Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 175 185 [Expanded screening scale, Li Yishu's opportunity]

Monday, May 1993, 5.

Los Angeles, USA.

Columbia Pictures.

In the meeting room, Hisao Morishima swept away the previous haze and looked at his subordinates with high spirits: "Mark, tell me about the current situation of "The Sixth Sense"."

"Okay CEO."

Mark nodded, then stood up and said, "Everyone, the box office of The Sixth Sense has reached 5000 million US dollars, and the word of mouth is still growing."

"The investigators we sent out randomly sampled 1000 passers-by of different ages on the street yesterday."

"50% of people said they knew about the film and might go to the cinema to watch it in the near future. 30% said they had never heard of the film, but after learning that it had a good reputation, they also said they would learn more about it and consider whether to watch it. The remaining 20% ​​had already seen it!"

"This shows that The Sixth Sense still has great box office potential, rather than having no potential after its first week of screening."

"The cinema chain has also increased the number of screens from 2500 to 3000. If the box office can remain stable over the next four days, with no less than $600 million a day, then from Friday to Sunday, the number of screens will be increased to 3500."

"I think we need to promote the film more, because it will be released overseas on June 6. In Asia, Li is a well-known director, so we don't need to invest too much money."

"So the next promotion will still focus on Europe and the United States. It is necessary to invest more funds in promotion..."

"I disagree!"

While Mark was talking nonstop, Giovanni, who had always been at odds with Hisao Morishima and was in competition with him, said seriously:
"'The Sixth Sense' is a low-budget film, and we have already spent nearly 3000 million US dollars. If we continue to invest in promotion, if the box office drops by half this week, then our investment will be wasted. In addition, word of mouth is word of mouth, which does not mean that the box office will really be so high."

"I checked. The reason why the box office surged last weekend was mainly due to a film review by Ms. Pauline Kael. I admit that The Sixth Sense is a good movie, but after all, the investment was too small."

"The Friday after next week is the day when Jurassic Park, which is invested by Universal Pictures, will be released. Through my internal connections, I learned that theaters across the United States are very optimistic about this film, and they have decided to give it an A+ rating."

“I believe that the hospital’s A+ rating should be clear to everyone present.”

"So I think there is no need to continue to invest in publicity. The key is to maintain the box office in the next two weeks and look overseas. The film itself is profitable and we cannot cause unnecessary losses due to some additional investment."

At this point, Giovanni looked at Hisao Morishima with interest. "President Morishima, I have worked in Hollywood for more than ten years. I know very well that the box office potential of a film like The Sixth Sense has been exhausted in the first week. There will be no more fluctuations in the future. If it can break 2000 million this week, it will be very good."

Hisao Morishima's face turned pale. He knew that Giovanni was talking about him, and this was not just a personal statement, but the truth.

In 1990, Hisao Morishima spent a lot of money to obtain the copyright of "Night of the Living Dead", preparing to reboot this classic zombie movie, and at the same time preparing to invite the father of zombies, George A. Romero, to direct this remake.

But unfortunately, George A. Romero was not interested in this. At this time, Tom Savini, the actor who had appeared in "Night of the Living Dead 1968" and "Dawn of the Dead", took the initiative to stand up and said that he was good at making zombie movies.

Tom Savini, who has acted in two consecutive zombie movies, has relative "right to interpret" zombies, a new species that has not yet launched zombie culture in North America.

After all, the zombie situation has not yet become what it was later, when everyone knows what is going on and can come up with all kinds of messy ideas.

Although the 1968 "Night of the Living Dead" and the later "Dawn of the Dead" made a lot of box office revenue, there haven't been many films of the same type since then.

When Hisao Morishima saw Tom Savini step forward, he agreed to let him be the director, knowing that even though the other party had never made a movie, he had been an actor for more than 20 years and must know something.

At that time, the Japanese economy was still in its take-off period, and Sony, the parent company, had plenty of money. Hisao Morishima also waved his hand and directly gave a budget of 3000 million US dollars to create a zombie blockbuster.

The first week box office of "Night of the Living Dead 1990" was also very good, with more than 2000 million US dollars, which is already very good among niche horror films. As long as it can last for a month and the box office exceeds 7000 million, it can basically make a profit in North America.

But who knew that the box office in the second week would be cut in half? No, it would be cut at the ankles. The box office in the second week was less than 500 million US dollars.

"The Sixth Sense has received very good reviews, and I think we should increase our investment."

Mark stood up to support his boss at this time and said, "Last week's box office was 5000 million U.S. dollars, so I think it is necessary to continue to increase the promotion."

