Conquer America, Start with a Boxing Champion

Chapter 501 Good news from the box office

The Hunger Games has basically finished showing in North America, with a cumulative box office of 468 million US dollars, and the overseas box office has slowly exceeded 400 million. Compared with The Avengers, the overseas box office performance of The Hunger Games is relatively average.

The media summarized three reasons.

First, The Hunger Games is also distributed overseas by Lionsgate, which is worse than Disney and other five major film studios in terms of channels.

The second point is that the leading actors of The Hunger Games are not very famous overseas, and they can't be compared with the big names of The Avengers.

The third point is also related to the IP of The Hunger Games. This movie is also adapted from a best-selling novel, but compared with best-selling works such as Harry Potter and Twilight that are very famous all over the world, The Hunger Games has little influence overseas.

According to the New York Times, after The Hunger Games was released, the sales of the novel doubled, and the sales in overseas regions once increased tenfold.

It can be said that this movie made the novel popular, and the big sales of Harry Potter and Twilight movies are largely due to the large number of fans of the novels.

In June, Lionsgate released three more films in addition to The Hunger Games, The Cabin in the Woods, and Pregnancy Guide, namely the French films The Intouchables, Lawless, and The Witness Protection Program of Madame Noir.

The Intouchables was released at the end of May. Initially, it was a big deal for more than a month because of the racial issues involved in the plot.

Later, under the mediation of the American Film Association, it was screened in six theaters in North America to see what black fans thought of the film. Surprisingly, black fans did not think that the plot had much discrimination, but thought the film was good.

The Intouchables was released for four weeks and earned $30.55 million in North America, which also brought the film's global box office to $480 million. Compared with the production cost of $12 million, it made more money than the dark horse films Buried and The Hunger Games.

Some media reported that Link's film company in France also participated in the investment of this film, which means that Link raised three dark horses this year and made more than $1 billion with these three films.

At one time, the number of people who envied and hated Link's peers increased exponentially. Some people took advantage of the racial issues involved in "The Intouchables" to blacken the film and Link, trying to label Link as a racial discrimination.

But the legal department of Lionsgate Films strongly fought back, and more than 30 lawyers' letters were sent.

However, it didn't take long for those peers to be jealous. "Lawless" was released. This is the fourth film produced by Palm Beach Pictures, co-produced with Annapurna Pictures, and the production cost was 26 million.

Since the first four films produced by Palm Beach Pictures can be called box office dark horses, and the box office reputation is good, "Lawless" is naturally overrated, and many media believe that this movie is probably a dark horse.

Unfortunately, the box office of this movie is a bit lame. It only got 12.28 million US dollars in North America in the first three days of its premiere, and the box office was just 25 million US dollars in ten days of its release. The overseas box office is also average. In the first week of its release in 12 countries and regions overseas, the box office was only 8.5 million US dollars.

The film is expected to gross around 50 million worldwide. Although this figure will not make the company lose money, Palm Beach Pictures, which has produced four hit movies in a row, has high hopes for its works, and now the fifth work is just to break even.

For other film companies, breaking even is acceptable, but for Palm Beach Pictures, breaking even means failure.

"Haha, I said that Palm Beach's movies can't always be a big hit. Sooner or later, they will lose money. Look, what's going on now?"

In the Weinstein Pictures office, Harvey laughed with a cigar in his mouth, and his belly bulged high.

"Harvey, I don't think this is worth being too happy about. Don't forget that "The Master" co-produced by us and Palm Beach Pictures has not been released yet."

Bob frowned as he looked at the newspaper.

"What do you mean?"

Harvey stared at him unhappily. Since the Oscars in February, good news about Link has been constantly reported in the news.

What "Buried" is a big hit, and Link made a big profit of 50 or 60 million with a small bet.

And that damn Link successfully poached Meryl Streep, letting Meryl and Jennifer play opposite each other, and that movie was also expected by many people.

Then the blockbuster "The Hunger Games" produced by Lionsgate Films sold well, and it will become the next "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" series. Link and Lionsgate may make billions with this series.

In May, "The Avengers" starring Link sold well again, and Link became the world's top movie star, with the largest number of fans in the world, and his salary for the next movie exceeded 30 million.

Then Link escaped a disaster while filming on the set, successfully defended his boxing title, and the low-cost movie "The Intouchables" he invested in sold well, earning hundreds of millions again.

