Era: Starting from divorce from female college student

Chapter 306: Crazy
Saturday, June 27, 1970, Sam's Chinese Cinema in Los Angeles.

The Chinese Cinema is currently the largest cinema in Los Angeles. The entire cinema can accommodate more than 3,000 spectators to watch movies at the same time and is usually the venue for premieres.

The end of June is the beginning of the summer season, and this year, in order to win the box office championship of this summer season, Paramount Pictures even set its sights on the top spot in the history box office rankings and grabbed this most golden premiere date.

Today is the grand premiere, and all the hottest stars in Hollywood appeared in Chinese theaters, such as the famous and popular Bruce Lee.

Since "Way of the Dragon", Bruce Lee became popular all over the world and has always been a popular star.

He has many representative works, such as "The Legend of Chen Zhen", "Huo Yuanjia", "Enter the Dragon", "Jeet Kune Do", etc. These are his very classic representative works.

The most important thing is that every kung fu movie has a high box office.

The highest-grossing movie at the moment is "Jeet Kune Do", which was released last summer. Bruce Lee has founded a school of martial arts and become a master.

No one disagrees. Bruce Lee really has real kung fu skills. Other so-called kung fu superstars are really no match for him.

Today, there are many top superstars of the same level as Bruce Lee in Chinese cinemas.

There were countless female celebrities dressed up in gorgeous attire, and many people even came on their own initiative even though they were not invited to the premiere.

The protagonist of the premiere was the movie "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring".

In the film's marketing, the total investment in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was 500 million US dollars, and Paramount deliberately concealed the investment costs of the two subsequent sequels.

A movie costing $500 million is simply terrifying!
Many people were shocked and attracted.

Movie fans all wanted to attend the premiere, but the ticket was sold at an outrageous price of two thousand dollars, which was not something that ordinary people could afford.

The lively premiere soon began, and after the movie screen appeared, the whole audience suddenly became quiet.

As the movie played, epic scenes appeared, just as advertised in the newspapers, it was a ceiling movie in the cold weapon era, a fantasy adventure, like a perfect painting, which made people unable to stop.

Those who didn't go to the toilet in advance at the beginning kept drinking Happy Fat House Water while watching the movie, so they almost suffocated to death before the movie was halfway through.

So, some people rush to the toilet to solve personal problems at an unprecedented speed.

But there were also many people who had to bear it and continue watching the movie.

Because the movie is so good, no one wants to miss any of the wonderful scenes.

The grand and magnificent scenes, the epic battles, and the conquests by multiple parties are all for the sake of profit.

It is also because of these scenes that movie fans are completely immersed in the movie.

Although the movie "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" is adapted from a novel, it already has a very solid foundation.

But for many movie fans, this is a brand new movie.

Even many fans of the novel exclaimed after seeing the movie, saying that this was the scene they had imagined when reading the novel before, and the fantasy of the movie itself was even more exciting than the scenes they had imagined themselves.

How was it filmed?

Jack and his companions fell silent after watching the movie.

This picture is so realistic.

It is even more awesome and realistic than "Jurassic Park" which came out two years ago.

The shooting technology and more advanced special effects used in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" have made this movie extremely sublime.

Many people can't believe it.

The premiere on June 27th has passed, but people are no longer paying much attention to "The Great Gatsby" which will be released on the 25th. Instead, they are looking forward to the box office of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring".

The movie "The Great Gatsby" was released by Universal Pictures. On the first day of its release on June 25, the box office was 30.8 million US dollars.

It's pretty standard!

The 26th and 27th were Friday and Saturday, and the box office revenues were US$32.92 million and US$36.4 million respectively, just barely breaking the US$100 million mark.

To have grossed over 100 million US dollars in three days is a very satisfactory achievement for this movie.

The main reason for this is that at the end of June, there was no one competing with The Great Gatsby, which is why its box office was so high.

Soon, on July 2, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was released. On that day, the box office of "The Great Gatsby" was only 23.2 million US dollars, far less than yesterday's 27.94 million US dollars.

The movie "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", with extensive newspaper publicity, reached an unprecedented box office of 43.2 million US dollars on July 2nd.

