Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 300 The Artist's Screening, Harvey's Tactics

At this point in time, everyone thought the six major Hollywood studios were invincible, and that Jewish influence in Hollywood would be deeply entrenched, just like the Rothschild family in the Currency Wars.

But in fact,

Gu Bei was very clear that

What about the Hollywood Jewish clique, the Italian clique, or even the Beijing elite circle?
Whether in Hollywood or North America,
In the second decade of the 21st century, they will all be gradually eroded by internet capital.
Ultimately, they all became streaming media!

At the point in time when Gu Bei was reborn,
Although most film and television companies are still based in Kyoto, who still talks about the Kyoto film and television circle?
When people talk about television, they think of iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video; when they talk about movies, they no longer think of those few Beijing-based companies; and when they talk about capital, they mostly refer to internet capital.

The Beijing business circle withstood the encroachment of coal bosses and real estate developers, but in the end, it was taken over by internet capital!
The same is true for Hollywood.

Netflix has transcended the world, surpassing Hollywood and now controlling the global entertainment industry.

Of the remaining five major Hollywood studios, all except Sony have their own streaming platforms.

Even for the five healthiest Disney companies, streaming revenue accounts for a quarter of Disney's total revenue, more than half of the total revenue of the entire entertainment sector, and more than double the revenue of cable television.

To know,
In today's media conglomerates, primarily based on cable television, the "father" of the Hollywood Big Six is ​​the real power behind them.

Disney owns ABC, Universal belongs to Comcast, Paramount belongs to Viacom, and Fox belongs to News Corporation.

Warner?

Warner Bros. remains a silly brand.

At the height of the dot-com bubble, it merged with AOL (North American Online) and has yet to extricate itself from the relationship.

After it gets away, it will likely join AT&T and Discovery Channel.

Sony has always been steady and reliable. It didn't merge with a media group or create a streaming platform, but it managed to survive steadily until the end.

Gu Bei possessed the memories of Hollywood's dramatic changes over the next decade or so, and had long since demystified this place.

The allies he was looking for

Netflix is ​​poised to transcend Hollywood in the future!
Netflix only entered the streaming market last year, and its current market value is only $18 billion. Gu Bei's cash could even buy one-tenth of its shares.

But this behemoth of capital is about to be unleashed!
"Your expression is terrifying!"

Liu Yifei propped her chin up with one hand and commented on Gu Bei's expression.

What was my expression just now?

Gu Bei touched his face.

There's no mirror now, so he can't see what expression he just made.

"It's...it's...like this..."

Liu Yifei gestured, but couldn't quite describe what it looked like.

In the end, all she could say was, "Anyway, every time you make that face, you're definitely plotting something bad!"

How could this be noticed?

Gu Bei was slightly startled.

He's usually the one who understands other people's emotions.

Few people could read his emotions.

Gu Bei stared into Liu Yifei's eyes and smiled slightly: "Now guess what I'm thinking right now?"

"Do you think I have mind-reading abilities?!"

Liu Yifei made a comment.

But she seemed to have found something interesting, staring intently into Gu Bei's eyes, curiously trying to discern the emotions within them.

then,

Gu Bei saw Liu Yifei gently biting her lower lip, her face slightly flushed, the warm yellow light in the room illuminating her shy expression.

"Durian mango!"

"???"

Gu Bei’s mind was full of questions.

It seems he was overthinking it.

It wasn't that his expression was particularly obvious; it was simply that Liu Yifei knew him too well, so she could guess what he was thinking at a glance.

Because he was clearly not thinking about anything and was daydreaming, but Liu Yifei still interpreted it that way.

He put his arm around Liu Yifei's waist, pinched the softness of her waist, and said with a smile, "Actually, I wasn't thinking about anything just now. What were you thinking about?"

"is it?"

Liu Yifei said she didn't believe it at all, "Then what are you doing now?"

She grasped Gu Bei's hand.

To prevent Gu Bei's hand from moving around randomly
So he tried to squeeze his fingers into the gap between Gu Bei's fingers.

Gu Bei naturally spread his fingers.

Their fingers intertwined.

Then they clenched their fists and clasped them tightly together.

