The first weekend box office of "Dragon Ball" has just been released, and Nanaya and Washimine Entertainment have obtained detailed data.
To this end, the senior executives of Washimine Entertainment held a special meeting to discuss relevant countermeasures.
"The box office on Monday was only $2.5 million. This is the worst possible outcome."
Nanaya, who was on the screen in the conference room, gloated: "Next time, can we guarantee that all 600 theaters won't know about it next week..."
"That's right."
Ori nodded and said, "As long as the film is not too bad, the number of theaters for big productions in the first two weekends will not drop significantly. But the problem is..."
"This data is so bad that it can't get any worse~"
Shion crossed her chest with one hand and held up her chin with a folding fan with the other. The smile on her face was about to overflow. "Because the performance was so bad, the North American Theater Alliance promised to give us 500 more theaters for "Iron Man 2"! It's really great~"
"If it wasn't the summer season, maybe I could get more."
Nanaya said with a hint of sympathy: "It's just a pity for the creators of Dragon Ball."
If we were to say who suffered the most from the failure of "Dragon Ball", it would definitely be James Huang and his team.
Fox always has one or two movies every year that lose money badly, and we've long been used to it.
Because the movie was so dramatically modified, Akira and "Dragon Ball" were not criticized much.
All the negative reviews are basically based on the ridiculous adaptation of the movie.
As for Shueisha's biweekly...
Anyway, their business focus is not in Europe and the United States, so this failure has basically no impact on them.
But James Huang is different. Nanaya knows very well how difficult it is for a Chinese director to make a living in the United States.
From "The X-Files" to the "Final Destination" series, it can be said that James Huang has put in a lot of effort to stand out in the fiercely competitive Hollywood.
Nanaya knew very well that if the yellow people wanted to succeed in Europe and the United States, they would have to put in much more effort and hard work than the white and black people.
As one of the few Chinese directors who can reach the level of second-tier directors, it is really not easy for James Huang.
This time, "Dragon Ball" can be said to be his key transformation work.
If successful, James Huang will have a chance to make it to the front line.
It's just like Nanaya's FSN back then.
But what he encountered was such a mess.
If the director of "Dragon Ball" was a white person, this failure would also affect his career, but if he retreated to the horror film field and lay dormant for a few years, he might have a chance to make a comeback.
If you have someone who takes care of you, you can get a second chance even if you fail.
It's like Michael Bay messed up "Escape from the Island", but he was still able to direct "Transformers".
And James Huang...
In Nanaya's memory, after "Dragon Ball", the other party completely disappeared from the mainstream vision of Hollywood.
He could only work as a screenwriter and producer for some third-rate horror films, and didn't even get the chance to direct again.
As a director, Nanaya believes that this result must be quite painful for James Huang.
The weakness of the yellow race in Hollywood is clearly visible here.
Even though equality is advocated loudly here, discrimination is everywhere.
Nanaya tapped the table with his hands, wondering if he could find a way to help the other party.
After all, Nanaya was a Chinese in his previous life. It's not easy for a Chinese director to produce a talent, so he should help if he can.
Even though Huang's death was ugly this time, his talent in the field of horror films is still guaranteed.
And speaking of horror movies...
"Shion, try to get in touch with James Huang." Nanaya said to Shion.
"Do you have any ideas?"
"It won't hurt to get in touch with him." Nanaya shrugged and said, "Fox has definitely abandoned him now, so other companies probably won't be interested in him either."
There are so many directors who can make horror movies, and there is no shortage of James Wong, so James Wong doesn't have many choices.
Maybe the other party will choose to refuse, but in that case Nanaya can only express regret.
"Horror movies require low investment and quick return of funds," Nanaya explained to Shion, "It is a very cost-effective project. James Huang's rich experience in horror films is a good thing for Washimine, whose film library is scarce."
Although Washimine has been the box office champion in the past two years, its own film library has never been very sufficient.
The film library is the basis for the survival of a film company and also the foundation of a film company.
Shion also expressed her understanding of Nanaya's proposal.
"I understand. I will send someone to contact the other party."
Then Shion's expression changed, and she said with a very excited look: "Next, can we proceed with the plan we prepared?"
"Are you sure you won't violate advertising laws?"
Of course, Nanaya knew that the so-called project referred to Toei's new animated theatrical version of "Dragon Ball".
But Nanaya always felt that Shion's ideas were a little unreliable.
Editing "Dragon Ball: Evolution" and the "Dragon Ball" animated theatrical version together to make a comparison video is simply a mockery of others.
Nanaya felt that neither Fox nor News Corporation would swallow this humiliation.