Because its movie duration is three hours, its ticket price is half as expensive as other movies.

This is one of the reasons why the movie "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" had such a high box office.

The opening box office record was broken, as was the single-day box office record, and everyone at Paramount Pictures was excited.

With box office results like this, it would be fake and hypocritical to be unhappy.

The newspapers were flooded with news related to "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", just like when "Jurassic Park" was released two years ago.

Paramount has made a big move and has already announced that the box office will exceed 100 million US dollars in two days. It is simply outrageous to the extreme.

Many cinemas also cooperated very well. Except for "The Great Gatsby", which was able to get 29% of the screenings, other films only had about 5%, and the rest were all given to "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring".

Even in the traditional early morning slots for horror films, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" accounted for 60 percent of the market share, with other horror films accounting for the remaining 40 percent.

In short, in order to maximize the box office performance of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", Paramount joined forces with major movie theater giants, newspaper media, etc. to create a particularly big fanfare.

Soon, the day on the 3rd passed, and by 5:30 in the morning of the 4th, many newspapers had been distributed to major newsstands, convenience stores and other places for sale.

Newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Daily News, and Silicon Valley Tech News were placed at the top, and the front-page headline was "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"!
This fantasy movie is about to set off a big wave this summer. It is the pinnacle of movies in the cold weapon era, and its appearance will inject a huge power into the movies of this era.

With over 100 million yuan in just two days, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" may surpass "Jurassic Park" and become the number one box office in film history!

hiss!
Many people were stunned after seeing the words in the newspaper.

Did "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" really earn more than 57 million US dollars at the box office on July 3rd?
Isn't this too scary?
Although July 3rd is summer vacation and it is a Friday, it is not Saturday.

But no matter what, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" has really reached the pinnacle, with a single-day box office of more than 57 million US dollars.

The reason why it is so awesome is that it also takes into account movie screenings after midnight.

Many movie fans go to the cinema to watch movies in the early hours of the morning even if they are not working.

Many people did not see the movie on Thursday, so they bought tickets for the early morning screening on Friday.

There were also employees who took leave to watch a movie on Friday morning, and coincidentally ran into their boss in the cinema.

Then they pretended not to know each other, turned their heads away, and continued to watch the movie seriously.

The box office exceeded 100 million in two days, and a new era has arrived.

Jack and others almost went crazy after seeing the news.

From "Jurassic Park" to "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," is the Hollywood film market truly on the rise? But why are Warner Bros.' films still so flopped?

Two years ago, Warner Bros. followed suit and made a movie called "Cretaceous Era". Although it successfully broke 200 million US dollars at the box office, it was a backfired project. Not only did it not make any money, but it also lost a lot of money.

It's because 20th Century Fox is too powerful that it is impossible for Warner Bros. to get involved in dinosaur movies.

If it didn't get the authorization, 20th Century Fox would never agree.

They spend so much money to employ such a large team of lawyers, how could they let others ruin such a great opportunity?

The financial tycoons on Wall Street all beat their chests and cursed.

The film market is clearly thriving, but only four companies are thriving: Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and MGM, and at most Disney.

Because Disney is an animated film company, there are a few animated films occasionally that can still make a killing at the box office.

As for other film companies like Warner Bros., they are really marginalized.

If they want to make a follow-up movie, they have to dare to do so.

Warner Bros. was heavily fined for its film "Cretaceous Age." If they were to follow suit and make "Lord of the Rings," would they have the copyright? Would they have the money to invest?
Although Wall Street is rich, do they dare to spend 500 million US dollars to shoot a movie?

I don’t dare at all!

Don't joke, that's 500 million US dollars. Even if it is a trilogy, the average production cost of each movie is as high as 160 to 170 million US dollars.

If the first movie flopped at the box office, who would dare to make a second one?
It’s even more unimaginable to shoot three films together!
If there is a loss, that would be 500 million US dollars. Even the financial tycoons on Wall Street don’t know when they can make back such a sum of money.

Therefore, no one dares to do such a reckless thing.

However, the prosperity of the Hollywood film market is now highly concentrated in the hands of a few companies such as Paramount.

