Monday, April 20.

Just after Easter with my family, Peter Sanders received a call and rushed to Fox Cinema.

Ronald Goldberg's assistant acted in a hurry on the phone and hung up before he could tell. Peter Sanders knew very well that things must be related to the box office of "The Butterfly Effect" the next weekend.

Walking into a conference room in the cinema's administrative building, Peter Sanders found that there were five or six people waiting here, basically all executives of the publicity and distribution department, but Ronald Goldberg had not appeared yet.

Before he could sit down at the conference table, Peter Sanders keenly captured a certain number mixed with the discussion.

“…11.86 million…”

11.86 million?!

Strongly feeling that he might have heard it wrong, Peter Sanders snatched the folder handed over by the other party from the meeting secretary, stood there and flipped it open.

The first page is the latest three-day box office data report on the weekend.

"Butterfly Effect", US$11.86 million, -17%.

It's indeed $11.86 million!

Moreover, compared with the box office data of US$14.31 million in the first weekend, the decline in the second week of "Butterfly Effect" far exceeded everyone's expectations, with only 17%.

Peter Sanders couldn't help but start his mind quickly.

The box office decline of 17% the next weekend. If such a trend continues, the total box office in North America will exceed 100 million US dollars, which is definitely very likely.

The question now is, what exactly happened?

Peter Sanders was standing there a little stunned. Ronald Goldberg walked in with a few people and sat directly at the head of the conference table. Seeing Peter Sanders' appearance, Goldberg said very kindly: "Peter, why are you standing there? Sit."

Peter Sanders came to his senses, nodded at the other party with a smile, and walked to the conference table to sit down.

The meeting secretary began to distribute another document.

Ronald Goldberg and others sat down and said directly: "Everyone should have seen it. That's right, $11.86 million, the box office fell by only 17% the next week. As for what happened? I asked someone to temporarily summarize the recent audience survey results of the company's publicity and distribution department, which can probably explain the reason. However, this is not the most important thing. The key now is how to maintain this box office trend and how to make the box office of "Butterfly Effect" cross the $100 million threshold."

In the years since he was in charge of Fox Pictures, the company is finally about to usher in a work that is expected to exceed 100 million in the box office in North America. Ronald Goldberg's tone is filled with an unconcealed excitement.

Peter Sanders listened to Ronald Goldberg and began to discuss with everyone about increasing the scale of the screening of "Butterfly Effect" as soon as possible and adjusting the film marketing strategy. He opened another document he just obtained and read the analysis of the reasons for the box office trend of "Butterfly Effect" the next week.

In the report summary, several sets of data from the "Butterfly Effect" audience questionnaire survey in various parts of North America were specially marked.

“The proportion of audiences in the age group of 18-26 years: 43%.

“Audience rating on a 10-point scale: 7.7.”

"The proportion of viewers who choose to watch due to "Rola Run" is affected by: 81%.

“The proportion of viewers not affected by comments: 33%.

“The proportion of viewers who believe the film is subject to unfair comments from the media: 76%.

"The proportion of audience recommendations to friends after watching movies is: 69%.

Interior of the conference room.

Just after reading this set of data in front of him, Peter Sanders already roughly understood why the box office trend of "Butterfly Effect" in the next week was beyond everyone's expectations.

The research report also clearly pointed out that compared with the overwhelming negative media reviews, "Butterfly Effect" has a much higher reputation among the audience, and the 7.7 audience ratings are basically within the category of an excellent movie.

At the same time, since the audience group of "Butterfly Effect" tends to be younger, these people rarely read newspapers on weekdays and prefer friends to recommend movie viewing targets. Therefore, the one-sided negative reviews of the media have far less impact on the box office of the film than Fox predicts.

The report also speculated that the popularity of "Rolla Run" has brought a huge potential audience base to "Butterfly Effect". Although some viewers temporarily gave up watching the movie due to the negative media reviews in the first week, they still chose to enter the theater after the reputation of the film's audience spread, which also greatly contributed to a slight decline of only 17% the next weekend.

The films released by major Hollywood film companies basically conduct similar audience surveys. These data already existed before the box office of "Butterfly Effect" was released on the weekend.

However, the media's negative reviews against "Butterfly Effect" were too fierce, and no one on Fox could have a sense of security because of these data.

Now that the box office results of the film have been released, it is easy to use data inverse reason.

At the end of the day.

Movies are ultimately a high-risk business that is as unpredictable as the weather.

After reading the report, Peter Sanders looked up and an executive in the publicity and distribution department was expressing his views.

