Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 306 Sleeping Beauty Awakens

The second weekend of the movie "Fast Pace," aggregated to Universal's distribution arm, was $320 million.

This result left Universal's publishing department, marketing department, media public relations, and even several presidents speechless.

It wasn't because Ronald's genius shocked them, but this result broke through the rules, making them seem relatively incompetent.

In the second week, Universal's labs printed a hundred additional copies of "Fast Tempo", which were distributed in theaters on the West Coast, and the total screening went to nearly [-] theaters.

Dividing the weekend box office by the number of movie theaters, the Universal Distribution Department discovered an embarrassing fact that the average box office of a single venue did not decrease but increased.

Don't think that this is a good thing, it shows that the distribution department has made a mistake.

Their prediction of the "fast-paced" box office was completely wrong. Without giving more prime time and limited theaters, the "fast-paced" attendance and box office climbed up by word of mouth.

The first reaction of the distribution department was to apply to the higher-ups for the lab to print [-] more copies to meet the copy needs of more and more movie theaters.The movie has great stamina, and the average box office of a single hall has surpassed the "Best Chicken House in Texas" starring Dolly Parton.

The second embarrassed the head of the marketing department. "Fast Pace" received little marketing material, as the film had no original marketing budget and was more than half canceled by Tom Mount's regional distribution strategy.

The movie has gotten quite a bit of media attention, and some local TV stations have started talking about the movie's popularity among teenagers.At least there are more and more teenagers on the street with valley accents who start to say Like in every sentence.

This kind of movie that relies on word-of-mouth from the audience and counterattacked at the box office after its release has a proper term called "Sleeper Hit".Newspaper journalists are already calling the film another Sleeper Hit.

Every such report is a silent mockery of Universal's marketing department.

Therefore, their applications began to be delivered to the desks of Schinberg, Ned Tanning and others, hoping to increase the marketing budget, at least let a few leading actors and directors go on a road show along the originally planned route, in the Dallas, Chicago, New York, Boston and other places in Texas were interviewed by local media.

And the marketing department went a step further, proposing to break the plan of only showing on the west coast, print more copies, and hurry up to show on the east coast and central cities.

This did not belong to their scope of work, but the supervisor, who was ridiculed by the media every day, couldn't bear it anymore and made a cross-functional suggestion.

Otherwise, they were ridiculed by the media on the west coast, and in the end the movie might still be shown on the screens on the east coast, and they would be ridiculed by the media in New York again.Their mouths are more poisonous, and they don't know what ugly words they will say.

Simberg, who received the application, was very impressed.It seems that it was a small mistake for me not to support Ronald with all my strength.

If this movie can be released simultaneously in thousands of theaters across the country, I am afraid that the total box office will exceed 5000 million, or even higher.This kind of box office performance can be ranked among the top fifteen in the box office list of the year in this era when the box office of movies is generally weak.

If the two films I support both rank among the top [-] at the annual box office, then the authority in Universal Pictures will definitely be greatly enhanced.

Moreover, this "fast-paced" also collected a lot of popular music for episodes, and can release a movie soundtrack album, which will also be of great help to my right to speak in the music business of the parent company MCA.

However, at that time, the box office of "ET Alien" was already in sight, and I couldn't say wrong about my strategy of not taking risks anymore.

The key is that I lacked the courage to promote Spielberg with my eyesight.Once a person sits in a high position, it is easy to look forward and backward.

More regretful than Hinberg was Ned Tannen.

He obviously supported Ronald once, and approved the budget for Brooke Shields to make up the film.The controversy surrounding this release should really support him to the end.

At that time, I still considered too much about the balance of power and maintaining the safe operation of my own position, and made a compromise.

In the final analysis, as a high-level person, he lacks the ability to empathize with the majority of middle-class audiences.Can any executive, including Hinberg, really tell if a movie is being enjoyed by audiences?

After shaking his head and sighing, Tanin quickly signed the application for expanding the screening scale and showing it in the east coast and south-central regions, and then rang the bell to connect with the secretary.

"When will director Ronald Lee come to talk about the new release plan? Um... remember to remind me when the time comes, I want to meet him. I have to have a good chat with such a director."

Anyway, there is another Tom Mount, who is worse than me... Tanin thought gloatingly.

Tom Mount sat frozen in his office.After receiving a call last week from his old father-in-law urging him to resign voluntarily, he still didn't want to admit defeat.