This is how the cultural industry works. Once it becomes popular, it will earn more than 90% of the profits in the entire market. You can get a glimpse of this by watching the movie "Jurassic Park".

Now that "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" has shown a trend of becoming a huge hit, it would be difficult to stop it at this point.

But if you do nothing, you will just have to watch Paramount make a fortune while you can only watch helplessly.

So Sony, which had acquired Columbia Pictures, resorted to underhanded tactics, using tabloids, more than thirty newspapers, to smear The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

The head of Paramount Pictures was the first to know about this, and on the first day the newspapers reported on it, these newspapers received court summonses.

Meanwhile, the box office figures for Saturday, July 4th, have also been released.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" once again broke the single-day box office record, topping the single-day box office history with a box office of 62.32 million US dollars.

Terrible box office.

Everyone gasped when they heard the news.

So it is no problem to break 200 million in four days, and it may even take only three and a half days to reach a box office of 200 million US dollars.

Horror!
"No, we can't just sit there and wait for death. We have to use other means. Otherwise, the entire market will be swallowed up by Paramount..."

The alliance was formed again, this time led by the three giants Warner Bros., Sony Columbia, and United Artists, and it brought together hundreds of Hollywood film companies to mobilize their respective forces to fight against Paramount.

They wanted to drag the box office of "The Lord of the Rings" into the abyss by discrediting the movie and several major stars.

At the very least, the box office of this movie cannot continue to soar.

When Jack and his group were taking action, Paramount also got wind of it.

Throwing dirty water and using all kinds of shady tactics is naked commercial competition, which is perfectly normal.

Paramount's management was furious and responded proactively, with the public relations department becoming the busiest department, no doubt about it.

Other departments did not just sit there and wait for death, but all came to help and support.

In particular, other stars of Paramount itself took the initiative to stand up and attract media attention.

The main targets are major newspapers; for tabloids, just send a court summons.

Because tabloids have little deterrent power and a smaller coverage area, and advertisements for "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" are everywhere, no matter how much the tabloids smear the film, they cannot change the overall situation.

The way major newspapers are doing things like smearing and mudslinging is to minimize the damage and fight back through their partners, such as Mayflower Media, including The New York Times and Post.

Even giants like Warner Bros. are not without their own dark secrets, and Paramount is waiting to be discovered.

Therefore, although this huge smear campaign made Paramount run around in a hurry, it actually did not cause much loss.

The main reason is that the reputation of the movie "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" has been established, and perhaps some people did not go to see the movie as soon as possible because of the smear campaign in the newspapers.

But when everyone around them was talking about the movie, these people suddenly couldn't sit still.

Everyone says it’s good and you’ll regret it if you don’t watch it, so of course you have to go and see it.

This is how many people fall into the trap.

So, on Sunday, July 5th, the movie grossed more than 59 million US dollars.

If it weren't for the smear campaign from its arch-rivals, such as Warner Bros., the box office would definitely not have been so low.

The box office revenue exceeded 200 million US dollars in four days, and the whole United States was flooded with this news.

so horrible!

Even the bank’s money printing machines are not that awesome!

Many people are keen to pay attention to the box office of this movie because it is really interesting.

At this time, everyone was thinking that this movie might be able to catch up with the box office record of "Sadako", but whether it could break the 1.1 billion US dollar box office of "Jurassic Park" was hard to say.

Anyway, for now, it is very likely that "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" will catch up with "Sadako".

"Sadako" has been released, and the box office is 756 million US dollars.

"The Lord of the Rings" took only four days to earn more than 200 million US dollars, and it should take less than a week to break 300 million US dollars.

It depends on the box office on the first day of the second week. If the decline is not too big and is within the normal range, then it will definitely break 300 million soon.

"Fuck, I want their box office from Monday to Wednesday to fall below 20 million US dollars. I want to ruin their current great situation..."

In the luxurious office, Jack roared loudly.

He couldn't tolerate such a situation.

Why is it that Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Pictures have always taken turns dominating the box office rankings?

Starting from mid-1964, apart from a few giants like Paramount and MGM, the only other film company that followed suit was Warner Bros., which made a film called "Cretaceous Age" and earned $200 million.

