Wednesday.
9 a.m.
At this moment in Page Pictures, everyone's heart was filled with gloom, and the huge conference room fell into deathly silence.
Whether it was Victor, the CEO, or Linklater, the director of "Juno" and the best director at the Berlin Film Festival, both of them had anger on their faces, and of course, more helplessness.
"Damn Time Warner~!"
The first person to break the silence was Kyle: "This matter is not over yet!"
Kyle hated Warner Group in his heart.
Why?
Just because "Juno" suppressed "Space Jam" produced by its company, it used its strong influence to put pressure on theatres and drastically reduced the screening schedule of "Juno".
On Monday, Juno was shown on more than 2,700 screens, and with its high reputation, controversy and heated discussions, theatres are bound to add more screens;
However, just yesterday, Tuesday, more than 2,200 screens were showing the film.
500 screening screens were cut at once.
Today is even more excessive!
Cinemas have further cut back on screenings.
Juno was shown on fewer than 1,500 screens.
The reduction in screenings has caused the daily box office to continue to decline, or to be more precise, it has fallen off a cliff!
Monday box office: $9.2 million;
Tuesday box office: $6.1 million;
Given the number of screens it's showing on today, we'd be lucky if it could get $4 million.
"Without large-scale screening, even if the film is very popular, the box office won't see much improvement," director Linklater said with a wry smile.
Kyle nodded with a gloomy face and said, "Victor, do you think that the cinema's reduction of our film schedule is a breach of contract? After all, we have signed a contract before."
Hearing this, Victor shook his head and said, "Boss, we are a small company. The contract we signed with the cinema is flexible, and the cinema is in a favourable position, so according to the contract, they have not breached the contract."
"Oh?"
Kyle was stunned for a moment, feeling angrier.
Victor added: "Boss, don't say that the theatre chain didn't breach the contract. Even if they did, can we still sue them?"
"Okay, just pretend I didn't say anything." Kyle waved his hand.
Sue the cinema?!
What a joke!
The cinema chain occupies the terminal of the film industry chain. If they just slightly delay your film, you will be in a mess. In this unequal and disadvantaged situation, they are not afraid even if your film is excellent!
No matter how good your movie is, can it compare with the big Hollywood companies?
Even if one or two extremely good movies come out, it's useless!
The quantity is not enough! Dear!
You should know that in Hollywood, any one of the six major film studios produces or releases no less than 50 films a year, and at its peak, even more than 100 films.
Compared to quantity?
Even if all employees of Page Pictures worked like crazy to make movies, they still couldn't make up a fraction of the size of the big companies!
In this situation, anyone who is not a fool knows which side to choose.
In the final analysis, Page Pictures is still weak!
"Mr. Jones, Mr. Page, the reduction in the number of films scheduled by theatres is a problem, but we cannot ignore Warner's advantage in media and newspapers!"
Director Linklater reminded.
WarnerMedia advantage?
"Haha~!"
After travelling through time for more than a year, even Kyle, who prides himself on having seen big scenes, is now extremely helpless.
Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Fortune Magazine, Life Magazine, CNN, HBO, DC Comics, Warner Bros., and other media with global influence,
All are Time Warner businesses.
Others have such huge media power, what can you use to fight against it?
Even the iron-headed kid can be smashed to pieces by you!
"Boss, Time Warner has made a move. Here are a few newspapers I bought this morning. Take a look."
As Victor spoke, he took out some newspapers.
As many as eight newspapers, including the California Post, Young Americans, Eastern Film News, New York Life, etc., published review articles criticising the movie Juno.
In particular, the New York Life newspaper claimed in its review article that Juno was a cancer to society.
The article said: "The movie Juno? A disgusting mudslide!"
"Why is there a mudslide? And why is it causing evil?"
Kyle cursed angrily: "Everyone is acting like a saint. Why don't they talk about the bad movies produced by Warner Bros. every year? They are the culprits, okay! You want to have fun, right? Then I won't do it anymore. I'll take out 10 million US dollars right now and see who dies and who lives!"
I have to say, Kyle was really angry.
Spend money!
I'm going to spend money like crazy!
Even if I can't beat you, I will make you sick to death~!
"Boss, calm down."
Victor pondered, "Even though Warner has taken action now and as many as 8 media outlets are criticising it, these are all regional media newspapers, and their power is less than one-tenth of their full strength. If the situation gets out of hand, it will only lead to the parent company behind Warner Film Group. Once they take action with all their strength, even if you spend 50 million US dollars, it will be completely useless!"
"Damn it~!"
Kyle was speechless.
Big companies are all fucking hooligans!
"Mr. Jones is right, Mr. Page, you'd better calm down," Director Linklater advised.
"That's right!"
Victor said solemnly: "Boss, facing the pressure from big companies, what we can do now is to contribute to the Internet and attract as many young audiences as possible to the cinema."
Hearing this, Kyle waved his hand: "Okay, you can do it as you see fit."
At this moment, the time traveller Kyle was extremely helpless.
"Damn it, I'll take note of this. One day you'll regret it!"
That's right, Kyle has already started planning how to cause trouble for Warner in the future.
Kyle is still somewhat confident about this.
In early 2000, America Online (AOL) acquired Time Warner Group, forming a multi-domain behemoth that could be called the world's largest media giant. However, with the sudden advent of the Internet bubble, Warner Group's stock price continued to fall, and it was caught in a long-term personnel struggle.
The whole company is in chaos!
Moreover, in the next few years, the film industry fell out of favour with even more bad movies, and only "Harry Potter" continued its glory.
"If I snatch Harry Potter away in advance, I'll see how you guys will react." Kyle roared in his heart.
The emergence of bad news has caused Page Pictures to be in a state of panic.
But at this moment, good news came.
Jordan, a representative of Paramount, personally visited us and said, "Warner is a giant, but we are Paramount! Our parent company is Viacom Group. In the field of media, we are not afraid of Time Warner. We can help you this time."
Help?
Paramount is not a righteous person!
They are also conditional.
First: To obtain the overseas distribution rights for "Juno".
Second: Signed an overseas distribution contract with Kyle for 5 films.
Third: Invest in Page Pictures.
Kyle could accept the first two points, but he would never agree to the third point, which was the investment demand.
That's right, once Paramount acquires a stake in Page Pictures, all the problems Kyle is facing now will be solved, and he will also be able to get on board with the media giant Viacom and put the company on the fast track to development.
But in the end, Kyle refused!
"Investment?"
"And become their subsidiary?"
"If they become shareholders, I will make more money, that's true. But I'm a time traveller, don't even think about asking me to work for you!"
Kyle is so arrogant.
Of course, it is more of a small peasant mentality!
Even if his own Page Pictures was small, it was still his home, and he would never allow anyone else to interfere. Even if he could make more money, Kyle would not agree.