Gu Bei said matter-of-factly, "If I do nothing, wouldn't I be wrongly accused for nothing?"

Before you say that, could you explain what you're doing with your other hand?

Liu Yifei rolled her eyes at him.

Just caught one hand.

As a result, Gu Bei's other hand became restless again.

"Aren't you about to return to your country?"

Gu Bei always has a legitimate reason.

"Beast!"

Liu Yifei cursed softly.

"That doesn't mean you have to be worse than a beast!"

Gu Bei grabbed the blanket and covered the two of them with it.

……

Just after filming wrapped on "The Wrong Star," Liu Yifei and Liu Xiaoli returned to China together.

Gu Bei, on the other hand, will remain in North America, where it's the annual awards season again, and the film "The Artist" is about to be released.

Although neither Gu Bei nor Leonardo put much effort into promotion...
But the artist's film,

However, it is just as popular in North America.

It has consistently ranked among the most anticipated movies of the second half of the year.

There weren't any particularly noteworthy movies scheduled for release around Christmas 2008.

Aside from Daniel Craig's second James Bond film, Quantum of Solace

The only film worth looking forward to is DreamWorks' animated film, Madagascar 2: Escape from Africa.

But neither of these films nor the artists are on the same wavelength.

The artist not only has a dream combination like Gu Bei and Leonardo DiCaprio,
After winning the Golden Lion at Venice
The artists were not idle either.

First, it participated in the Toronto International Film Festival in early September and successfully won the Audience Choice Award, which is the highest-rated film voted by movie fans at the festival.

Then, it was screened at the New York Film Festival at the end of September.

At every film festival, tickets for artists' screenings are highly sought after; you can't get them without queuing. This creates an effect similar to scarcity marketing.
Many film fans are eagerly anticipating the release of the artist's film.

Under such circumstances of great anticipation,
One person jumped out and poured cold water on everyone's enthusiasm.

This person was none other than Harvey Weinstein, who disliked Gu Bei very much.

In a media interview, he stated without hesitation: "I don't think 'The Artist' is a film worth looking forward to."
Its story is so simple that even teenagers today wouldn't be interested in it, but Bruce has always been good at attracting them, hasn't he?

In contrast, I still believe that films like "The Reader," which revisit the history of World War II, are more worthy of serious viewing by adults!

Harvey made no attempt to hide his tendency to belittle one person while praising another.

This has always been his personality.

As the king of Hollywood independent films, he was confident that his influence on Hollywood judges was far beyond what a director like Gu Bei could match, and naturally, he didn't need to hide it at all.

After Harvey said this,
He was bombarded with criticism online that very day.

So many people who have seen the artists' films at numerous screenings have been criticizing Harvey Dufresne for ruining countless independent films. How dare they criticize the artists now?
Gu Bei's book fans and movie fans were even more indignant.
They hadn't paid much attention to the film about the artist at first.
Leonardo DiCaprio couldn't get them interested in black-and-white silent films either.

But they were just sitting there quietly, and Harvey's words sounded like a passerby suddenly kicking them, thinking they were easy to bully.
They really should go see that movie!

……

Sony Classics.

"Bruce, are you sure you want to release The Artist on December 5th? You don't need to go against Harvey. He has a special relationship with the Oscar judges!"

Michael Buck earnestly advised Gu Bei.

As the founder and president of Sony Classics, he attaches great importance to the release of this film by the artist, which should be his closest chance to win the Oscar for Best Picture!

"I didn't care about Harvey at all!"

If I cared, I would have told the media who called. Why bother with all this?

Gu Bei said calmly, "There are only so many slots available in November and December, so it's normal to schedule them on the same day. Our two movies combined don't even have a hundred theaters. What kind of tough fight is that?"

you sure?
Michael was feeling a bit tired.

At his urging, Gu Bei didn't say anything to the media who called expecting a reply, and thus didn't engage in a verbal battle with Harvey across the media.

However, this was only one day after Harvey published his interview.
Gu Bei announced that the show would be released on December 5th, the same day as The Reader.
If you say this isn't revenge, probably no one would believe it.

After a pause, Michael decided to support Gu Bei: "In that case, I will start contacting theaters and try to select theaters where The Reader is not showing, so as not to escalate the conflict!"

