Chapter 107: Pioneer

"This is an excellent horror movie."

On the TV screen, producer Susan Arnold from DreamWorks is being interviewed by reporters, "The goal of "Ghost Invasion" is the box office champion, there is no doubt about this!"

The TV reporter asked: "What do you think of the real documentary "Blair the Witch" that was released at the same time? How about "Ghost Invasion"?"

Many reporters fear that the world will not be chaotic.

Susan-Arnold, as a veteran of DreamWorks, couldn't see the reporter's intentions. She just hesitated and replied: "Blair the Witch is not a selfie, it just uses some special shooting methods."

This kind of thing that anyone with a discerning eye can see, just talk about it. Of course, the popularity of "Blair the Witch" is just as hot as it can.

She told the truth: "It is unfair to compare "Ghost Invasion" to "Blair Witch". The production cost of "Ghost Invasion" is as high as 80 million US dollars!"

The meaning of this is obvious.

The interview was not long, and it ended soon.

Ronan picked up the remote control and turned off the TV.

"The people at DreamWorks are too much!" Robert said at this time: "They talk nonsense."

He looked at Ronan: "Do you want to refute?"

Ronan shook his head directly: "How can we refute what she said? She is not the only one who says this."

The public is not blind. "Blair the Witch" has been shown in 200 theaters for almost a week, and many media and movie fans have seen the problem with this film.

Online, in the newspapers, and in private, there are endless curses, but "Blair the Witch" not only has not been negatively affected, but it has become more popular.

A film can attract a lot of curse, and sometimes it is not a bad thing.

There are countless examples of the higher the box office.

"We are hiding behind the scenes and it's not suitable to stand out." Ronan said again: "It's not good for us to talk about it. DreamWorks just wants to keep the heat up."

Although many media have mentioned the name of Embassy Pictures, compared with the uproar of "Blair the Witch", basically no one pays attention to the distribution company.

Ronan's plan is very clear. When the film crew is pushed to the front of the stage, the media's curiosity and inquisitiveness will soon be satisfied.

"Don't worry about her?" Robert asked.

It seems that Ronan is not such a good-tempered person.

Ronan nodded slightly: "Don't worry about her, it's enough for us."

At the critical moment of the expanded screening of "Blair the Witch", I didn't want to cause any accidents, and I didn't have the time and energy to fight with the people at DreamWorks.

As for this weekend’s box office champion, it may not necessarily fall to anyone.

This weekend, there are only three theaters that have been screened on a larger scale: "Open Eyes", "Blair the Witch", and "Ghost Invasion" which opened this weekend.

The Hollywood film industry has developed to this day, not only has a complete industrial chain, but also established a more accurate market estimation mechanism.

A film is usually only shown in North American theaters for one to three days. The estimation mechanism can predict the next box office trend and even the final box office number based on the audience’s reputation and box office situation.

"Open Eyes" is the first to fall behind, just like the prediction of Emperor Entertainment Group. Although this film has the top lineup, Stanley Kubrick's film has never been known at the box office. The first week of the box office champion, more Much benefited from Stanley Kubrick's posthumous work and Tom Cruise's appeal.

Even the huge gimmick of Stanley Kubrick's posthumous work did not attract many viewers for the film.

On Friday, "Broad Eyes Ring" only got less than 3.5 million US dollars in the box office, and withdrew from the box office championship this week.

"Ghost Invasion" released by DreamWorks won $11.95 million, beating the $11.9 million of "Blair the Witch" and won the box office champion of the day.

Jane de Bont, who has directed "Life and Death" and "Tornado", is undoubtedly a well-known commercial director in Hollywood. Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta Jones are also some of the second-tier stars with certain appeal.

The cast of cast is the biggest bonus to the film's first week of box office.

"Ghost Invasion" grabbed a good start with the new movie release.

On the other hand, after the scale of "Blair the Witch" is expanded to 2,750 and more than 3,500 screens, attendance will inevitably drop by a large margin, and it is normal for the market to undergo short-term adjustments.

But on the next day, Saturday, "Blair the Witch" broke out again, taking $15.6 million in a single day, beating the $12.19 million in "Ghost Invasion", not only grabbing the box office champion of the day, but also here. A position ahead of the weekend.

As for "Open Eyes", the box office has just reached 6 million US dollars in two days, and it has been far behind.

Ronan took the time to collect information about "Eyes Wide Ring". This is not because he is interested in the rumors of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, nor does he want to see Nicole Kidman on a large scale. Lens.

There are countless large-scale dramas like Nicole Kidman, and she has seen countless times.

He is summing up experience and lessons.

