Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 301: First-day box office exceeds $30,000!
Are there any big movies showing recently?

Gu Bei asked Marin Byrne, who was sitting next to him, with curiosity. As the distribution manager of Sony Classics, he knew all the movies currently on the market and those about to be released like the back of his hand.

"No, none of the new movies released this week are very competitive."

Marin thought for a moment, "The box office situation this week should be similar to last week, with 'Four Christmases' (released in its third week), 'Bolt' (released in its fourth week), and 'Quantum of Solace' (released in its fourth week) taking the lead."

The only films that might still have some competitiveness are "Australia's Chaos" and "Madagascar 2: Escape from Africa."

"Then...they're not lining up to see an artist, are they?"

"Bruce, this isn't funny!"

Marin smiled.

How could a black-and-white silent film possibly generate such a huge audience enthusiasm?

Currently, the box office ceiling for this type of film is around 30 to 40 million US dollars, and that's for global box office.

Even with Leonardo DiCaprio, a top star of this era, earning $30 million in North America and nearly $100 million globally would be a very good result.

Then he added, "Of course, it couldn't be for the readers; it's probably because a movie suddenly became popular."

Gu Bei was not affected by Marin.

If a dark horse movie emerges during this period, it will definitely be recorded in Gu Bei's entertainment treasure trove, but the records show that the box office figures for this period are all normal.

There was indeed an unusual movie.

That's Twilight.
Now that Twilight is gone, this year's Christmas season will likely be very quiet, completely drained by movies like The Dark Knight during the summer.

If we eliminate all the impossibilities, then only one possibility remains: the artist!

Gu Bei waved his hand: "Come on, let's go in and take a look!"

The two people walked into the movie theater.

Upon entering, you'll see two large posters placed at the entrance.

One is an artist's portrait of Leonardo DiCaprio, a pure black poster with Leonardo DiCaprio's profile in the center.

The other one is Kate from The Reader. The poster has a pure white background and Kate's profile is in the center.

A clash of titans
Both films are marked by conflict.
The main actors are all the stars of Titanic, the posters are similar in style only the colors are reversed, and even the names contain the word 'The' plus a word.

"Bruce, I'm sorry!"

Marin quickly apologized.

Malicious hype is Harvey's forte.

However, as the object of the bound operation...
All the artist could feel was disgust.

As the distribution manager, he shouldn't have allowed this kind of adversarial situation to continue.

"Hopefully this won't happen again!"

Gu Bei frowned.

Marin found the cinema manager and righteously demanded that he remove the confrontational posters.

Then, Marin asked, "How are the box office results for artists now?"

The cinema manager gave him a strange look, then pointed to the long queue: "These people are all here for the artists; they're all waiting for tickets to be released for the new screenings!"

"all these are?"

Marin was immediately taken aback.

He recalled Gu Bei's earlier words, 'Then...they're not lining up to see an artist, are they?'
Unexpectedly, Gu Bei's words came true.
These people are actually queuing up for artists!
He looked at Gu Bei in surprise.

Gu Bei gave him a look that said, "I told you so."

After a pause, Marin asked the cinema manager, "What about the reader?"

"Here!"

The cinema manager pointed to the window next to the long queue, "All other movie tickets are issued from there. The Reader is in there too, just like usual!"

Marin saw that small group of people, most of whom were waiting to get their popcorn.

it is more than words!
After the cinema manager left
Marin then excitedly said to Gu Bei, "Bruce, it seems you've accomplished another box office miracle!"

Gu Bei said calmly, "It's the result of the entire crew's hard work!"

Marin was completely convinced by Gu Bei.

The last time I collaborated with Gu Bei to release Summer's 500 Days, we achieved a great success with a small investment.

This time, the artist did the same, once again demonstrating the profound significance of Chinese culture.

Is it possible for the North American box office to surpass $100 million?
Perhaps we'll have to see how they perform at the Oscars!

As Gu Bei and Ma Lin walked out of the movie theater, they immediately saw a radio truck parked in the parking lot, with a host holding a microphone and talking to a camera.