"No!"

Gu Bei flatly refused.

He stated firmly, "Choose the theaters where The Reader is showing, and the more overlap with them, the better!"

"Fine!"

Michael said helplessly.

So you're not going to pretend anymore?
Just now you said you wouldn't go head-to-head with Harvey,

Now they're saying the more overlap with the reader, the better.

Isn't this clearly a case of going head-to-head with Harvey to the very end?
……

Weinstein Co.

"Has the release date for 'The Artist' been confirmed? It's the same as 'The Reader'—December 5th?"

Harvey received a call from the theater manager, a slight smile playing on his lips. "He really is an impatient young man."
I only let slip a little something in the media, and it immediately attracted his attention!

Harvey is a businessman, and a businessman's goal is to maximize profits.

Although he has already taken control of the bomb disposal unit, he is not satisfied with Kathryn Bigelow's version and is communicating with Kathryn Bigelow to remake a version.

His awards season this year
The main performer is Kate Winslet's Reader.

The artist's current popularity has surpassed that of most commercial films.

And all of it is natural heat.
It's not that the publishers paid money to buy popularity from the media.

So, what's a more economical option than a staged accident artist?
and,

Kate Winslet's The Reader versus Leonardo DiCaprio's Artist
The fateful battle between Rose and Jack

This is absolutely amazing!

Thinking of this,

Harvey came up with an even better idea: "We're going to change The Reader to a limited release, showing it in only one theater this week!"

Harvey is very cunning.

Leonardo DiCaprio's commercial value far exceeds that of Kate Middleton.

The initial box office revenue for "The Reader" will definitely not be as high as that for "The Artist".

So, the show will only be shown in one theater to maximize the box office revenue per theater and use the victory of the single-theater box office to declare that the quality of The Reader is superior to that of the Artist.

This is also a kind of victory!
……

12 month 5 day.

The artists have begun their official screenings.
It follows the same limited theatrical release pattern commonly used for art films, allowing for wider screenings only after word-of-mouth has spread.

With Leonardo DiCaprio as the male lead, who is now considered a top superstar capable of single-handedly carrying a $100 million box office, hundreds of theaters are willing to screen his work immediately.

But art films need word-of-mouth to build up.
Instead of exploiting fans' money to boost box office numbers, like the brother's fans,
Only after genuine word-of-mouth spreads can a film achieve greater box office success in the future.

Gu Bei carefully selected 99 cinemas from among these hundreds of cinema chains in order to maintain a double-digit number of cinema chains.

These cinemas,
Each one is located in the heart of the local city, boasting the highest foot traffic and the greatest box office potential.

The fewer the number of cinemas, the easier it is to increase the box office revenue per cinema.

then……

Gu Bei then learned that Harvey had The Reader screened in only one theater: "It was only screened in one theater, are you sure it was only one, not ten?"

"Yes, there's only one movie theater in the Hollywood area!"

Marin Byrne, Sony Classics' publishing manager, nodded, indicating that he hadn't misread it.

"That's so sneaky!"

Gu Bei was speechless.

He immediately understood Harvey's scheme.

The idea is to use a movie theater to boost the box office revenue of The Reader.

He just hadn't expected Harvey to go this far. Why didn't he do it first?

However, the film "The Artist" doesn't need to use this method to boost box office revenue per theater. 99 theaters is already a very limited number. Leonardo DiCaprio, Gu Bei, and the Golden Lion Award shouldn't have to be reduced to this.

“Our artist is also showing in the same movie theater not far from here. Shall we go check it out?” Marin Byrne asked tentatively.

"go!"

Gu Bei immediately stood up.

The Reader poses no threat to him, and it's virtually impossible for Marion Cotillard to win a second consecutive Oscar for Best Actress with her role as the female lead in The Artist.

His biggest threat this year is still the millionaires in the slums.

But the feeling of having your chicken stolen is really unpleasant!
He needs to go to the site and take a look.

quickly,

The two of them then went to the movie theater.

Before we even got inside, we could see a long queue at the movie theater.
They're all moviegoers who bought their tickets here!
(End of this chapter)