"Don't forget, it's summer time."
Shion reminded Nanaya: "If you don't kill him at once, are you waiting for him to revive?"
[It has nothing to do with the resurgence, you just want to cause trouble for them! ]*N
Everyone in the conference room was mumbling this to themselves, but no one was stupid enough to say it out loud.
"Besides, I've already figured out how to circumvent the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, just watch!"
Looking at the confident Shion, for some reason, Nanaya felt more uneasy.
··
Shion's approach is essentially very simple. She first brought the reputation of "Dragon Ball: Evolution" to the lowest point, and then rebounded with Toei's original "Dragon Ball" animated theater version.
This is also thanks to the newspaper media, which focused all their firepower on the adaptation itself.
This reduces the unfavorable factors of the "Dragon Ball" IP to a minimum.
For this purpose, Shion directly asked the temporary workers (commonly known as water army) of the Internet public relations department of Washimine Entertainment to take action.
Internet trolls are not so sophisticated or mysterious. Major Hollywood companies have also established their own troll departments.
After all, the Internet in North America is now very developed, and it is penetrating into every corner of work and life in this country.
What follows is the huge influence of the Internet on people.
Once smartphones become fully popular, this influence will be further enhanced.
For entertainment companies like Fox and Washimine Entertainment, the importance of influencing public opinion is self-evident.
However, this time, the navy of Washimine Entertainment will not focus their main energy on attacking "Dragon Ball: Evolution".
This time they are just taking advantage of the current critical public opinion and letting their internet trolls do some manipulations.
Shion's real killer came after this...
The opening weekend box office performance of "Dragon Ball: Evolution" made Jim Ganopoulos panic.
Especially after the box office revenue of 2.5 million came out on Monday, Jim Gianopulos started to twitch as if he had epileAkira.
[It seems that I need to always have emergency heart pills with me from now on. ]
Jim Ganopoulos let out a long sigh. He felt weak all day long.
Although he did not have to take responsibility for the failure of Dragon Ball: Evolution, it made him feel even more uneasy.
Because Murdoch Jr. directly put the blame on the film's creative team headed by James Wong.
This is nothing in itself. It has always been a tradition in the industry to let the director take the blame when a movie fails.
But Murdoch Jr. was too ruthless. Not only did he announce that Fox would never cooperate with them again, he even withheld the final payment for the film project.
That's a bit too much, in Jim Gianopulos's opinion.
After all, director James Huang doesn't have much power in the crew and is just a tool director.
His status as a director is only slightly higher than that of Akira Toriyama, who is just a nominal screenwriter.
According to industry practice, although this kind of tool director has to take the blame, he will still receive some compensation.
Of course, if "Titanic" had failed that year, that James would definitely have been treated worse than this James.
Because the other party has full control over the entire project and is the person with the primary responsibility.
It was Murdoch Jr.'s attitude towards James Huang that made Jim Ganopoulos feel uneasy.
[Is there really any future for following such an inhuman leader? ]
Jim Ganopoulos couldn't help but feel sad for the rabbit's death.
[Will I be the next James Huang? ]
Just as Jim Ganopoulos was grieving, the office door was suddenly pushed open and his secretary rushed in.
"Boss! The situation is not good!"
Before Jim could ask, the secretary said hastily, "The negative news about Dragon Ball is increasing on the Internet. Currently..."
"You mean IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes? It doesn't matter anymore."
Jim waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Does this kind of rating still make sense now? Forget about it."
Jim no longer cares about movie reviews or anything like that.
When everyone is calling for your downfall, no matter what method of public relations you use, it will not be effective.
"No!" The secretary was obviously anxious, "Boss, you should check it yourself."
At his prompt, Jim opened a video on the [See Moon] website.
"A real Dragon Ball trailer?"
Jim realized something and pressed the play button with trembling hands.
This is Toei's latest "Dragon Ball" movie, and the trailer is full of exciting fighting scenes.
If it were just that, it wouldn't be a big deal, but the problem is that this video also edited in content from "Dragon Ball: Evolution".
When each short video segment switches, the text cards on the screen are commentaries such as [Fake Dragon Ball is like this], [Real Dragon Ball is like this], [This is the real battle of Son Goku].
The video [Comparison between A card and N card] almost nakedly shows the difference between the two movies to those who watch the video.
Of course, this is not the worst.
At the end of the video, the Washimine Entertainment logo appeared prominently, and the film's North American release date was announced - July 2009.
Jim's face turned pale and blue, and he suddenly understood a lot of things.
"Shueisha! You? Are you plotting against me——————!"
In the office, Jim Ganopoulos roared in dissatisfaction.