Not long ago, the little princess of Link's family was born, etc.

There were too many good news about Link in the first half of the year, not one after another, but one after another.

Every time he looked at these news, he was angry and numb, and numb to depression.

Now that we finally got some bad news about Link, we were ready to be happy, but the bastard Bob told us not to be happy too soon.

Harvey bit his cigar stick and looked at Bob with a grim expression, asking him to give an explanation.

"Harvey, if Palm Beach Pictures' movies continue to be hits, we don't have to worry. But the box office of "Lawless" is lower than expected. Will there be a surprise at the box office of "Master"? If "Master" fails to be a hit, even If we lose money, our investment will be wiped out, so I don’t think it’s something to be happy about.”

Bob spread his hands and said.

Harvey's expression changed when he heard this, and he glared at Bob fiercely.

"This is all your responsibility. I didn't agree to cooperate with Link in the first place, but you insisted on going to him with the money, and now you are worried about losing money on the movie? Damn it, I told you not to cooperate with Link."

Because of that cooperation, many people mistakenly believed that they had a good relationship with Link, which made the partners who originally agreed to deal with Link become less firm. This was all Bob's fault.

"Things have happened, and it's useless to talk about it now. We can only hope that the box office of "The Master" will not be as bad as "Lawless", and preferably it will be as popular as "Bridesmaids"."

Bob said.

Harvey was very unhappy when he heard Bob say this. As Link's nemesis, how could he pray that his movie would be a hit? But if he doesn't pray, his previous investment will be in vain, and Harvey doesn't know how to feel about this movie.

"You've talked to Warner, what's their opinion?"

Harvey asked, changing the subject.

Bob shook his head, "I don't have a clue. They also want to bring down Link and Lionsgate. Not just Warner Brothers, but the other five major film studios. No one wants to watch Lionsgate, an independent producer." The company steps on them and takes their cake and eat it.

The Big Six are more urgent than us in defeating Link, but what's the use?

Not only "The Hunger Games" has been a hit this year for Lionsgate, but several other movies have also done well at the box office. Now that Lionsgate has money and people, it also has a very sound distribution channel, even if Warner wants to suppress Lionsgate. Chance. "

"No chance at all?"

Harvey didn't want to hear such pessimistic words. "Lionsgate is far worse than Warner Bros. If they are willing to take action, they will definitely dent Lionsgate in the film market."

"The price is too high. President Jeff Robinoff told me that Lions Gate is doing well now and there are no weaknesses that can be exploited, just like Link in the ring, who cannot be defeated.

The only thing we can do now is to make more blockbuster movies, squeeze Lionsgate Pictures in terms of total box office, and force Lionsgate Pictures to invest more money in promoting and releasing movies. For a wholly-owned company like Lionsgate Pictures, Generally speaking, the more you invest, the greater the risk. As long as one or two major productions suffer losses, Lions Gate's capital chain will have problems.

And now Lionsgate has benefited a lot from the big-budget "The Hunger Games". They may invest in more big-budget productions in the future. As long as they are obsessed with big-budget productions, they will always encounter box office bombs in the future. We don't need to take action at that time, Link There will also be a lot of trouble with Lionsgate. We just need to be patient now and wait for the good show. "

Bob spread his hands and said.

Harvey frowned, "Wait? If Link is calmer, sticks to the low-cost route, and does not participate too much in big productions, and Lionsgate's financial situation will not be a problem, then how should we watch his show?"

"If Link is really so calm and rational, and has good luck, and we still have to go against him, will it look like we are irrational?"

Bob asked rhetorically.

Harvey's face darkened. He wanted to refute but had nothing to say. If Link was really that powerful, it would be uneconomical to deal with him, but Harvey felt unhappy if he didn't deal with him.

"Hmph, I don't believe that Link will always be so lucky. Just like this "Lawless", he must have hoped for a big hit when he invested in it. Unfortunately, he was wrong."

"maybe."

Bob pointed at the newspaper and said, "This movie was originally a movie by Megan Ellison. She lacked investment, so she asked Link for help. Link probably agreed to invest only if he couldn't push it, so to be precise, this The movie is not part of Link’s selection.”

"Where's the master?"

Harvey asked sullenly.

"The Master was Joaquin Phoenix's investment in Linkarat. I'm not sure whether he did it for Joaquin's sake or because of the script."

