Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 280 The opponent attacks again
Mr. Eisen's study, Douglaston, New York.

“What did you gain from this trip to China?”

Faced with Mr. Eisen's question, Lin Yuan wanted to complain.

He called me in a hurry before we met, and acted as if the matter was very serious.

When we really met, we started chatting leisurely.

However, Lin Yuan wasn't in a rush, so he replied, "We've gained a lot. Now that we've secured a domestic partner, the expansion of the CBD project shouldn't face any more resistance."

Secondly, I have also established preliminary cooperative relationships with domestic film and television colleges. In the future, I don’t have to worry about the lack of talent in domestic film and television companies, or the review threshold for film and television dramas.

Finally, I also signed a few new actors, one of whom I am very optimistic about and believes he will be a future box office champion."

"When it comes to the Chinese market, you become so diligent? It would be great if you could work as hard in the European and American markets." Mr. Eisen complained.

"Isn't this because of you? Tell me, what kind of trouble have you run into?" Lin Yuan asked.

"A film has come to our cinemas with malicious intent," said Mr. Eisen.

"Those two film companies again?" Lin Yuan immediately understood.

"Yes, I didn't expect them to be so persistent," Mr. Eisen replied.

During the last Oscar awards ceremony, Columbia Pictures sent Vice President Nick to collude with the judges behind the scenes in an attempt to make Lin Yuan suffer a loss.

Unexpectedly, just as one wave subsided, a new wave came.

“我们的电影《谍战之王》上映日期是5月14日。而哥伦比亚电影公司的《绝地战警2》突然插了进来，定档5月7日。”

"This time, it's not just Columbia Pictures that's making an effort. MGM has also gotten involved, with two films, 'Limited Time' and 'Young Agent Cody,' which are scheduled to be released on the same day as ours."

"It's really troublesome that three movies with similar themes are released at the same time and they clash with our schedule."

After Mr. Eisen finished speaking, he handed over a document with basic film information.

Lin Yuan took it and flipped through it, and immediately realized why Mr. Eisen felt pressured.

Columbia Pictures' "Bad Boys for Life" is a gun-fighting action film directed by Michael Bay.

Nicknamed "Bombshell," the director is known for using spectacular explosions in his films, with his career grossing $75 billion, a testament to how much audiences relish his work. His signature works include "Pearl Harbor" and the "Transformers" series.

In addition to the director's prominent background, the leading actor of "Bad Boys for Life" is also very eye-catching. He is the black actor: Will Smith. Domestic audiences should be familiar with his movies "Men in Black", "Independence Day" and "The Pursuit of Happyness".

Columbia Pictures chose this kind of action film with a gun battle theme to be released at the same time as Lin Yuan's "The King of Spy Wars", which can be said to have sinister intentions.

Although MGM Studios jumped to the front to attack Lin Yuan for the first time, it was even more ruthless and released two movies at once.

"Limited Time" sounds like an action crime film, and the starring role is also a black actor: Denzel Washington.

Lin Yuan had met him once at the just-concluded Oscars ceremony, but he didn't expect that they would be facing each other so soon.

Another movie, "Young Agent Cody," is even more undisguised, directly following the same spy theme.

The selling point of the young spy seems to be more appealing than the conventional adult spy role in Lin Yuan's "The King of Spy Wars". The three films not only clash in release date, but also compete with Lin Yuan's film in terms of subject matter.

Even if the quality of these three films is not as good as Lin Yuan's, they can still disgust him due to aesthetic fatigue.

If the audience sees so many spy-themed and action movies at once, they may get bored and not want to watch them anymore.

If that happens, the two film companies will have achieved their goals.

But Lin Yuan couldn't say anything about such behavior. After all, this was a common means of commercial competition.

Didn't he think before about using "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" to bump the release date of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" to pave the way for "Lord of the Spy Wars"?
Now that the enemy is using the same method against him, he can only choose to fight back actively.

"Has the screening schedule been compressed so much?" Lin Yuan couldn't help but ask when he saw the estimated screening rate.

Lin Yuan noticed that when "The King of Spy Wars" was released on May 5, the initial screening rate was only 14%, which was far from the expected 27%.

"Yes, they offered very high box office subsidies, so many theaters switched sides," said Mr. Eisen.

Before a movie is released, the distribution company will sign contracts with major theaters to determine basic screening guarantees, etc.

The game involved here is quite complicated. To put it simply:
If the cinema believes that a movie will be a hit, it will schedule it at a higher rate.

But the confidence of the theaters does not come out of thin air. It is the result of comprehensive consideration of a series of factors, including the quality of the film, IP, the appeal of the leading actors, publicity and promotion costs, etc.

The third film in a series like "The Lord of the Rings 3", with a big IP and the endorsement of the performance of the first two films, will easily gain the trust of theaters and get more screenings.

If a cinema is not confident enough in a film, will it definitely not get a screening rate?

Of course not necessarily.

Because film companies and distribution companies can persuade theaters to schedule high screenings by providing box office subsidies.

This is easy to understand. It is a disguised way of price reduction and promotion to attract audiences to buy tickets.

The profit concession will be borne by the distributor, so theaters that are sure to make a profit will also give a high screening rate.

Obviously, Columbia Pictures and MGM squeezed the screening rate of "The King's Avatar" through this method.

"Do we also need to use box office subsidies to increase the screening rate?" asked Mr. Eisen.

Lin Yuan shook his head. "No, this kind of vicious competition is unnecessary. Even if we wanted to do this, the two film companies would continue to increase their stakes, which would only make it cheaper for the theaters."

Mr. Eisen agreed that this behavior was similar to the money-burning wars among later Internet companies.

Once entering this confrontation mode, both sides will just keep burning more money in order to exhaust the other side.

Not to mention the funding of Linyuan Film Company, which is definitely not as good as that of the two Hollywood giants.

Even if he had so much money, he didn't want to give it to the cinema for free and let them profit from the conflict between the two.

"To make you feel so pressured, the other party's methods should not only be to squeeze our screening schedule, right?" Lin Yuan asked.

(End of this chapter)