Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 329: A fierce hand-to-hand fight breaks out

"Xavi, Link just invited us to cooperate, why didn't you agree?"

In front of the Hilton Hotel, Bob Weinstein swayed his fat body, squeezed into the back seat of a stretched Lincoln, looked at Harvey Weinstein sitting opposite him and asked.

"Hmph, if this thing is really profitable, would Link be willing to share it with us? He's not the generous type."

Harvey Weinstein leaned back in a leather chair, a half-burned cigar in his hand, looking at the brightly lit Hilton Hotel in the night, a sneer on his bumpy face.

“No money to be made?”

Bob shook his head. "The movie is great, and the audience loves it. Many people predict that the North American box office of The Butterfly Effect will not be less than $1 million. If we join hands with Guess What to Do to promote and distribute this movie, we can get more share after the movie sells well. This is a sure win."

Miramax is one of the producers of "The Butterfly Effect" and enjoys 18% of the North American box office share and 15% of the international box office share.

If they participate in the promotion and marketing of the film, they can also share more profits.

He felt a little reluctant to see Harvey refuse.

"Don't just think about making money. The Butterfly Effect's North American box office of over 100 million is just an ideal state. The subject of this movie is relatively niche and literary, and the upper limit of the box office is not high. Also, don't forget the seven major film studios.

In order to suppress this film, they put the commercial blockbuster "Apollo 13" in the same period, and later they will use other means to suppress the box office of "The Butterfly Effect". With the seven major film studios joining forces, the possibility of this film being a big hit is very low. "

Harvey paused, turned his gaze to Bob, and his tone became serious: "If we agree to jointly promote this movie, and Link asks us to spend tens of millions to fight a publicity war with the seven major studios, should we take it or not?

Taking it out to compete with the seven major film studios is tantamount to gambling, and the probability of losing money is extremely high. Rather than taking risks, it is better to avoid it in advance."

After listening to this, Bob was silent for a moment, then nodded, "You are right, this matter is indeed risky. Link also saw this. He was worried that Guess What Pictures could not withstand the joint suppression of the seven major film studios, so he took the initiative to find us as external aid."

"good."

Harvey sneered and put out his cigar in the ashtray in the car.

"Lin Ke is a very greedy person who is never willing to share profits. That is why he is targeted by investors. If a person like him is not facing difficulties, why would he be willing to share the box office with others?"

Bob nodded. "I hope the suppression from the Big Seven Studios can teach him a lesson and make him less greedy."
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After the movie was released, seven major media groups united to promote "Apollo 13". Related news was everywhere, leaving almost no chance for other movies to be exposed.

In order to resist the blockade of public opinion by the seven major media, the publicity department of Guess the Movie increased its publicity investment and used various methods to promote "The Butterfly Effect".

This includes using the media to hype up the chaos theory concept of the "butterfly effect," inviting many experts and professors to give lectures on the TV science channel, and using the tsunami that occurred in Chile, South America in March to hype up the "butterfly effect" and try to make everyone know the term.

At the same time, they also hyped up topics such as "If you could travel back in time, what would you do?"

On one side there is strong suppression, and on the other side there is unyielding hype.

The two sides engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat in public opinion and propaganda, which was very lively.

People from inside and outside the circle came to watch the fun.

Those who support Link expect his movie to be a hit and continue his legacy in cinema;
Those who are hostile to Link expect that "Apollo 13" will crush "The Butterfly Effect" at the box office and make Link taste the taste of failure.

After a week of competition, the weekly box office results are released.

"Apollo 13" earned $2517 million in 4237 theaters in its first week, unsurprisingly winning the weekly box office championship.

"The Butterfly Effect" also performed well, earning $1874 million in 2875 theaters, ranking second in the weekly box office, and ranking first in both attendance and single-theater box office revenue.

"Crimson Tide" ranked third, earning $2332 million in 1783 theaters in its second week, much lower than expected.

"Married at Second Sight" took in $552 million this week, ranking sixth.

After this week's box office results were released, no one was surprised to see that "Apollo 13" won the box office championship.

This movie is adapted from a true story. It tells the story of the Apollo 13 spacecraft exploding while flying to the moon, and the three astronauts going through numerous tests and escaping death to return to Earth.

The incident caused a great deal of hype in the United States, and the three astronauts who returned to Earth were also regarded as heroes.

The main creative team is almost the same as the original crew of "Forrest Gump".

With such a popular event and Tom Hanks' box office appeal, it is normal for the box office to be a big hit.

However, before the movie was released, the media predicted that the film's first-week box office would exceed 4237 million US dollars, but now it is only million, which is lower than expected.

It is not surprising that "The Butterfly Effect" directed by Link took second place in the weekly box office.

The film cost $1200 million to produce, and the cast consists almost entirely of new and young actors, so it does not have much box office appeal.

But the director of this movie is Link, who has extremely high box office appeal and has never failed since his debut.

It's normal for this movie to come in second.

The Los Angeles Times also used three "no surprises" to comment on the box office of "The Butterfly Effect" in its report: "The box office success is not surprising", "The film's plot is exciting and no surprise", and "The film's setting is innovative and no surprise".

