Chapter 44: Against Heaven's Box Office
Yi Feiyang's negotiations with Gustave, the boss of Lionsgate, went smoothly. The next day, the two parties had a comprehensive and detailed business talk about their intention to cooperate with each other.
During this time, both of them had their lawyers ready and were prepared to sign at any moment.
Gustave's lawyer was a famous attorney in Hollywood, Mr. Elder, the head of the Golden Law Firm. He was also one of the top lawyers who helped Gustave dominate Hollywood in the future, and he had handled countless high-profile cases, including the Michael Jackson lethal injection case and the Elizabeth Taylor inheritance dispute case.
The lawyer representing Yi Feiyang, on the other hand, is a relatively unknown figure, but for Yi Feiyang, he is an old friend - Louis Carl, the small-time lawyer who had tried to win him over during his previous purchase of copyrights.
Last time, Yi Feiyang told Karl, let's join hands and sell this copyright for a million.
Louis thought he was joking and didn't think the Chinese man had such great abilities. But less than a month later, the other party actually called to ask for his help in signing new documents.
When Louis Karl learned of the new content in this "new document", he was thoroughly shocked.
Three million US dollars, gone just like that!
Turned directly cooperate with Lion's Gate and play dividend, and can get bonus only after breaking 100 million!
Over 100 million?! What's the concept?!
Even big-budget movies may not necessarily break 100 million, let alone this kind of film?!
Isn't such a contract too crazy?!
For those big shots, it doesn't matter, but for someone who is still renting a house, this boldness and grandeur are unmatched.
From peddling copyrights to becoming a partner of Lion's Gate, Yi Fei Yang's shock was even harder for Carl to add.
Perhaps Carl thought that this Chinese magician who was good at changing magic would be the new noble of Hollywood in the future!
The change in Louis' heart couldn't escape Yifei Yang's eyes, so after signing the contract. Yifei Yang patted Karl on the shoulder and said: "That lawyer Elde, do you know him?"
"Yes, I know him. He's a famous lawyer in Hollywood who specializes in cases involving big stars. To be honest, the money he spends on a bottle of champagne is enough for me to eat for a whole year!"
"Do you envy him?"
"Of course I'm envious!"
"Do you want to become someone like him?"
"You mean..."
Yi Feiyang's gaze opened wide, gazing at the high-rise buildings of Los Angeles in the distance. "Actually, you and I are the same, we're both searching for our own sky! We're not incapable, just haven't had the chance; now that the chance is here, are you willing to charge forward with me?!"
Yi Feiyang's words were sonorous and powerful, profound and unmatched.
Louis Carroll looked at the spirited Chinese man in front of him, then glanced around at the towering skyscrapers and the vast sky above them. He took a deep breath and said: "I'm willing!"
……
Lion's Gate Films spent a huge sum of money to get a low-cost film from a Chinese person, and loudly claimed that it would defy the heavens. I don't know who spread this news, but it quickly went viral.
Lion's Gate became a laughing stock of the entire Hollywood.
"Look, that newly established film company actually bought a terrible movie!"
"Poor fool! Who would have thought that even a normally cautious company like MGM would pull off such an aerial stunt!"
"It's a piece of crap, no need to look at it and you'll know the result, it will directly lose money!"
……
MGM, Fox and other Hollywood studios said in an old-fashioned tone: "Experience! This is the result of lacking experience! Making movies isn't that simple!"
"Yes, everyone thinks making movies is easy money, but we've also suffered losses before getting to where we are today!"
"Eat one's fill and gain wisdom! Shi Meng Film will learn from its mistakes!"
……
As the head of Lionsgate, Guste is even more synonymous with being a moron, an idiot and a two hundred fifty (a Chinese slang for someone who is extremely foolish), some people even say that guys like him should just go back to playing in the financial industry, investing, because the movie business is too deep for him, he can't handle it!
Facing such negative news, Yi Feiyang was initially worried that Gusta would not be able to withstand the pressure and would retreat at the last minute. But what Yi Feiyang did not expect was that Gusta was indeed a strong man, facing these rumors and gossip as if he had not heard them, and started the next step of his plan without hesitation.
……
Hollywood is never short of good movies, nor is it short of dark horses. However, for a dark horse to run, it also needs to be fed fodder. And this so-called "fodder" is publicity!
