Hollywood Director 1992

On June 10th, Guess Pictures' "Speed" was released amidst difficulties.

The reason for the difficulties was that three blockbusters were released on the same day:

The first was the comedy film "Hick Conquest of New York" distributed by Universal Pictures, starring Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland, with a production cost of $22 million.

The second was "Beverly Hills Cop III" distributed by Paramount Pictures, starring the famous Black comedian Eddie Murphy.

The first film in the series was also the first film to be released in more than 2,000 theaters across the United States, grossing $316 million worldwide. The second film was released in '87, grossing $299 million worldwide. The third film was created by the original team, and it is conservatively estimated that the global box office will exceed $200 million.

The third was Disney Pictures' comedy film "Army Men," with a production cost of $35 million.

In addition, there were movies still showing, such as "The Flintstones," "Maverick," and "The Crow," as well as "The Lion King," which was to be released next week.

It would be extremely difficult for "Speed" to break through the encirclement of so many blockbusters and achieve good box office results.

Considering the film's production cost of $30 million and a high publicity budget of $10 million, many media outlets predicted that the film might lose money, which could be the beginning of Guess Pictures' downfall.

However, after the first week's box office results were released, "Speed's" box office performance exceeded everyone's expectations:

It grossed $20.75 million in 2,147 theaters in North America in its opening week, topping the weekly box office charts.

In second place was "Beverly Hills Cop III," which grossed $11.42 million in 2,748 theaters.

The average daily box office per theater was only $1,337, far below the passing line, and far below the expectations of Paramount Pictures and the media.

The film's production cost was as high as $50 million. Before its release, in order to suppress "Speed" in terms of momentum, Paramount Pictures increased the film's publicity budget from $5 million to $10 million, and also invited big stars such as Tom Cruise to promote it.

In addition, Paramount Pictures' distribution department also increased the film's release scale to more than 2,700 theaters, more than three hundred more than "Jurassic Park's" premiere theaters.

The original prediction was that the first week's box office would not be less than $30 million, but the result was less than half of the prediction.

The weekly box office results caused heated discussions in the entertainment industry.

Some lamented that "Speed" was competitive enough. Even when faced with the encirclement of seven or eight blockbusters, it could still break through and win the championship. It was too amazing.

Some envied Guess Pictures for its good luck. "Dumb and Dumber" sold well in April, and "Speed" sold well again in May, even better than the seven major film companies and their movies.

Others felt it was a pity that Guess Pictures' new films continued to sell well, and it could probably survive for a while longer.

Many media outlets also published articles discussing the gains and losses of the two films.

"Complete Movie" magazine analyzed three reasons for the success of "Speed's" premiere box office:

First, the film's plot design was wonderful and varied.

There were gun battles and car chases, wits and courage between police and bandits, handsome men and beautiful women, love scenes, and explosion scenes that the audience liked to watch during the summer season. It can be said that there were many highlights and rich and colorful content. It was a commercial film with a high production standard.

Second, the film's casting was relatively successful.

The male lead of the film was Keanu Reeves, who was handsome, agile, and one of Hollywood's popular young actors, one of the most handsome stars.

The female lead Sandra Bullock was beautiful and had a hot and sexy figure, which also fit the aesthetics of male audiences.

The two played a couple and had a strong sense of CP.

After the film was released, it was loved and supported by the majority of young people.

Third, Guess Pictures spared no effort in publicity and invested a lot of money in television publicity.

These three points were also the main reasons why "Speed's" box office exceeded media predictions.

"Complete Movie" magazine also analyzed three reasons for the box office failure of "Beverly Hills Cop III":

First, as the third film in the series, the plot was too old-fashioned and there was not much fresh content, and the audience was prone to aesthetic fatigue;

Second, in recent years, many fresh comedies have appeared in the film industry, including family-friendly comedies represented by "Home Alone", Quentin's black romantic violent comedies, and Jim Carrey's nonsensical hilarious comedies, etc.

Among them, the two comedies starring Jim Carrey were very popular after their release, indicating that the audience's tastes are changing, and they prefer fresh things, while Eddie Murphy's performance in "Beverly Hills Cop III" was too old-fashioned and has been abandoned by the market.

Third, there were too many heavyweight movies this week, and they were released in clusters. The quality was poor and the competitiveness was also poor, so the box office results would naturally not be too high.

These were also the main reasons why the big-selling series "Beverly Hills Cop III" encountered a box office failure.

Simply put, "Speed" was too strong and "Beverly Hills Cop III" was too weak. One sold well and the other was met with a cold reception. Both were the choice of the market and the audience.

If this matter were placed at ordinary times, it would not be considered big news.

It was just that these two films were regarded by Guess Pictures and the seven major film companies as weapons to compete for the box office market, giving them other functions and meanings.

"Speed's" surprise victory over "Beverly Hills Cop III" at the box office became intriguing.