"In addition to these, I think we can fully exaggerate the strong contrast between media bad reviews and the box office of the film through public opinion regulation, making people believe that "Butterfly Effect" has been treated very unfairly. We can even suggest that someone is deliberately smearing the movie, which can maximize the audience's sympathy and rebellious psychology and guide more people into the theater."

After hearing this, Ronald Goldberg nodded in approval and said, "Nick, you can make a detailed implementation plan as soon as possible. I will ask New York to cooperate. So, just like that for the time being, everyone will work hard. Remember, I will see the screening of "Butterfly Effect" increase to more than 1,700 yuan this Friday."

It was a promotional and promotion strategy adjustment meeting. Peter Sanders was called up because he was directly responsible for the vice president of production, but he did not express any opinions throughout the process.

After Ronald announced the end of the meeting, Peter Sanders also stood up and was about to leave with everyone, but was stopped by Ronald Goldberg.

"Peter, the next promotion of "Butterfly Effect" requires the cooperation of Simon Westeros. You should be responsible for contacting this matter. In addition, I remember Daenerys Pictures is still preparing a romantic film, and you can ask me to make an evaluation report again."

Peter Sanders nodded and agreed. When Ronald Goldberg left, he raised his wrist and looked at his watch. It was just nine o'clock in the morning.

at the same time.

As the new week of working hours begins, the box office data of "Butterfly Effect" will quickly spread throughout Hollywood.

Compared with the box office curve that "Run Lola" was quite traceable, the box office of "Butterfly Effect" surprised too many people the next weekend. Until the report inside Fox gradually spread, many people finally believed this fact.

The first week was $21.69 million, and the next weekend was $11.85 million.

In just ten days, the total box office of "Butterfly Effect" has reached 33.55 million US dollars. There is no doubt that even if it cannot exceed 100 million in the end, the movie will definitely be able to squeeze into the top ten annual box office rankings.

Thinking of this, many people suddenly realized it again.

Including "Running Lola", a young man who has been making his mark in Hollywood for less than a year, has unknowingly created two movies that are enough to squeeze into the top ten of the annual box office list in North America.

Even Steven Spielberg has never created such a miracle.

Realizing this, Daenerys Pictures, located in an office building in Santa Monica, suddenly attracted strong attention from the entire Hollywood again.

In Hollywood, one success is also regarded as accidental, but two successes are enough to prove too much. Now, since two miracles have been created, Simon Westeros' good luck may not come to an abrupt end.

Daenerys Pictures Headquarters.

It was already afternoon.

Simon's office is now ushering in a heavyweight visitor, C+ President, Michael Orwitz.

Due to the internal turmoil in WMA last year, C+ took the opportunity to poach a large number of top stars. With the company and its mature packaging operation mechanism, Michael Orwitz is definitely one of the most powerful people in Hollywood at this time.

However, on the other hand, Michael Orwitz is an extremely low-key person.

In my memory, it was not until the late 1980s that as C+ became more powerful and the media spared no effort to dig it out, Michael Orwitz, the "giant crocodile" hidden inside Hollywood, finally surfaced and ranked first in the Hollywood power list of "Premiere" magazine for many consecutive times.

On the sofa in the reception area, Simon and Orwitz sat opposite each other.

Michael Orwitz has a easy-going temperament that naturally makes people feel close, but his words are straightforward, saying: "Simon, these days, you have sent out cooperation invitations to many clients such as John Travolta, Robert Redford, Meg Ryan, etc. So, in order to make it easier for us to cooperate, how about joining C+?"

As soon as he spoke, Simon felt the strong desire for control of this C+ boss.

However, he just shook his head slightly and smiled, "Sorry, Michael, I already have an agent. Moreover, even if I join C+, I will not sign a share contract with you."

"Of course, our company is actually very flexible in this regard. Spielberg is also our client. We signed a fixed salary contract with him," Michael Orwitz also smiled, and finally added with some slightest comment: "Just like you are in WMA."

"So that's the case," Simon shrugged, "Michael, you should know that I will never terminate the contract with Joe easily. If it weren't for him, I might still be a cashier in a supermarket. So, let's talk about Bob's pay."

Michael Orwitz nodded, not chasing as rumored, or just not showing it yet, and simply changed the subject, saying, "Bob called me and he wanted to play a cameo role in your new movie. I've read the script, and seriously, I don't think it's a good choice. But you know, we'll always meet everything we need from our clients as much as possible. So, Simon, $1 million, Bob is definitely worth that."
Chapter completed!