Made in Hollywood

Just like the "Jurassic Park" that exploded the summer program last year, "Independence Day" inevitably became the public enemy of all the films that were released after the first day of box office release. Starting from Saturday morning, the voices of criticism in the media were even stronger than yesterday. Loud, if you only look at public opinion, this is a movie that is so bad that it can't get any worse.

This situation has exceeded Duke's expectations in some respects. He knows that Hollywood is very competitive and is by no means a place of pure goodness, but he did not expect the competition to be so fierce.

Walt Disney's executives even called him to congratulate him on the front foot, and the back foot of their media was clamoring for the aliens in "Independence Day" to be scary with low IQs. How could they have invaded the earth?

There are also media closely related to Sony Entertainment, constantly picking out logical loopholes in the film, wishing to put all the bugs in front of the American public.

Originally, Duke thought that "Independence Day" had no strong competitors in the same period, and the whole screening process might be smoother. He never thought that the 20 million+ box office of "Independence Day" on the first day would detonate all possible competitors.

"Duke, you come from a wealthy background and don't know much about low- and middle-income families in the United States, right?"

Hearing the words of Robin Grande, who was sitting across from the desk, Duke nodded. According to what some people once said, America is paradise, but he has lived here for more than 20 years, but he understands that this place is absolutely Not heaven, and certainly not hell. In essence, it's not much different from the country we once lived in - the rich are rich, the poor are poor, human rights are all bullshit.

"Although movies are indeed a relatively cheap form of entertainment relative to income," Robin Grande continued, "but for low- and middle-income earners, the budget for movie tickets that can be set per month or even throughout the summer It is definitely limited, they choose this film, they will give up another film, and these people are the main group that contributes to the box office."

"So..." Duke understood immediately, "are we potentially competing with other films?"

"Look, Disney is smearing us for 'The Lion King,' and Paramount is smearing us for 'Forrest Gump,'" Robin Grande reminded him. A lot of the voices for Forrest Gump come from Warners and Fox.”

In the face of competition and interests, no one is more kind and noble than the other.

This is Duke's biggest feeling. If you want to work hard in Hollywood, you can't be afraid of competition. Which super-smashing movie didn't come out of the siege? Wasn't the big ship once surrounded and suppressed by the media and film critics? The results of it? It crushes all the dignity of film critics!

Although it doesn't have the pride of James Cameron's shouting 'I am the king of the world', Duke also wants to try, can he use a super-selling film like "Star Wars" to tear off the figurines of film critics , after all they have declared war on him!

Retreat and escape is by no means his style!

Meanwhile, Jeff Robinoff of Warner Bros. had just watched Nancy Josephson leave his office and called the secretary's desk.

“Book your fastest flight to New York!”

In the hustle and bustle of the outside media and the almost white-hot summer season, Jeff Robinoff decided to leave Los Angeles. Of course, he did not want to avoid competition, but went to Time Warner headquarters in New York to seek the full support of the group company!

Like "Brave to the Dead Island", "Independence Day" is a project he introduced and promoted with all his strength. If it can exceed market expectations, not only will there be a large bonus to be won, but also a lot of writing on the resume.

You know, the current CEO, Kevin Trasuha, will leave in September. If he wants to move to a higher level and win the competition, he needs capital!

"Breaking the Dead Island" is his capital, and the success of "Independence Day" will also become his capital.

Even Jeff Robinoff fantasized that once "Independence Day" can achieve the same market results as "Jurassic Park", he will be the CEO!

An hour later, Jeff? Robinoff took a flight to New York's JFK airport, although Time Warner has not really shot, but Warner Bros. has spent a lot of resources.

Although Warner Television Network is only an unpopular role in front of the four major television networks, it also has a lot of regular viewers. On Saturday and during the day, the OB vans of Warner Television Station scattered all over the United States, just like Fox Television Station, drove to major cities one after another. The gate of the famous cinema.

Fox is targeting audiences, while Warners is targeting theaters.

"Look, there's already a long queue."

In front of the camera, a theater manager pointed to the crowded but not chaotic crowd at the ticket office and said, "These people have only one purpose in queuing, to watch "Independence Day"! Our afternoon tickets here have been sold out, and they can only buy Evening tickets, this is the first time this year, last year's "Jurassic Park" did not have such a long queue, the last time such a scene appeared was "Terminator 2" in 1991."