A movie mogul once said that the United States, as a world film empire, has an annual total investment of nearly $10 billion in film production, with half of it being publicity expenses!
It can be seen from this that publicity is the key to whether a play can truly become popular.
Don't say that the Hollywood market is so mature and can reject bad movies, it's not true. Americans will also be misled by advertisements and buy into movie promotions.
Not to mention anything else, the reason why "The Blair Witch" was so against the sky in its previous life was also because the company that released it spent tens of millions of dollars on publicity.
There is only one thing in this world that can make money, and that is using money to make money!
Going back to before, Yì Fēi Yáng took out his only over $10,000 in Los Angeles and started promoting "The Blair Witch". The results were evident, in just ten days the box office reached $130,000.
Now, Lionsgate has invested a whopping $6 million, all of which is for promotional expenses. No doubt, they want to hype up this low-budget film that cost only $200,000 into a blockbuster as Yi Fei Yang puts it!
What can six million do in Hollywood?!
Can cover the headlines of all mainstream media; Can continuously roll out its own advertisements on TV; Can launch a million-dollar essay contest "The Blair Witch"; Can also expand into overseas markets, in the UK, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, India... Launch propaganda bombs for a carpet bombing!
What effect will such a fierce propaganda campaign have?
Not to mention other regions of North America, Los Angeles alone has formed a pervasive Blair Witch craze.
As announced by Lionsgate, the movie will be officially released tonight... Before that, those small cinemas of Yi Feiyang were just a small disturbance, but this news was like a heavy bombshell, directly attracting those young people with strong curiosity.
Although the ticket price has risen from $2 in underground cinemas to $5 and $7, this small increase in ticket prices did not deter those enthusiastic fans with curious and eager hearts!
As a result, these college students rushed into the cinemas under the banner of Shimeng Film from all directions, eager to catch a glimpse of this legendary "devil movie", "death movie".
Curiosity killed the cat, this is a Western proverb, also applies to movie marketing strategies.
The people of Los Angeles have gone crazy.
The movie theater in Los Angeles is packed!
You can see endless queues at the entrance of cinemas in various districts!
Blacks, whites, Chinese and people of all skin colors are packed together, with the sole purpose of rushing into the cinema to catch a glimpse!
Who would have thought that this play purchased by Shaw Brothers would be so crazy and unbelievable.
The Blair Witch was a box office success, ranking in the top 10 for two consecutive weeks. This is considered rare in the US film industry where films are often quickly eliminated from theaters.
This low-budget horror film was originally scheduled to open in only 27 theaters for its first week, but after a strong response it expanded to 31 theaters in the second week and then to 1,100 theaters.
Two thousand one hundred and forty-two copies of the film left both Roaring Lion Film Company and Copy Printing Company extremely busy.
This explosive viewing momentum, like an incredible virus, spread from Los Angeles to New York, from New York to Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia... and extended to overseas markets!
"The Blair Witch" has been successfully screened for a week.
North American box office ranking as follows:
First place: "Saving Private Ryan", North American weekly box office $23 million.
Second place: "Armageddon Time", North American weekly box office $21.12 million.
Third place: "Crazy for Mary", North American weekly box office $19.5 million.
Fourth place: "A Bug's Life", North American weekly box office $14.32 million.
Fifth place: "Blair Witch", North American weekly box office $13.6 million.
Sixth place: "Dumb and Dumber To", North American weekly box office $8.25 million.
To know that Blair Witch was made for a mere $20,000 and went on to gross over $130 million in its first week is mind-boggling enough.
But this madness and unimaginability continues.
Right after that, as the movie heated up dramatically, countless audiences rushed into the cinema to take a look at the true face of this dark horse film.
Then in its second week, North America's weekly box office chart changed.
First place: "Saving Private Ryan", North American weekly box office $23.4 million.
Second place: "Armageddon Time", North American weekly box office $22.18 million.
Third place: "Crazy for Mary", North American weekly box office $17.55 million.
Fourth place: "Blair Witch", North American weekly box office $15.2 million.
Fifth place: "A Bug's Life", North American weekly box office $11.5 million.
Sixth place: "Godzilla", North American weekly box office $8.55 million.