Perhaps it was due to the type of film. Warner Bros. didn't work **** the announcement of "Eyes Eyes." Stanley Kubrick's posthumous stunt was not used at all.

For Hollywood movie promotion, the dead in the main creation are much better than the living.

If this film can develop a targeted plan based on the rumors of Stanley Kubrick and the Cruise couple, the North American box office is far from what it is now.

Ronan doesn't think this is because Warner Bros. respects Stanley Kubrick, but he is not very optimistic about this film.

Hollywood studios, who would hesitate when they should throw away their morals?

In a previous life, Warner Bros. was one of the most successful film companies that made money.

Maybe the success of that time just summed up the experience and lessons of this time.

Ronan simulated in his mind how to use the death of Stanley Kubrick to promote and market "Eyes Wide Ring", which can be considered as a way to accumulate some experience in the future. Maybe he can make a fortune anytime.

Unfortunately, it can only be simulated and cannot be used in practice.

Can't make a movie, just kill one of the main creators, right? That's crazy.

It's okay to drill into the legal loopholes, and forget about the practical legal instructions for making a fortune.

Sunday passed, the new week started, and the weekend box office was freshly released.

"Ghost Invasion" performed well in the first week of the box office. In more than 2,800 theaters, it scored 33.43 million US dollars in three days, which fully met DreamWorks' expectations.

But the box office champion missed them.

After completing the counter-attack on Saturday, "Blair the Witch" continued to lead the way on Sunday, winning the first box office championship since the film was released with $34.46 million in three days!

In addition to the previous gains, "Blair the Witch" has already received $53.4 million at the North American box office!

This has only been released for only ten days.

This box office figure is enough to allow Embassy Pictures to recover all its investment.

With the sudden increase in the number of audiences who saw the film, more and more voices questioned "Blair the Witch".

But questioning and arguing, what brought "Blair the Witch" is the box office numbers that have gone up all the way.

In the next four working days, the film received another 6.2 million US dollars in North America. On the third weekend, under the impact of Julia Roberts' new film "The Running Bride", it was only 3% lower than the next weekend. Ten, another $25.12 million will be collected.

This week's box office champion belongs to Julia Roberts. With the huge appeal of a Hollywood sister, "Lady Bride" easily won $35.05 million in the first weekend.

However, the box office of $25.12 million is enough to ensure that "Blair the Witch" suppressed the $15.25 million of "Ghost Invasion" and occupied the second place in the box office list.

The North American box office of "Blair the Witch" has accumulated over $80 million, reaching $84.72 million.

There is no doubt that this is a miracle in the media and Hollywood industry.

Anyone who knows a little about movie screenings can understand at this time that the North American box office of "Blair the Witch" must exceed 100 million, and 100 million US dollars is definitely not the end.

The high box office has naturally attracted more media attention, and as the media reported, they gradually focused on interpreting the essence of the film.

Pseudo documentaries like "Blair the Witch" are okay to create gimmicks during the propaganda stage. After a long time of screening, it is difficult for senior movie fans to cheat, let alone media reporters.

"This is a movie that has never appeared in the history of HollywoodBlair the Witch" created a historical precedent, shooting with novel DV recording techniques, giving every viewer a very real feeling , Allowing the audience to bring themselves into the world of Blair the Witch quite naturally. The protagonists’ every move draws the audience’s heartstrings. The first-person shooting technique is quite successful."

This is a relatively polite statement.

""Blair the Witch" is a complete scam. They use publicity and marketing to deceive the audience's new job, and then wantonly harvest the box office..."

The media have always had their own positions, so of course there is nothing wrong with this.

"Blair the Witch" is essentially a hoax.

There are also newspapers that are relatively fair: "Blair the Witch uses the tactic of'lost video tapes' to shoot movies with scripts like documentaries, confusing the audience's judgment on the authenticity of the film, and creating a new category in the industry."

Because of the novel narrative methods and promotion and marketing, the film was once thought to be a real documentary rather than a fictional work of art. It attracted the attention of many Hollywood companies, and some of them were analyzed as classic cases.

Regardless of what the media reported, Ronan let the Embassy Pictures stay behind. Even if media reporters came to interview, they all refused.

Don't admit, don't deny, don't respond, this is the strategy of Embassy Pictures.

But as more and more viewers realized that "Blair the Witch" was not a missing video, cursing gradually became mainstream.

Many viewers who have followed the incident but have not yet watched the film, heard someone scolding the film, but curiously bought tickets to watch it, and then watched it while scolding.

Ronan has been paying attention to the specific situation, knowing that the audience's dissatisfaction needs a channel to vent, otherwise it may burn the Embassy Pictures.