Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The box office results of the second weekend of the movie "Fast and Furious" were summarized by Universal's distribution department, which was 3.2 million US dollars.

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

It was not because Ronald's genius shocked them, but because this result broke the convention and showed that they were relatively incompetent.

In the second week, Universal's printing plant printed 100 copies of "Fast and Furious" and distributed them in theaters on the West Coast. The total number of theaters showing the film reached nearly 600 theaters.

By dividing the weekend box office by the number of theaters showing the film, Universal's distribution department discovered an embarrassing fact that the average box office per theater did not decrease but increased.

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

Their box office estimate for "Fast and Furious" was completely wrong. Without giving more prime time and limited theaters showing the film, the attendance and box office of "Fast and Furious" climbed up by word of mouth.

The first reaction of the distribution department was to apply to the superiors to ask the printing plant to print another 200 copies to meet the copy needs of more and more theaters. This movie has great staying power, and the average box office per theater has surpassed that of "The Best Chicken House in Texas" starring Dolly Parton.

The second director of the marketing department who felt embarrassed. "Fast and Furious" did not release any marketing materials because the movie did not have any marketing budget originally, and more than half of it was cancelled by Tom Mount's regional distribution strategy.

This movie has attracted the attention of many media, and some local TV stations have begun to talk about the popularity of this movie among teenagers. At least, there are more and more teenagers on the street who start to say "Like" with a valley accent in every sentence.

This kind of movie that relies on word of mouth from the audience and counterattacks at the box office after its release has a special term called "Sleeper Hit". Some newspaper reporters have begun to call this movie another Sleeping Beauty.

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

Therefore, their applications were also sent to the desks of Sheenberg and Ned Tanin, hoping to increase the marketing budget, so that at least several leading actors and directors can go on a roadshow along the originally planned route and accept interviews from local media in Dallas, Chicago, New York, Boston and other places in Texas.

Moreover, the marketing department went a step further and proposed to break the plan of only showing the film on the West Coast, print more copies, and release it in the East Coast and central cities as soon as possible.

This was not part of their job scope, but the supervisor who was ridiculed by the media every day could not stand it and made cross-functional suggestions.

Otherwise, they were ridiculed by the media on the West Coast, and in the end the film would probably still be shown on the East Coast screen, and would be ridiculed by the New York media again. Their mouths are more poisonous, and I don’t know what ugly words they will say.

Sheenberg, who received the application, sighed very much. It seems that it was a big mistake that he did not support Ronald with all his 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 50 million, or even higher. Such box office results can be ranked in the top 15 of the box office list in this era of generally weak movie box office.

If the two films he supported were both among the top 15 of the annual box office, his authority in Universal Pictures would be greatly enhanced.

Moreover, this "Fast and Furious" also collected a lot of pop music as interludes, so he could release a soundtrack album, which would also be of great help to his voice in the music business of the parent company MCA.

However, at that time, the box office of "ET the Alien" was already in sight, and his strategy of not taking risks could not be said to be wrong.

The key is that he lacked the courage to promote Spielberg. Once a person sits in a high position, he tends to look ahead and behind.

Ned Tanin regretted more than Sheinberg.

He had clearly supported Ronald once and approved the budget for Brooke Shields to reshoot. He should have supported him to the end in the controversy of this release.

At that time, he still considered too much balance and maintained the safe operation of his position, and made a compromise.

In the final analysis, as a senior executive, he lacked the ability to empathize with the majority of middle-class audiences. Including Sheinberg, which executive can really tell whether a movie is appreciated by the audience?

After shaking his head and sighing, Tanin quickly expanded the scale of screening, signed the application for screening in the East Coast and the Mid-South, and then rang the bell to connect with the secretary.

"When will Director Ronald Lee come to discuss the new distribution plan? Well... Remember to remind me when the time comes, I want to meet him. I need to have a good chat with such a director."

Anyway, there is still a Tom Mount, who is even worse off than me... Tanin thought with a bit of gloating.

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

"Fast Pace" may also be a movie with insufficient stamina. Many of these youth 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" was also released, which is expected to continue to pull down some of the box office.

Who knew that the report he saw today, Monday, the glaring numbers in the "Fast Pace" column gave him a heavy blow. In the second weekend of its release, the box office has exceeded 8 million, and it is expected to exceed 10 million by the middle of next week.

The application for expanding the third weekend to nationwide screening was also placed next to it, which seemed like a provocation to him.

Alas, these department heads probably heard some rumors and were no longer afraid of him.

Tom Mount opened the drawer and took out the resignation letter he had prepared long ago. He adjusted his tie, combed his hair, smoothed the wrinkles on his suit in front of the mirror in the closet, pushed the door open and walked towards Sheinberg's office.

"This is my resignation letter." Mount handed the resignation letter from Sheinberg's desk to him.

"You don't have to do this..."

"I insist," Mount unbuttoned the metal buttons of his suit gracefully and sat down opposite the desk.

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

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

"Have a drink, Tom." He took out a bottle of brandy and poured a glass for this old rival.

"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 stood up to protest.

"Sit down," Sheenberg shouted.

Mount was startled by his sudden rebuke and sat down again.

"This is the final condition. I have negotiated with Mr.... from MCA. We will not pursue your various dereliction of duty during your time at the company, nor will we pursue the love affairs that the lawyer helped you settle."

"You!" Mount was furious when he heard that he had given his father-in-law the legal documents that the company's lawyer had used to handle his love debts.

He was about to get up and leave, but when he thought that he had lost his senior job and needed the nod of Universal's president to get the green light for his production company's movies, he sat back down.

Sheenberg looked at his dejected appearance and let out a grudge.

"Everything else will be done according to the usual practice. You will retain your position in the company for six months, and your office will be reserved until the end of the year. Universal will sign a hair contract for five films for your new company, and will invest..., share..., and I will ask the lawyer to give you the documents."

"Drink some." Sheenberg picked up the wine glass and clinked it with Mount.

In the copyright department's office downstairs, two film buyers from Universal Television and NBC Los Angeles were still waiting in the conference room for the department director to return from the meeting.

"This fast-paced film was first spotted by Universal Television, and we should be given the first round of broadcast rights."

"No, no, no, NBC's TV network on the West Coast is bigger than Universal, so we should broadcast the first round first."

The manager sitting opposite them watched the performance of the two buyers and felt amused. It was only when he saw that the news about this film was gradually increasing in the TV entertainment news that he remembered that he still had a broadcast contract in his hand, so he came to seek the first broadcast rights.

This director is really a bit magical. Now even social news has news about his film.

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

"Gentlemen, good news and bad news."

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

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

At the same time, in the president's office of Paramount Pictures, President Michael Eisner was talking with production director and vice president Katzenberg.

"An Officer and a Gentleman's box office performance remains stable, and the distribution department expects a box office of more than 100 million."

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

"Debra Winger has another contract, and Richard Gere has fulfilled it."

"How is the rest of the production progress?"

"Brian De Palma's new film encountered some difficulties, but it can be handled."

"Okay, let me know if there is anything I can do."

Eisner pointed to a column on the box office report and asked Katzenberg, "What is this Universal Fast Pace movie? The director's name seems familiar?"

"It's a youth exploitation film. Ronald Lee, originally the screenwriter, we also competed for the script he wrote for Jane Fonda. Then he recently helped Lou Adler reshoot the ending of the movie."

"Oh, how is the quality?"

"Except for the ending that looks like a music video, the rest is garbage and it will be difficult to be released in theaters."

"Ha. How about this, since it's a music video, why not send it to MTV for playback, and then release the movie. If the box office is not good, sell it to cable TV as a late-night movie."