribution positioning and market strategy will not only destroy the box office prospects, but also the exposure, word-of-mouth, and discussion, etc. It may also cause the work to miss the fierce competition during the awards season.

A single move affects the entire body——

This is Hollywood, one thing leads to another.

Some people may be curious, why are some excellent works with outstanding reputations and rave reviews not nominated for Oscars, while some mediocre works pop out of cracks in the rocks and enter the Oscar competition and even win the award?
The above is the reason.

Putting aside the intricacies of college public relations for the moment, distribution strategy and market positioning are the first hurdle, and the foundation has been laid even before college public relations begins. Strategic errors in the starting stage may lead to a complete loss of competitiveness in subsequent games, which is far more difficult than imagined.

It is precisely because of this that the success or failure of a work is not that simple.

Actors are only one part of the process. Even if they do their job well, we still need to look at the work of other parts:
Director, producer, editor, distributor, marketer, etc.

From the start of the project, it was like a long march. We went through 81 difficulties to complete the shooting and post-production, but there were still long thorns to be overcome.

No wonder actors always say, who hasn’t starred in a few bad movies?

After the actors finish their work, there are still countless possibilities for mistakes and a series of flops in a film, all of which are beyond the control of the actors.

It is not enough for an actor to have a vision for selecting scripts to guarantee the success of every work; they also need to have a vision for selecting projects. Here, the so-called "project" includes different links such as director, producer, distribution company, etc., which goes far beyond the scope of acting.

It is also because of this that it is a feat for Tom Cruise and Will Smith to have five consecutive films grossing over $100 million in North American box office, making them top superstars.

The same goes for Anson. Whether "The Warmth of the Heart" can continue Anson's undefeated halo has become a key battle in the Hollywood vanity fair to snipe him.

No one expected that before "Spider-Man 2", "The Light Within" would become a target and bear too much weight that it shouldn't have borne.

Under such difficulties and circumstances, Focus Features' performance becomes increasingly important and rare.

Focus Features stayed true to its principles and controlled itself between the two sides, narrowly escaping a storm. Amid the fanning of Hollywood, they not only did not lose their temper, but instead became more determined in their strategy.

"Warmth within contains light", positioning requires precision.

Focus Features got inspiration from the release of "Elephant" and formulated its distribution strategy——

They are not planning to start with previews like "Elephant" and control the scope of screening all the time, because "Eternal Love of Dreams" is not as experimental as "Elephant". Although it is obscure and difficult to understand, the core of Charlie Kaufman's work is love, which is in line with the love story of literary young people; therefore, the market coverage of the film is slightly wider than that of "Elephant".

Focus Features believes that the cities where the film is shown are more important than the number of theaters showing the film.

For example, in central cities such as Houston, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Dallas, and Portland, cities dominated by industry and agriculture, works like "Warm Light Inside" have no market.

Even if there is, it is only a small part, which needs to be slowly excavated through publicity and promotion. Imagine a miner or a truck driver who works hard all day and buys a ticket to the cinema because of the names of "Spider-Man" Peter Parker and "Titanic" Rose, and then sees such a work. Will they be happy?

There is a 99% chance that it is negative.

In sharp contrast are cities like New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Due to differences in the nature of their work and lifestyles, their entertainment methods are also different, and their expectations and acceptance are naturally different.

The number of cinema chains is not important; the cities where the cinemas are targeted are what really matters.

Of course, this is not all. In addition to the number of cities and theaters where the film is screened, the importance of the release date cannot be ignored. At this time, the Oscars Ceremony cannot be ignored.

In previous years, the Oscars were held at the end of March. After the award ceremony, the winning works would receive attention in theaters because of the Oscar effect. April was over in the blink of an eye, and the summer season was about to begin.

In other words, the spring season has been neglected due to the strong influence of the Oscar effect, and there is no end in sight for the cold wave that has continued from the winter season. The works released during this period are relatively conservative in terms of investment scale and publicity strategy, and film companies are focusing on awards season works.

So, when film studios try to explore other possibilities besides the summer season, they first look to the holiday season, then turn their attention to the deserted fall season, while the winter and spring seasons are automatically ignored.

However, now that the Oscars are four weeks earlier, the spring season has an extra month. Although the Oscar effect still exists, the possibilities for the spring season have suddenly opened up. What does this mean?
The answer is obvious——

In March and April, the potential begins to emerge.

In fact, the summer season starts in May, which is a customary period division, but there is no real legal regulation. The film companies choose to release the film a week earlier or later, and the real decisive factor is the restraint and game between them.

Now, the possibility of the spring season has slightly opened up, and the competition landscape has changed subtly. Before the summer season really arrives, seize the gap and make a profit before the market becomes fully active. The success rate of such a strategy has skyrocketed.

The tradition of the "Fast and Furious" series is to be released in April, secretly getting a head start before the fierce competition in the summer season.

According to market rules, the summer season still kicks off in May; but in the distribution strategies of film companies, the boundary between April and May begins to blur.

It is conceivable that film companies need to readjust their positioning and strategies.

This is also a direct impact of the Oscars ceremony being moved forward from late March to late February or early March.

This year is the first year.

The Academy announced this decision as early as July 2002, and when the film companies were planning their 2004 spring season, they inevitably began to look at each other.

The so-called first year means that everything is unknown and requires exploration, adventure and experimentation. From a theoretical perspective, the April window has indeed appeared; but in reality, whether the general public will accept such an adjustment is a big question mark.

So, how does Focus Features make its judgment?
It is a risk but also an opportunity. Focus Features chose this time slot because they were targeting the gap in the Oscars ceremony and were ready to give it a try.

Ambition still exists objectively.

(End of this chapter)