The screen changes and switches to Chicago, who is also a cinema leader.

"The audience is so enthusiastic. The popularity of "Independence Day" has completely exceeded expectations. The crowd in line has been crowded outside the theater. Our box office during the day was all sold out. In order to facilitate the fans to watch, we had to temporarily add four shows. Still not satisfied..."

It didn't take long for the manager of a New York theater chain to stand in the TV screen.

"In order to meet the needs of the audience, we temporarily increased the filming rate of "Independence Day" from 53% to 62%. Even so, almost every theater was full. People, we are considering to further increase the film placement rate."

In the final analysis, whether it is the reaction of ordinary movie fans or the theater chain, all propaganda has only one purpose, to suppress the negative comments of competitors and the ultra-low evaluation of film critics, and to attract audiences to go to the theaters to buy tickets.

Although some viewers were swayed by negative comments and critics to abandon the film, the long queues in famous theater chains in major cities starting at noon on Saturday proved that "Independence Day" was released on the eve of Independence Day. ", the schedule, themes, publicity and content are all attractive enough to mainstream audiences!

Data is the truest reaction of the market. First-hand statistics, through various survey and consulting companies hired, are continuously fed back to Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox, and then transferred to Duke as soon as possible.

Around 6:00 pm, the Independence Day studio was still brightly lit, and Nancy Josephson hurried from the Warner Building to Duke's office.

"The latest statistics." She couldn't hide the smile on her face. "As of now, today! Saturday! The box office of "Independence Day" has exceeded 20 million US dollars!"

"It's really good news!"

Sofia Coppola, who was sorting out a transcript of the interview Duke would use later, looked up and said, "As Duke told me, we're overestimating the influence of film critics."

"What about audience word of mouth?" Duke asked, and that's where he was concerned.

"The A-level rating has dropped to 86 percent, which is a normal decline." Nancy Josephson pulled the chair and sat across from Duke, "In terms of professional reputation, it's unfortunate, Duke, "Independence Day" is about to drop to a 3."

"Don't worry about them." Duke thought for a while, then said, "There are many audiences who have this mentality. On the basis that the film can maintain a certain popularity, the more violent the critics criticize the film, the more it will stimulate their enthusiasm for the film. curious."

Although not experts in psychology, all three of them know that this mentality is actually common among movie fans.

"Okay, let's not talk about that."

Nancy turned the conversation to something else, "Warner just informed me that the Los Angeles Times reporter will be here in an hour, the female reporter interviewed you last time, Duke, let's check the interview again, this is propaganda important part of the plan.”

Duke nodded solemnly. He has never been someone who is indifferent to others, not to mention that this involves his own great interests. It is not a problem at all to appear in person. As long as the profit is large enough, he does not mind fighting with the devil dance together.

When Sarah, a female reporter for the Los Angeles Times, walked into the Independence Day studio, it was located in a Chicago studio, and the program "Roger Albert and Siskel in the Movies" was broadcast several times a year. Final preparations are being made and it will be broadcast live to the United States through cable networks.

Roger Albert and Gene Siskel were sitting in the dressing room, the makeup artist was busy applying their makeup, and their mutual manager was standing across from each other, talking about the movie that was about to be reviewed.

"I just got the news that the box office of "Independence Day" today has reached 20 million US dollars. If nothing else, it will exceed the box office number of yesterday."

Under normal circumstances, the film released on the weekend, the box office number on Saturday will exceed that on Friday.

Although this is normal, Roger Albert's face is very ugly, because this number proves that the role of film critics is far less than he imagined! Because the mainstream audience obviously ignored his extremely negative comments and ignored his downward thumb!

For someone with enough prestige and fame, being ignored can be a very scary existence at times.

"There's a call from Disney," the agent continued. "Roger, they want your comments to be sharper and more impactful."

"I try my best."

Taking the favors of some people, you must do things for the other party. Roger Albert is very clear about this. "I have prepared a lot of things for Duke Rosenberg."

"Roger, I will support you!"

Like an old friend, Gene Siskel also made a lot of money.

After finishing the makeup, the two well-known and impartial film critics checked the last draft, and then walked into the live broadcast studio.