Gu Bei glanced at her but ignored her.

This is the basic quality of a person who lives in the countryside; don't just watch the show.

did not expect,
Gu Bei and his companion did not go to watch the commotion.

The female host then approached the two of them: "Excuse me, did you come out after watching 'The Artist'?"

"That's it."

Gu Bei said lightly.

"Could you give your opinion on this movie?"

The female host pressed for more information.

Gu Bei looked at the camera and smiled: "Welcome back to the Golden Age!"

"Thank you!"

After the female host finished the interview, she let Gu Bei and Ma Lin go.

After the two left, the photographer muttered, "That person must be an actor or some other Hollywood member."

The female host asked curiously, "Why do you say that?"

"Because when he was about to speak,
I just turned the camera around, and it wasn't even in focus yet.

He had already captured the best position for the camera, and his tone and manner were very persuasive! "The photographer analyzed.

"This is Hollywood!"

The female host didn't seem to care much.

After a while,

The TV station just called.
Only then did the female host and photographer realize Gu Bei's identity.
Good news: When they were reporting on the artist, they interviewed Gu Bei, the artist's director.

The bad news: they asked two incredibly boring questions.

Even so,

In the evening news that day,

The TV station still edited out the interview footage and put it on the screen.

And the popularity of the artists' films.
It's not just the Hollywood area with its rich artistic atmosphere,

Similar situations have occurred throughout North America.

……

Weinstein Co.

Harvey strode into the office, like a lion on patrol, surveying his territory.

Anyone who met Harvey's gaze lowered their head, fearing they might offend him.

After the inspection,

Harvey walked into the office and flipped through the latest box office report, which showed the figures for December 5th, two days prior. During this period...
The Weinstein Company released two films.
One of them is an R-rated comedy-erotic self-shot directed by Kevin Smith, which grossed $79644 on its opening day and is about to reach a total box office of $3070 million. For a low-budget comedy film, it is easy to recoup its costs.

Another one is The Reader, which is his main focus this awards season.

The closing price that day was $12385.

The box office for a single theater exceeded $10,000!
A box office of $10,000 per theater is a watershed moment, worthy of being reported, and forms the basis for subsequent expansion of screenings.

"Christine!"

Harvey picked up the microphone and casually called his secretary in, "How are the artists' box office results? Do you have the data?"

Secretary Christine glanced at him hesitantly, then nodded: "It's already there!"

Harvey frowned.

Why is Christine so quiet today?

Christine is usually a very proactive person, whether in the office or in a hotel. Why doesn't she take the initiative to talk about her achievements as an artist?

However, Harvey's interest in Kristen Stewart was still fresh: "Tell me about their box office results!"

"The artist's film was shown in 99 theaters that day, grossing $3.1 million, with each theater grossing over $30,000!"

Christine said with a hint of helplessness.

"How many?"

Harvey was a little taken aback.

"A single theater's box office exceeded $30,000."

Christine repeated it weakly.

"call!"

Harvey took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, trying to calm himself down with a deep breath.

But, it failed!

"boom!"

A pile of documents fell at Christine's feet.

“F*ck!”

Harvey cursed angrily.

He was so shameless that he only used one theater for a limited screening to try and compete with artists for box office revenue, but he still failed!

Harvey has never cared about saving face, but he wants to win!
He stood looking at the view from Sunset Boulevard, feeling a surge of heat coursing through his body.

So he loosened his tie knot and his suit belt, then looked at Christine, who was tidying up the documents on the floor.

He desperately needs some dopamine!

……

Sony Classics.

The first weekend is over.

Gu Bei sat in the conference room, watching the distribution staff outside, each holding a phone, coming and going, while he was the only one who was completely at ease.

"too crazy!"

Michael Barker, president of Sony Classics, walked in and said, "Now it's not just theaters across North America that are asking us for copies."

Even overseas distributors are getting impatient and want to release the film earlier, hoping to rake in a box office surge during Christmas.