The newspaper gave the film a high score of 93 out of 100, while "Apollo 13" scored 85 and "Crimson Tide" scored 81.

"The Butterfly Effect" also attracted the attention of famous film critic Roger Ebert.

Roger Ebert is an authority in the film critic world. He was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1970 and has published film reviews in more than 200 newspapers in various countries. His film reviews are not only professional but also constructive, and he can clearly point out the strengths and weaknesses of a film.

He accepts public relations and remains objective and neutral when writing reviews.

This also led to his film review articles having a great influence in Hollywood.

Many movie fans use his film reviews as a guide for watching movies.

Roger Ebert reviews The Butterfly Effect in the Chicago Sun-Times.

He said that "The Butterfly Effect" is the most interesting movie he has seen this year. Link uses the clichéd time-travel plot to explore the change of destiny and life choices, showing the complexity and unpredictability of time. The movie is both profound and interesting. Although the plot does not reach perfect logic, it is also a movie worth watching repeatedly.

Roger gave the film three and a half stars out of a possible four.

After this review was published, it attracted a lot of attention and the popularity of "The Butterfly Effect" in North America soared.

Guess What Movies also continued to hype the buzzword "Butterfly Effect" and topics such as "If you could travel back in time, what would you most want to change?" and "If you could travel back in time, which year would you hope it would be?" in the media.

Many celebrities were also invited to answer publicly.

Brought a lot of heat to the movie.

In the second week, driven by word of mouth and hype, "The Butterfly Effect" saw a significant increase in attendance and box office performance, earning $2174 million in 3056 theaters. The box office increased instead of decreasing, ranking second in the weekly box office.

The first place is still "Apollo 13", with revenue of 3353 million US dollars, a drop greater than expected.

In terms of word of mouth, "Apollo 13" also fell short of expectations, with 38 media outlets giving it an overall score of 8.2.

The advantage of this film is that it successfully restores the historical event, praises the heroic spirit of the astronauts who dare to challenge the space, and has strong educational significance.

The disadvantages are also obvious.

The first half of the movie has a slow pace, which tests the audience's patience.

The second is that although the film adaptation is relatively realistic, in order to enhance the viewing experience of the film, the director added many dramatic scenes and American main themes to the real events to render the color, which was a bit excessive.

Overall, it is an excellent adventure film, but it is not a classic, and its box office performance is unlikely to replicate the glory of "Forrest Gump".

The third place in the weekly box office was "Braveheart" released by Paramount Pictures, starring Mel Gibson and Sophie Marceau. It is a historical film with a production cost of 5500 million US dollars and earned 1555 million US dollars in its first week.

Fourth place: "Crimson Tide" with $651 million.

Although "The Butterfly Effect" still failed to win the weekly box office championship this week, its box office performance increased instead of decreased, and was only two million less than "Apollo 13", and the gap is getting closer and closer.

If this continues, "The Butterfly Effect" may even have a chance to catch up with the box office of "Apollo 13".

"How could this happen? We did so much to suppress The Butterfly Effect, so why did it still get so much at the box office?"

When Michael Ovitz saw the box office data, he was so angry that he started cursing.

"The Butterfly Effect is indeed of good quality, and Guess What Pictures is very good at film marketing."

Ron Meier said helplessly.

Before the summer vacation, in order to suppress several films released by Guess the Picture Studios, Michael Ovitz and senior executives of the seven major film studios held several meetings and discussions, repeatedly studying the box office potential of several commercial blockbusters and how to arrange them to maximize the potential of snatching away films from Guess the Picture Studios.

After discussion, they arranged the release of "Apollo 13", which had the greatest potential to be a hit, on the same day as "The Butterfly Effect", and also arranged the high-quality "Crimson Tide" and "Brave Heart" before and after it.

These three films are of very high level both in terms of commerciality and film art.

Coupled with the support of seven major media groups in publicity and distribution, the probability of a box office hit is extremely high.

The marketing department of Universal Pictures predicted in advance that with three blockbusters sandwiched between them, "The Butterfly Effect" would only gross a maximum of $8000 million in North America, and the probability of exceeding $ million was extremely small.

Now, the movie has grossed more than 5931 million in two weeks since its release, and it is only a matter of time before the box office exceeds million.

Despite the joint efforts of the seven major film studios, the box office of this movie still exceeded 1 million US dollars.

This is tantamount to mocking that everything they have done in the past was in vain.

Michael Ovitz gnashed his teeth in anger.

He called Ron Mayer and others and asked them to step up publicity efforts, snatch away the exposure and box office of "The Butterfly Effect" and stop the film from continuing to sell well.

Langmeyer and others asked him to stay calm.

In the next few weeks, there will be blockbusters such as "Die Hard 3", "Waterworld", "Casper the Evil Dead", and "Pocahontas".

After these movies are released, several companies will increase their publicity and hype, the audience's attention will shift from "The Butterfly Effect" to other movies, and the film's box office data will drop rapidly. There is no need to worry at all.

When Michael Ovitz heard him say this, he gradually felt relieved and waited patiently for Link's bad news.

(End of this chapter)