Bob said hesitantly, stroking his fat chin.

Harvey cursed Damn Link. Originally, he had read the script of "The Master" and felt that it was not very profitable, so he did not invest. Later, Link chose to invest, and Bob went up with the banknotes to ask for cooperation.

Now it seems that they were deceived by the title of Link's Gold Medal Movie Investors, so much so that they lost their basic judgment when investing.

This was an amateurish mistake.

Boom, boom, boom!

The assistant knocked at the door.

"What's up?"

Harvey asked shamelessly.

"Boss, this is the box office performance of this week's premiere, including Lionsgate's "The Witness Protection Program."

The assistant handed over a document.

It was also Harvey's request that he need to know the box office performance of every Lionsgate movie. Today is the day when the premiere box office of "Dark Lady 2" will be released.

He took it and glanced at it, his face suddenly turned ugly.

This week's box office champion is "Teddy Bear" starring Mark Wahlberg, with a box office of US$54.41 million in its first three days. Compared with a cost of 50 million, this movie is undoubtedly a big hit.

The runner-up at the box office is the animated film "Brave" released last week, with a box office of US$52.16 million this week and a cumulative box office of US$130 million. The results are also good.

Ranked third is the autobiographical movie "Magic Mike" starring Channing Tatum, which grossed 36.12 million at the box office in its first three days. Compared with the cost of 7 million, it is also a box office dark horse.

Ranked fourth is Lionsgate Pictures' "Dark Lady 2," which grossed US$26.51 million at the North American box office in its first three days. The film cost 20 million to produce and made back its money within three days of release. There is no doubt that, Link and Lionsgate could make a killing again with this low-budget film.

Counting "Buried Alive", "The Hunger Games", "The Cabin in the Woods" and "The Untouchables", among the movies released by Lionsgate this year, five movies have already been blockbusters or blockbusters, and the remaining few movies have average box office. Enough to protect capital.

In the first half of this year, among the five films discovered by Weinstein, only "The Artist" and "The Iron Lady" were blockbusters. The other three films had small box office losses. In the first half of the year, the total box office of the films released by Weinstein Films was only 2.4 100 million, which is much less than Lionsgate’s 780 million.

Thinking of this, Harvey couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

"Harvey, what's wrong with you? Do you want to call the doctor?"

Bob saw that his face was sweating.

"No! I'll go to the set to check it out."

Harvey threw down the documents with a sullen face and asked the driver to drive to the studio. This year, Weinstein Films' movies are far behind Lions Gate in terms of box office performance. If this continues, by the end of the year, Lions Gate may not even have a quarter. nor.

He felt uneasy sitting in the office and felt more at ease staying on the set and watching.

Bob picked up the documents on the table and took a look, and he had to envy Lionsgate Pictures' ability to make money, even though Lionsgate Pictures' total movie box office in the first half of the year was less than Sony-Columbia, Warner Pictures, Disney, and Universal.

However, most of the films released by Lionsgate are low-cost movies. The production costs are much lower than those of the six major film studios. The investment is small and the profits are large. This is the profit method that all film companies dream of.

Bob shook his head. Maybe he should talk to Link and find ways to strengthen cooperation.

——

At this time, Link also saw the premiere box office data of "The Crazy Witness Protection Program" and was a little surprised.

He has seen this movie. Although the plot is funny, the quality is average.

I thought that the sequel of this kind of movie would barely break even, but I didn't expect that it would be able to make back its money at the premiere box office. According to this situation, the North American box office is more than 60 million, and Lionsgate Pictures can earn at least 30 to 40 million on this project.

very good.

Subsequent installments of this series can also be continued.

At the same time, he also saw "Magic Mike" starring Channing Tatum. The North American box office of this movie is estimated to be more than 100 million, and it is destined to be a big hit, including "The Boys" starring Channing Tatum in March. , with a North American box office of 130 million.

Channing Tatum is very popular this year.

The Lionsgate film "The Vow" also stars Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams.

Affected, the box office situation should be better.

Lionsgate may be able to score another movie with a box office of over 100 million in North America.

However, Lionsgate Pictures has become a thorn in the eyes of many people. The more they strive upward, the greater the pressure they will endure.

For this reason, in addition to training and raising children, Link will continue to read scripts, read best-selling books, and try to find more good film projects.

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