"It's not uncommon for movies to have high box office in the first week and low box office in the second week."

Giovanni still insisted on not agreeing.

But now it is Hisao Morishima who is in charge. He has rejected all dissidents and approved another $500 million in publicity expenses.

This time, the promotion is mainly carried out in Europe. The popularity in North America has already risen, and all we need to do next is to continue buying notices and reviews.

There is no need to worry about word of mouth. There are still a lot of good reviews in the newspapers, and most movie fans are approving of it. No one thinks it is a bad movie.

Although Morishima Hisao successfully obtained funding, this also put his future on the line, because he knew that if the global box office of "The Sixth Sense" could not break 2 million US dollars, he would basically be able to step down and return to Japan. According to the current situation, "The Sixth Sense" includes checks + publicity and distribution, with a total investment of more than 3500 million, of which more than 1000 million was provided by Li Yishu's art film company, so the North American box office will be 7000 million, the overseas box office will be 5000 million, and with the video tapes, it is a foregone conclusion that the cost will be recovered.

But companies are created to make profits, not to recover costs.

If "The Sixth Sense" doesn't make a ton of money, it will be a failure, not to mention Hisao Morishima's previous foolish investments, which have cost Columbia Pictures at least more than $1 million in the past few years.

If there had been no economic bubble in Japan, perhaps Sony would not have cared about this little money, but unfortunately there is no if.

In the morning, the sun is shining brightly.

Beverly Hills.

Inside the mansion.

Li Yishu was lying by the swimming pool, watching Monica swimming, and he also took a sip of beer.

With the film grossing 5000 million U.S. dollars in the first week, Lee Yi-su's mood suddenly improved a lot.

Regardless of how the subsequent box office performs, the probability of the North American box office exceeding 2 million is still very high, and the global box office will most likely not be less than million US dollars.

Because Japan will most likely contribute tens of millions of dollars, Europe tens of millions of dollars, and if the other regions are added together, two hundred million dollars will definitely not be a big problem.

It’s not that Lee Yi-seok doesn’t want to get more box office revenue. After all, he invested half of the production cost of this movie. But now it’s no longer possible for Lee Yi-seok to drive up the box office revenue by just continuing to promote the movie and participating in shows.

And to be honest, Lee Yi-su also felt helpless about this schedule. When it was previously scheduled to be released in late May, "Jurassic Park" had not yet been scheduled, and he was not aware that the film would be released at this time point.

If there hadn't been a film like "Jurassic Park" with such a huge sensory impact, the box office of "The Sixth Sense" would have definitely been higher after he promoted it as being adapted from true events.

Americans are very fond of "true story adaptations", and almost 90% of films adapted from true stories have good box office performance in North America.

"Wow--"

Monica Bellucci emerged from the swimming pool, pushed her hair back, then held the handle with both hands and walked up step by step.

Watching the beauty emerging from the bath, Li Yishu smiled and waved, letting her sit next to him. He then said, "I will be returning to China in a few days. Do you want to continue filming in the United States? Now that the movie you starred in is released, I believe that if you go for an interview, there won't be so many questions."

"Filming..."

Monica Bellucci hesitated for a moment, shook her head and said, "There will still be red sofas, unless I play some less important roles and rely on the little fame I have accumulated now to have a little market."

Li Yishu raised an eyebrow: "So what do you think?"

"Didn't you say before that you were going to find a person in charge of your film company in the United States? What do you think of me?"

"you?"

"I studied law, and I think your film company should have a legal professional in charge."

"Are you studying law?"

Li Yishu was very surprised, he didn't know that Monica studied law.

Monica Bellucci smiled and said, "Yes, I am a law graduate from the University of Perugia in Italy!"

The University of Perugia was founded in 1308 and is one of the oldest universities in Italy. Even the Catholic Pope in the 13th century studied at this university.

Although Li Yishu didn't know this university, looking at Monica's proud expression, it was most likely a famous university in Italy.

He thought about it and nodded, "Okay, in the next few years I will invest in multiple films for the film company. I will feel more at ease with you here."

As long as the box office of "The Sixth Sense" exceeds 2 million US dollars, I think Hisao Morishima will not step down in a short time. Then Li Yishu will be able to make better use of the big tree of Columbia Pictures and make some money from foreigners as soon as possible in the next few years.

He has been busy these days and has written three scripts, namely "The Purge", "Final Destination" and "Saw".

After finishing filming "Nobody", Li Yishu will take a month to go to the United States to shoot "Saw".

Otherwise, if Hisao Morishima leaves, it will be much more difficult for Li Yishu to make a career in North America.

(End of this chapter)