Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 409 Walking the Road to Hell
After finishing his business at the company, Link flew to Texas to check on the film crew's training and, incidentally, gathered the actors on set to read the script and rehearse the war scenes.

The company's work proceeded smoothly under his arrangement.

Guess what? Film Studios has two movies releasing in September: "Dead Man Walking" and "Final Destination 2".

"Dead Man Walking" was released at the end of August.

Earlier this year, the film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, and its quality and reputation were both good. It also received high praise after its release in the United States.

As it is an art-house film, the process involves first holding preview screenings, and then determining the scale of promotion and distribution based on the results.

The film opened in four theaters and grossed $138,000 in its first week, averaging over $30,000 per theater, a remarkable achievement.

In its second week, "Dead Man Walking" expanded to 443 theaters, grossing $401 million. In its third week, it expanded to 617 theaters, grossing $662 million.

The film grossed $1077 million at the North American box office.

The film cost $11 million to produce, and based on current box office figures, it is expected to gross at least $30 million in North America, bringing a substantial return to the company and director Tim Robbins.

In late September, Final Destination 2 was released in 1077 theaters in North America, grossing $1662 million in its opening week, ranking second at the box office, with an average gross of $1.54 per theater.

Although its total box office performance was inferior to the champion, Early Club, its average box office was $4751 higher than the champion.

This result surprised many people. Before its release, "Final Destination 2" was attacked by many media outlets, and some even encouraged viewers not to go to the theater to watch it.

Everyone initially thought that this movie was very likely to lose money, and that the "Final Destination" series would be ruined as a result, with the film studio suffering huge losses.

Despite the unfavorable public opinion surrounding "Final Destination 2," the film was still loved and sought after by moviegoers after its release.

In the second week, Guess the Movie's publicity department intensified its promotional efforts, spending over $800 million (claiming $1200 million) and advertising through various channels, including newspapers, television, radio, sporting events, and vehicle advertisements. For a time, the movie "Final Destination 2" was everywhere in major North American media and major cities.

The film's main actors, including Drew Barrymore, Liv Tyler, Naomi Watts, and Casey Affleck, also promoted the film extensively to expand its influence.

In its second week, Final Destination 2 grossed $3853 million in 2337 theaters across North America, strongly suppressing the box office performance of Early Club and taking the top spot at the box office this week.

The box office grossed $5516 million in two weeks.

Given that September and October are typically slow months for movies, this film achieving these numbers this week is a very good result.

Total Film magazine predicts the film could gross over $1 million at the North American box office.

"Damn it! How could 'Final Destination 2' have grossed 1 million at the box office?"

At Fox Studios, Barry Diller angrily swore.

After the huge success of "Rush Hour" in August, they began to devise ways to deal with Guessing Pictures to prevent its films from continuing to be huge hits, with "Final Destination 2" being the most targeted film.

Because the first film in the series grossed $4.3 million worldwide, the box office return was more than 20 times.

Furthermore, the film became a global sensation after its release, generating immense buzz and discussion.

Fans are eagerly awaiting the sequel.

"Final Destination 2" generated considerable buzz upon its release, so its box office performance is expected to be strong.

To prevent "Final Destination 2" from continuing to rake in box office revenue in the North American film market, various ideas were devised to suppress the film, but none of them were very effective.

At this time, TWA Flight 800 crashed into the sea off New York, a plot strikingly similar to that of "Final Destination".

He, Harvey, and Langmeyer all saw it as a golden opportunity and did not hesitate to invest a sum of money to create negative publicity for the film.

Thanks to their efforts, these negative reports have also achieved good results.

This forced Guess the Movies to postpone the release of "Final Destination 2".

In the film market, delayed film releases not only lead to a waste of pre-release publicity investment, but also cause dissatisfaction among movie fans.

The box office performance of the re-release is unlikely to be very good.

They thought they had succeeded and dealt a heavy blow to Guess the Movies.

However, the popularity of the Final Destination series exceeded their expectations, and even with the delayed release, fans still showed their support.

Furthermore, Guess what? The film company spent tens of millions of dollars to promote "Final Destination 2," a lavish move that shocked them. It seemed that Link didn't care about money when it came to promoting the film; he only wanted it to be a box office hit and grab market share from the seven major studios.

"Final Destination 2" has grossed $5516 million in its first two weeks, with predictions that it will gross at least $1 million in North America and at least $1 million overseas.

The film cost approximately $2600 million to produce, and guess what? The studio is going to make a fortune.

Consequently, films released by the seven major film studios at the same time earned significantly less.

Baridil called Harvey and Langmeyer to discuss countermeasures, but after a long discussion, they still couldn't come up with a good solution.

