Chapter 324: Suppressing DreamWorks
Although it has suffered a certain negative impact, the trend of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is still quite stable.
After the first weekend, during the four working days of the following week, it earned US$18.976 million, US$20.245 million, US$19.337 million, and US$19.452 million respectively.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" has been in North America for seven days, and the film's North American box office has reached the level of 176.5 million US dollars.
But this weekend, DreamWorks' "Shrek" will be released.
As mentioned before, although "Shrek" is an animated movie, it has a different audience than "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers".
However, the number of theaters and screens in North America is limited. One extra screen for "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" means one less for other movies.
So no matter what, the two movies are still somewhat competitive.
Interestingly, when Spielberg walked out of the DreamWorks headquarters building, he was caught by reporters and asked what he thought of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."
Spielberg was generous with his praise, and the old man said this: "I watched little Gilbert grow up step by step, and I am not surprised that he can achieve what he has today.
He revolutionized the way horror films, action films, science fiction films and even epic films were shot.
There is no doubt that Gilbert Jr. has had a profound impact on Hollywood today, and I am so proud of him. "
It is recognized by the outside world that Gilbert Jr. is a student of Spielberg. Nowadays, students have made achievements that are no less than that of teachers. Spielberg can't be jealous at all.
DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, who are currently cooperating with Spielberg on "How to Get Away with Murder", were also interviewed. DiCaprio certainly had to praise his good brother's movie.
"You know, man, little Gilbert has always been great, he has unparalleled talent, and the success of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is inevitable..."
The talkative little Li Zi had such a lively chat that the reporters who were interviewing him were all stunned.
The reporter quickly interrupted and continued to interview Tom Hanks. Xiao Lizi is still unfinished and has many, many more things to say.
Tom Hanks said: "I worked with Gilbert Jr. on "Saving Private Ryan" and I know what an excellent director he is.
So it's normal and no surprise to me that the film did so well. "
Although Spielberg said good things, it can't change the fact that "Shrek" will be released the weekend after "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers".
What's even more terrible is that this film was actually independently released by DreamWorks, without involving other Hollywood giants.
This suddenly made Hollywood giants wary.
Hollywood giants don't care about Lionsgate and New Line Cinema, because no matter how much these companies develop, they will only be second-tier companies.
But DreamWorks is different. DreamWorks has the potential to become a giant.
Hollywood giants both cooperate and compete, but there is one point that the giants have acquiesced in, and that is not allowing new giants to join.
Therefore, DreamWorks has been comprehensively suppressed by the giants, and this time is no exception.
In order to gain more space for "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", Disney and Warner have joined forces. Robert Iger personally called other giant companies to suppress DreamWorks' distribution.
"Ron, we will never allow DreamWorks to grow and develop. I recommend a complete blockade of this movie." Robert Iger called Universal Pictures CEO Ron Meyer.
Ron Meyer was originally one of the five giants of CAA. He was a colleague of Michael Ovitz and founded CAA together.
But soon Ron Meyer and Michael Ovitz had disagreements, left CAA, and then joined the film company as an executive.
Compared to Michael Ovitz's troubles at Disney, Ron Meyer undoubtedly had a much smoother time.
After Universal Pictures went through some chaotic adjustments at the parent company and internally, Ron Meyer successfully secured his position as CEO. Universal Pictures' performance is pretty good, making him as stable as a rock.
Although the success of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" made Ron Meyer jealous, because little Gilbert was once one of Universal Pictures' own.
It was because of the lack of vision of the previous leaders that Universal Pictures missed out on a super director like Gilbert Jr.
But Robert Iger is right, jealousy is jealousy, and that is the business of the giants themselves. But DreamWorks is not allowed to join this giant game.
Therefore, Ron Meyer promised: "Don't worry, Universal Pictures will definitely restrict DreamWorks in its theatrical media announcements."
Robert Egger was very satisfied, chatted a few more details, and then hung up the phone.
Robert Iger and Doug Walter were working together, and except for MGM, which was already failing, the other six major Hollywood giants all agreed to participate in the suppression of DreamWorks.
When the new week comes, the media under the six major giants launch a campaign against "Shrek", and the online trolls are also busy and start to set the pace.
Since "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" was smeared by trolls, Hollywood giants have learned from one example and realized the greater role of trolls on the Internet.
So "Shrek" became the second movie to be attacked.