"This is good news; the commercial value of artists has been recognized by everyone."

Gu Bei said lightly.

"Indeed, these are the box office figures for this weekend."

Michael pushed a piece of paper to Gu Bei.

Gu Bei glanced at it.
The top three were four Christmases, Bolt, and Australian turmoil.

Sony Pictures' 007 Quantum of Solace has dropped to fourth place, with only $675 million left this weekend.
And the fifth one,

They are artists.
With $520 million from 99 theaters,
Madagascar 2: Escape from Africa still had 3317 theaters in its fifth week, but by the end of the week, it had only grossed $502 million, which was trampled underfoot.

It is foreseeable that,

Next week, the artists will be rebelling against the Heavenly Gang.

It surpassed Sony Pictures' 007.

The entire top seven,
Only one film, *The Artist*, was released this week.

Next up are the eighth and ninth places, where the newly released movies this week only grossed three or four million dollars.

"Let me take a picture first."

Gu Bei took out his phone, took a picture, and posted it on Weibo.

Subsequently,

He told Michael, "I think that given the achievements of artists, we must increase our public relations efforts for the Oscars!"
Artists perfectly align with the Oscars' aesthetic, and a nomination or award at the Oscars significantly boosts their commercial value.

"Bruce, you can absolutely trust Sony Classics!"

Michael immediately made his stance clear: "Whatever you invest, Sony Classics will invest the same amount. My Best Picture, your Best Director, and Leonardo DiCaprio's Best Actor are all targets of our public relations efforts!"

I will also use all the resources at my disposal to ensure that artists receive the maximum support during this awards season!

Michael has always been a strong supporter of independent films.

He has now received the Gotham City Lifetime Achievement Award and the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award.

However, the fact that he has never won an Oscar for Best Picture is something he deeply regrets.

This was the best chance he felt he had ever had for the Oscar for Best Picture, so naturally he was going to give his all for the film "The Artist".

Besides the Best Picture, which has the greatest commercial value,
Art films that win Best Director can also attract large audiences to theaters.
As for Leonardo DiCaprio's Best Actor award, there's no need to say more. If Leonardo DiCaprio were to win the Oscar, it would probably spark a movie-watching frenzy all over the world.

After all, everyone has seen Leonardo's efforts to win the Oscar in the past two years, and it's very distressing.

"Let's rule this awards season!"

Gu Bei said confidently.

Gu Bei's confidence was not unfounded.

Compared to last year's relatively unknown explosive drummer, this year's artists entered the venue practically adorned in gold.
Besides the previous film festivals,
Artists were the biggest winners at this year’s earliest bellwether awards, the New York Gotham Awards and the National Society of Film Critics Awards.

The film won two awards at the New York Gotham Awards: Best Picture and Best Breakthrough Performance.

The National Association of Film Critics in North America ranked first in the Top 10 Best Films, followed by Slumdog Millionaire in second place and The Wrestler in tenth.

Both awards were announced before the artists' public screenings.

In addition to the Golden Lion at Venice and the Audience Choice Award at Toronto,
Awards season is currently led by artists, with Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in the second tier, while the rest of the films are somewhat lackluster.

Aside from The Dark Knight, which is even more popular than the artist,

Countless movie fans are hoping that Nolan's Dark Knight will receive a Best Picture nomination.

This means that superhero movies can also be recognized by the Academy.

Next,
Gu Bei then discussed the scale of next week's screenings with Michael, planning to expand from 99 venues to over 200.

For the time being, it is still necessary to control the scale of screenings. Artists' long-term screening contracts have fixed revenue sharing, so there is no need to concentrate box office revenue in the first few weeks.

Control the scale of the screening.

On the contrary, it can be shown for a longer period of time.
This show will run until May of next year.

There are still six months left, so there's no rush to expand the scale immediately.
The plan is to gradually increase the scale of screenings, following key milestones such as Christmas, the Golden Globes, Oscar nominations, and the Oscar ceremony, while maintaining box office revenue and critical acclaim per theater.

(End of this chapter)