According to the box office chart, "Blair Witch" earned over 15 million yuan that week, directly throwing animated comedy film "A Bug's Life" behind.
The comedy film "Dumb and Dumber To", which originally ranked sixth at the box office, was defeated by the newly released sci-fi blockbuster "Godzilla" and fell out of the top six.
This week's list has been slightly shuffled, but the biggest highlight is still "The Blair Witch".
Just as all Hollywood filmmakers and North American audiences are being driven crazy by this small film constantly climbing to the top and beating big films, with their heads exploding and adrenaline surging, the third week's North American box office rankings have come out.
First place: "Armageddon", North American weekly box office $23.96 million.
Second place: "Saving Private Ryan", North American weekly box office $23.58 million.
Third place: "Blair Witch", North American weekly box office $20.65 million.
Fourth place: "Crazy for Mary", North American weekly box office $16.8 million.
Fifth place: "A Bug's Life", North American weekly box office $13.5 million.
Sixth place: "Godzilla", North American weekly box office $8.67 million.
This week's box office rankings are quite interesting, the long-time runner-up blockbuster "Jade Dynasty" finally turned over, jumping from second place to first place with a narrow advantage of 380,000 more than "Saving Private Ryan", becoming the champion of the week. And this film's box office in overseas markets is even more impressive, occupying the throne of total box office champion with an overwhelming advantage.
Hollywood has thus derived a rule: in the competition between science fiction films and war films, the latter almost always win in North America, while the former dominate overseas markets.
Of course, this is not the point, the key is that the super dark horse "Blair Witch" has a more incredible box office performance this month.
It can be said that from the third week, this play was like a stimulant, and the weekly box office soared to over 200 million, again surpassing the comedy film "Crazy for Mary" and sitting on the third throne of the weekly box office chart!
Such an awesome achievement left everyone speechless, especially those Hollywood big shots who were left with their jaws dropped!
How is this possible?!
I invested hundreds of millions in "Saving Private Ryan", is it worse than this small movie made with only 200,000 yuan?!
Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable!
My poor crazy Mary, how did you get PKed down by that female witch?!
……
The entire Hollywood is boiling with excitement, and everyone is shocked by the incredible box office performance of this small film!
But what left everyone stunned was yet to come, three months later, the North American box office statistics, the stunning "Blair Witch" broke 100 million at the box office!
And judging from the current box office trend, if there are no unexpected events, adding the overseas box office of this film, the total box office will reach an astonishing 260 million in three months!!!
That is to say, this DV film with a cost of only 200,000 yuan created the greatest miracle in Hollywood history! And it became the most prominent dark horse that will be recorded in history!
……
The seven major Hollywood film studios are stunned!
Those big shots in the company looked as if they had seen a ghost!
It wasn't until now, after living for so many years, that I finally understand what it means to achieve a big victory with minimal effort!
Lionsgate is totally thrilled!
Look, who's the idiot? Who's the fool?!
As the big boss of Lionsgate, Guste accepted an exclusive interview with Los Angeles TV station. In the interview, he was spirited and talked about the hardships of launching "Blair Witch" and the achievements gained at this time.
As a believer, Mr. Gusta thanked his almighty God and then had to mention how he acquired the rights to this play, how he had the courage to recognize heroes with a keen eye, and collaborated with a Chinese person to achieve today's surprising box office miracle.
And "Yi Feiyang" as the name, as a Chinese who created a miracle of 200 million, undoubtedly entered the vision of many Hollywood people.
The mysterious East, the behind-the-scenes driving force of miracles.
Many news media have developed a strong curiosity about this Chinese, for a time, who is this Chinese, how did he create miracles, how old is he, what does he look like... Many questions drove these media crazy.
In terms of news value, the freshness brought by "Yi Feiyang" at this moment has surpassed Gushta, the big man of Lion's Gate Entertainment, and Steven Spielberg, the director of "Saving Private Ryan", becoming the object of excavation for many veteran journalists.
For a moment, everyone was asking: Who is he?!
I've caught a severe cold and I'm feeling terrible. I also need to save drafts, so I won't be able to maintain the daily two updates for now. Please forgive me, but as soon as I recover, I'll immediately resume the daily two updates.