To make matters worse, Disney is about to release an animated movie with a similar theme this year called "Monsters, Inc." So Internet trolls started to take the lead, suggesting that "Shrek" is a plagiarism from "Monsters, Inc." Although the stories told by the two animated films are very different, it does not prevent Disney from making a fuss about them.
So when the weekend comes and the audience walks into the cinema to choose a movie, this sound will appear.
"There's "Shrek" this week. How about we go see this movie?"
"Don't go. This movie is plagiarized and imitated by Disney. Let's go watch "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"!"
Of course, some people don't care whether they plagiarize or not.
Just like many people in the previous life didn't care whether "Li Ren Zou" was plagiarized, as long as it sounded good, it was enough. "Shrek" is good to watch, and that's enough for the audience.
The difference is that "The Sorrow of Leaving People" was really done. Of course "Shrek" wasn't plagiarized, it was just discredited.
In addition to these means, Hollywood giants restricted "Shrek" in terms of theaters, so that "Shrek" could only open in 2,250 theaters in its first weekend.
It's not bad at all, but DreamWorks Cinemas was expected to open with 3,500 theaters. Now there are 1,250 fewer theaters, at least tens of millions less of a source of box office revenue.
But even so, "Shrek" still took in $41.5 million in its first weekend, ranking second at the weekly box office.
Of course, it goes without saying that the first one was “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”, which grossed US$60.938 million the following weekend, retaining the title of weekly box office champion.
Ten days after the film was released, the North American box office has exceeded 200 million, reaching 237.438 million US dollars, achieving better results than "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring".
If it hadn't been hit by negative reviews, "The Two Towers" might have exceeded $250 million at the box office in ten days.
But these two movies have one thing in common, that is, the peripherals sell very well.
Needless to say, the box office of animated movies has never been very high, except for movies like "The Lion King". The biggest source of income for animated movies is actually peripherals.
And "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" not only had a high box office, but its peripheral revenue also broke various records.
When the film passed its second weekend, Gilbert Jr. had already brought the crew to New York on the East Coast for promotion.
Coincidentally, a party for peripheral product marketers was held here in New York, and little Gilbert was invited to attend the party to deepen his relationship with the peripheral marketers.
"Let me introduce to you, this is Ferdy Collins, the largest merchandiser in the Bay Area."
Little Gilbert shook hands with Collins: "Hello, Mr. Collins."
Collins also did not forget to introduce his girlfriend to little Gilbert: "This is Ziyi Zhang, an actress. She starred in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"..."
Looking at the well-behaved woman beside him, little Gilbert was not very enthusiastic. With his status, facing a young actor is not worth having too many emotional fluctuations.
Therefore, little Gilbert simply shook hands with Zi Yizhang, and then went on to chat with Collins about surrounding matters.
Zi Yi Zhang was a little disappointed. Little Gilbert had no interest in getting to know her at all.
She thought of Xu Qing last year. She heard that Xu Qing had been Little Gilbert's assistant for two months on the set of "The Lord of the Rings". Who knew if the two of them had any relationship in the past two months.
Moreover, Xu Qing was invited to attend the premiere of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" last year. After returning, the name of Xu Qing, an international superstar, was attached.
To be honest, Zi Yizhang's method of converting exports into domestic sales was learned from Xu Qing, and his methods were even more sophisticated.
Because Ziyi Zhang starred in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" with a global box office of 125 million US dollars, and there is also "Rush Hour 2" waiting to be released this year.
With the support of his works, the name of this international superstar will be even more famous.
"How are sales in the Bay Area?" Gilbert Jr. chatted with Collins.
Collins looked very excited: "It's pretty good. Last week, one store generated sales of 150,000 US dollars in one day. The peripheral products of "Lord of the Rings" are so popular that many products are sold out.
The goods from China are not only of good quality, but also very low cost, which is much more cost-effective than producing them in North America. "
"That's good," said little Gilbert, who was quite satisfied after learning about the peripheral products.
In the past ten days, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" has generated $212 million in peripheral sales. According to the peripheral sharing agreement, Melon Studio has received more than 30 million US dollars in the past ten days alone.
Little Gilbert's personal income is also high. At the end of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," Little Gilbert's personal remuneration totaled US$245 million.
This data is successful, allowing Gilbert Jr. to successfully surpass the US$230 million earned by George Lucas on "Star Wars Episode I" and become the first person on the director's income list.
Of course, like Gilbert Jr., George Lucas has Lucasfilm. But the individual is an individual, and the income of the company must be separated.
Therefore, it is foreseeable that in this "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", little Gilbert's income will reach a higher level.
(End of chapter)