Other movies with a box office of 200 million or more are from Paramount and other studios.

Even for movies with a box office of over 100 million, these companies account for 97% of the market share.

Darren Campbell, Klin Richard, Rolf Curry and others were all silent, no one spoke.

The smears have already been done, but what can be done about it?
Didn’t the box office of “The Lord of the Rings” soar at a very fast pace?

It is a work produced with new technology, special effects, and a superb script. Almost all viewers who have seen this movie will be shocked.

The word of mouth has completely fermented, and of course the audience will not stop watching the movie because of some smears.

Many viewers' views are influenced by their senses. The movie is so good and has been widely discussed. Moreover, due to the long three-hour viewing time, many people will watch it twice or three times.

Even the original novel of this movie topped the bestseller list.

You should know that this novel was put on sale many years ago and has long been a slow seller.

I didn’t expect it to be a best-seller again now, that’s awesome!
On Monday, the box office figures for the three days of July 6th, 7th and 8th were also released, which were US$36.77 million, US$35.89 million and US$38.92 million respectively.

After the box office rankings were updated, everyone was speechless.

Because it was a weekday, the box office didn't drop too much.

From $60 million over the weekend to over $30 million on weekdays, it seems the drop is nearly half, which is already rubbish.

But even so, the single-day box office revenue of more than 30 million US dollars is far beyond the reach of other movies.

It's unbelievable that the movie was still showing in the early hours of the morning and yet so many people went to watch it.

So far, the box office of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" has reached more than 330 million US dollars, and it is estimated that it will exceed 400 million US dollars on Thursday.

Reaching 400 million US dollars in nine days is unbelievable.

On Thursday, July 2th, a new movie was released, Universal Pictures' "Rambo: First Blood Part II."

Even though this was a sequel, Universal Pictures had no choice but to not think it could outperform Paramount.

Of course, even if you have given up in your heart, you still have to do your best and leave the rest to fate. You will definitely have to make a lot of efforts.

However, there are some things that really cannot be stopped.

In terms of screening schedule, "Rambo: First Blood Part II" accounts for 2%, while "The Lord of the Rings" only accounts for %.

However, the latter's screenings account for 2% from midnight to the morning, while Rambo only accounts for %.

This is reflected in the box office. On the 9th, the single-day box office of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was 48.72 million, which was even more impressive than the day of its premiere.

Although "Rambo: First Blood Part II" also received 2 million US dollars, it was directly ignored compared with "The Lord of the Rings".

"God, this is awesome. Praise the boss. Your script is amazing..."

The Paramount management was extremely excited and admired Zhao Mancang for his determination to invest $500 million to shoot "The Lord of the Rings" against all odds.

The boss is foresighted!
The entire Paramount executive conference room was filled with laughter and joy. This was a day of harvest.

Zhao Mancang, who was sitting in the main seat, smiled but said nothing. Although he had foresight, he was not 100% sure that he could do it.

After all, compared with the original time and space, "The Lord of the Rings" was released thirty years earlier, and there are still some gaps in many technical aspects, but with the help of US dollars, these difficulties have been overcome.

Fortunately, the movie did not disappoint him, and the audience's performance did not disappoint him either.

There is absolutely no problem in breaking 400 million US dollars in nine days, because the current box office has reached 380 million US dollars, with an average daily box office of more than 47 million.

Horror to the extreme.

All competitors have fallen silent. They can no longer understand the trend of this movie, which is even more powerful than "Jurassic Park".

Records are being broken very quickly, and judging by the situation, "The Lord of the Rings" may be able to be as well-received as "Jurassic Park", and the box office will remain strong.

"Jurassic Park" did not catch the good time. At that time, the US dollar had not depreciated so much, and "The Lord of the Rings" remained the single-day box office champion for so long.

The opponents are helpless and cannot understand why the film still has such a high box office despite being smeared in various ways?

Does it really deserve to have a high box office?
Even a great sequel like "Rambo: First Blood Part II" couldn't stand up to "The Lord of the Rings". Can we still count on MGM's "Die Hard"?

(End of this chapter)