"Fast-paced" may also be a movie with insufficient stamina. Many of this kind of teenage exploitation films rely on sensory stimulation to attract audiences in the first week, and the subsequent box office will drop rapidly.Especially this week, Paramount's new film "An Officer and a Gentleman" is also released, and it is estimated that it will continue to lower part of the box office.

Who knew that the report he saw on Monday, the dazzling numbers in the "fast pace" column gave him a heavy blow.In the second weekend of its release, the box office has already broken 800 million, and it is expected to break through 1000 million in the middle of next week.

The application for the expansion of the national release for the third weekend is also placed aside, no matter how you look at it, it seems like a provocation to yourself.

Alas, these department heads probably heard something, and they are no longer afraid of themselves.

Tom Mount opened the drawer and took out the resignation letter he had prepared.Facing the mirror in the closet, he straightened his tie, combed his hair, smoothed out the wrinkles on his suit, opened the door and walked to Simberg's office.

"This is my letter of resignation." Mount handed the letter of resignation from Simberg's desk.

"You don't have to..."

"I insist," Mount unbuttoned the metal buttons of his suit without losing his grace, and sat down across the desk.

"We are old friends. I will set up a private production company, a distribution contract with Universal, and Universal's share investment in the new company as a joint venture..."

"Of course, everything will be done." Simberg swept Mount's resignation letter into the drawer.

"Have a drink, Tom." He produced a bottle of brandy and poured his old rival a glass.

"The lawyer will take care of the contract, but Universal's investment in your personal production company will be reduced to half of the usual amount. Do you have any objections?"

"You!" Tom Mount protested, standing up.

"Sit down," Simberg snapped.

Mount was taken aback by his sudden scolding, and sat down again.

"This is the final condition. I have negotiated with MCA's...Mr. You will not be held accountable for all kinds of dereliction of duty during your time in the company, and these affairs that the lawyer helped you settle."

"You!" Mount heard that he had given his father-in-law the legal documents of the company's lawyer handling the romantic debt for him, and his anger welled up.

He just wanted to get up and leave, but he thought that he no longer had a high-level job and needed the nod of the president of Universal to get the green light for his production company's film, so he sat back again.

Seeing his slumped look, Simberg let out a bad breath in his heart.

"Others follow the usual practice. Your position will be retained in the company for six months, and the office will be reserved for you until the end of the year. Universal will sign a hairstyling contract for five movies in your new company, invest..., take a percentage of the shares... , I will ask the lawyer to give you the documents."

"Drink." Simberg picked up the glass and touched Mount.

Downstairs in the copyright department's office, the two film buyers of Global Television Network and NBC Los Angeles were still waiting in the conference room for the department heads to return from the meeting.

"This fast-paced show is the first one that our global TV network has taken a fancy to, and we should give us the right to broadcast it in the first round."

"No, no, NBC's television network on the west coast is bigger than Universal's. We should broadcast the first round first."

The manager sitting across from them felt amused watching the performance of the two buyers.Didn't he see the increasing number of news related to this movie in the entertainment news of the TV station, and then he remembered that he still had a broadcast contract in his hand, so he came to seek the premiere rights.

This director is really amazing, and now even the social news has news about his movie.

The door was pushed open, and the director of the copyright department pushed the door open.

"Gentlemen, good news and bad news."

"The good news is that Universal has agreed to sell the television broadcasting rights to both of you at the same time, each with ten broadcasting rights." He handed over the contract while speaking.

"The bad news is that the film will be extended to the national screening next week, and your premiere must be postponed until after the film is released."

Meanwhile, in the Paramount Pictures president's office, Michael Eisner, the president, was talking to Katzenberg, the production executive and vice president.

"The box office performance of The Officer and the Gentleman remains stable, and the distribution department expects to have a box office of more than [-] million."

"What about our contracts with the two leading actors?"

"Debra Winger still has a film contract, and Richard Gere has fulfilled it."

"How is the rest of the production going?"

"Brian De Palma's new film has some difficulties, but it's manageable."

"Okay, let me know if there is anything you need me to do."

Eisner pointed to a column on the box office report and asked Katzenberg, "What is this Universal fast-paced movie? The director's name sounds familiar?"

"It's a youth exploitation film. Ronald Lee, originally the writer, we had a competition for his script for Jane Fonda. And then recently he helped Lou Adler reshoot the end of the movie."

"Oh, how's the quality?"

"Except for the MV-like ending, everything else is rubbish, and it's hard to show it in theaters."

"Ha. How about this, since it's an MV, why don't you send it to MTV to play it, and then release the movie. If the box office doesn't do well, sell it to a cable channel as a late-night movie."

(End of this chapter)