"Are we just going to watch Guess the Movies make money like this?" Baridil asked indignantly.

"Otherwise, what methods do you have to stop audiences from buying tickets to see the movie?"

Harvey was puffing on his cigar on the other end of the phone.

“Barry, don’t be too anxious. We are just managers of the company, not the bosses. There are many things we can’t decide. We just need to do our job well and not worry about anything else. Even if the company’s performance declines significantly, it’s not our responsibility. No one else would do a better job than us.”

Langmeyer offered words of comfort.

"Haha, Lang, do you really think so?"

Harvey chuckled coldly, "Although Universal Pictures isn't your company, this is where your business is. For us, our business is our life. Once we lose our positions and power, where can we go? What can we do? Go to another industry and become nobody? Would you be willing to do that?"

Harvey's words silenced the two men. In fact, it wasn't just them; the executives of the seven major film studios, once they became decision-makers in their companies, wouldn't easily give up their power and positions.

Working for one of the seven major film studios, they are CEOs or chairmen of XX Film Studio. Their every move is watched by the entire industry. Their names and photos frequently appear in the media, attracting widespread attention. At parties, they are the objects of pursuit by male and female celebrities.

He gained both fame and fortune!

Once they lose this position, they become ordinary people, ignored and disrespected, and gradually marginalized and forgotten by the entertainment industry.

For a man, this situation is not much different from death.

Baridil and Langmeyer were very unhappy to see this happen.

"Harvey, do you have a way to deal with Guess the Movies? If so, please tell us."

"Baridil said."

"No, dealing with Link should be a long-term process. We shouldn't pursue short-term results. For example, this time, the 'Final Destination 2' sniping battle forced Guess Movies to delay its release and spend more money on promotion because of our plan. This is also a victory. We should continue and keep dealing with Guess Movies until we completely destroy the company."

"And then there's Ovitz. He's only thinking about working with Guess Movies now, and has completely forgotten our agreement. This is very bad. You should remind him and make him understand that our main enemies are Link and Guess Movies. As long as Guess Movies exists, none of us will have an easy time."

"You have a point."

"Okay, I agree with you."

Baridil and Langmeyer echoed this sentiment. After several encounters with Harvey, they discovered that although Harvey did not wield much power, he was very decisive and ruthless, and it would be more secure to place their hopes on him.

For someone like Harvey, perhaps more support is appropriate to encourage him to be bolder in his actions. However, given Harvey's somewhat unconventional behavior, it's best to support him through a third party to avoid being implicated if something goes wrong.

Baridil put down the phone, thought for a moment, picked up the remote and turned on the TV to watch the news, when a loud and intense song came from the speakers.

My friends are gonna be there too
My friends will be there too.
I'm on the highway to hell
I am traveling on the road to hell.

On the highway to hell
On this road to hell

Highway to hell
This is the new song "Road to Hell" by the group 'Death 2.0'.

Following the release of "Final Destination 2," and due to the high popularity of the main actors, Drew Barrymore, Liv Tyler, Naomi Watts, and Casey Affleck formed "Final Destination 2.0" at the suggestion of UTA Entertainment. They released a new album titled "Final Destination 2.0" and began touring various cities to promote the film starting in the second week.

Because the members were young and beautiful with outstanding appearances, and the songs the company selected for them were also of good quality, 'Death Band 2.0' received a lot of support from young people after its release.

Final Destination 2 continues to gain popularity in North America.

The box office will likely be even higher in the third week.

Baridil couldn't help but curse again and changed the channel to watch the news.

Barrydiller was right. In its third week of release, Final Destination 2 grossed $2274 million in North America, bringing its total to $7791 million.

Breaking the 1 million mark is just around the corner.

The second highest-grossing film this week is "The Early Club," a Paramount Pictures production starring Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, and Goldie Horn, among others. It's a comedy about three abandoned women who team up to take revenge on their unfaithful husbands.

This week's box office totaled $1412 million.

The film had a production cost of $2400 million and grossed $6821 million in North America in four weeks.

The film performed very well at the box office, and was therefore used to compete with "Final Destination 2". However, after the studio increased its promotional efforts, the box office growth of "Early Club" slowed down.

The third place also went to Paramount Pictures' "The Phantom of the Night," which grossed $1103 million in its opening weekend.

"Dead Man Walking" ranked fifth at the box office this week, earning $511 million, bringing its North American box office total to $2671 million.

Rush Hour earned $207 million this week, bringing its North American box office to $1.32 million. The film has also been released overseas since August, accumulating $1.12 million in revenue.
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In October, after three weeks of rehearsals in Texas, Link and the Saving Private Ryan crew moved to Normandy, France, to begin filming.

(End of this chapter)