In addition, the third place in this week's box office chart was "The Flintstones", which was released for four weeks, with a weekly box office of $6.83 million and a cumulative North American box office of $94.63 million. It is expected that the box office will exceed $100 million next week.

The fourth place was "Army Men", which was released this week, with $5.05 million.

The fifth place was "Hick Conquest of New York City", with $4.37 million.

The former may lose money, and the latter barely breaks even.

"Complete Movie" magazine had to announce that in this week's box office competition, "Speed" defeated many with one, winning a great victory.

The magazine published a cartoon on the cover. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock were driving the bus from the movie, violently crashing through several roadblocks with the names of movies such as "Beverly Hills Cop III" and "Army Men" written on them.

A golden 'Winner' label on the front of the car.

"Holy sh*t! God, why is this happening? !"

After the weekly box office results were released, Michael Ovitz and the executives of several film companies cursed at the report cards.

Before the arrival of the summer season, they carefully planned and arranged five or six blockbusters to jointly suppress the box office of "Speed", which was equivalent to five or six strong men ganging up on a young man. As a result, not only did they not win, but they were all beaten to the ground by the opponent.

This was too infuriating.

"Have these damn audiences never seen a police film before? 'Speed' is just an ordinary police film, far worse than the action films of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis. Why do they still want to watch it?"

Michael Ovitz was extremely angry.

North American audiences seemed to be deliberately going against him. It was the same when "The Firm" was released last year. If the audience had been a little more obedient and supported "The Firm" more, they might not have lost.

This "Speed" was the same. Although it was also good, it was not much stronger than the other movies, but the box office results were so much higher.

Michael Ovitz stared at the newspaper and gasped a few times, then called several partners to express his dissatisfaction.

Initially, when discussing suppressing Guess Pictures' films, he suggested arranging several high-level blockbusters to surround "Speed".

And these films sounded like blockbusters, but except for "Beverly Hills Cop III", the remaining films were not hard dishes, more like films cobbled together to launder money. The level was very average.

The seven major film companies were most responsible for this box office loss to Guess.

Warner Bros. Pictures President Miggs Gaus told him to be calm and not impatient. This week, Disney's animated blockbuster "The Lion King" will be released, and "Speed's" box office will definitely be greatly affected.

Ovitz was very upset. "Speed"'s first week box office was $20.75 million. Next week, the box office would break even. The minimum North American box office would be $60 million. It was another hit movie.

Under their joint suppression, Guess's films were still selling well.

What was the point of this suppression?

Universal Pictures President Sid Sheinberg said that they were company presidents, senior employees, not the owners of the company. All they could do was these things. They couldn't lose their jobs because of suppressing Guess Pictures.

Twentieth Century Fox President Barry Diller told him to be calm and not impatient. The action against Guess Pictures had just begun. This was a protracted war. It was not a big problem to lose a small game at the beginning. They must believe that the final victory would belong to them.

Ovitz cursed 'Sh*t' and hung up the phone heavily.

This small defeat was not because of his incompetence, but because the alliance members were not united and had their own plans. How could this situation defeat the wealthy Link?

"Michael, Guess Pictures is developing very strongly, no less than the seven major film companies. We are a brokerage company, and there are more benefits to cooperating with Guess Pictures. I suggest giving up the follow-up actions against Guess and instead cooperating with them. The company will also benefit from this."

Vice President Jay Moloney said.

"Cooperate with Link? Hmph, wait until you become the president of CAA. Now I am the president, and the company's attitude towards Guess Pictures must listen to me."

Michael Ovitz shouted.

Jay Moloney shrugged his shoulders and said nothing more.

After Ovitz finished speaking, he realized that his emotions were a little out of control, so he slowed down his tone and apologized to Jay Moloney.

At this time, it was not that he didn't want to improve relations with Link, but that he couldn't. He had already stood on the side of the alliance and had become an important figure in the alliance.

If he suddenly changed his position and cooperated with Link, what credibility would he have in the eyes of others?

In addition, the current entertainment capital had already set its sights on the fat meat of Guess, and Link was unwilling to hand it over to share. Entertainment capital would continue to hunt Guess Pictures. They would never allow such a large piece of fat meat to be swallowed by Link alone.

That is to say, their actions against Link and Guess Pictures had been tacitly approved by the capital and were preparing to watch a good show.

At this time, if he suddenly stopped acting, he would appear very incompetent in the eyes of others, which did not fit his status as the number one person on the Hollywood power list.

In addition, he had lost to Link twice in a row, losing a lot of funds, resources, and prestige.

If he didn't win a game and regain what he had lost, he would have a knot in his heart, and he wouldn't be happy for the rest of his life.

Jay Moloney heard that he said it seriously, so he didn't persuade him anymore. He prepared to persuade Link again when playing golf tomorrow, advising him to stop while he was slightly ahead, accept the management of capital, and not make too much trouble.