Chapter 634 Buy a season ticket and get a free movie ticket
"In its second week of full release (the first week of large-scale screening), The Lion King earned more than 40 million in box office in 2,550 theaters, with an average single-theater weekend box office exceeding 16,000 US dollars..."
Ronald was reading the Hollywood Reporter at home, and the box office column above crushed his box office dreams.
This is the best opening weekend box office performance in Hollywood this year. In history, it is also second only to Jurassic Park and Batman Returns, two super movies.
Ronald feels that he did not foresee the box office potential of The Lion King. In fact, he cannot be blamed for his inaccurate vision. The Lion King only ranked tenth at the box office last week. As a movie with a limited opening, such results are actually already achieved.
Very good. But Ronald did not expect that this result was achieved with only two cinemas.
Disney's Katzenberg played a marketing trick. When The Lion King opened, it was only shown in two theaters in the United States, Disney's El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles and Radio City Music in New York.
Hall (Radio City Music Hall).
One of these two cinemas can accommodate 1,100 people, and the other can accommodate more than 5,000 people. They are Disney's largest venues in the United States with movie screening capabilities.
For a whole week, there were only two places in the United States where you could see The Lion King. The ticket price was raised to a record high of thirty US dollars. The ticket price in the hands of scalpers even increased to more than eighty US dollars.
As a result, in the first weekend of the film's opening, the two theaters contributed an average of more than 790,000 box office, and the box office in the first weekend was close to 1.6 million. It broke the record set by Star Wars that year, opening in 50 theaters.
The following movies have the highest box office records. The original record of Star Wars was achieved by forty cinemas.
In the first weekend, plus this week's mid-week box office, these two cinemas have earned more than 3.8 million in box office for The Lion King.
Ronald didn't take a closer look at the miracle of the two theaters, so he didn't notice it for a moment and miscalculated the box office potential of The Lion King. Now it seems that The Lion King is obviously expected to hit the global box office record of Jurassic Park, and very soon.
It may very well take the title of the highest-grossing animated film.
The Lion King, which is suitable for all ages, surpassed Forrest Gump in terms of audience base. However, Forrest Gump was fully released two weeks later, and The Lion King was already in its fourth week. It surpassed Forrest Gump's first weekend.
The box office target, aiming to beat The Lion King at the box office in its fourth week at that time, seemed reasonable.
Ronald put down the documents and picked up the box prepared by Diane. He was about to fly to New York to attend the premiere there. In Los Angeles, it was a premiere organized by Paramount. He didn't spend much money, so he made it on his own.
It's done inside the studio.
When I arrived in New York, I was just daydreaming about spending the additional marketing budget to build some momentum...
…
"Mr. Li, your blanket..."
The stewardess was used to Ronald going to bed right after he got on the plane. After Ronald thanked him, he fell asleep.
"You jump, I jump! (You jump, I jump)"
After arriving in New York, Ronald was still mumbling to himself after getting into the car. There had been too many things recently and he was a little tired. He slept very soundly on the plane. He seemed to have dreamed of some movie, but he only remembered very little.
content.
I just remember a handsome guy approaching a fat girl from behind, and then said this line to her. It seems that the fat girl's clothes are not modern, but from the Industrial Revolution period. Maybe it was a period romantic drama at that time?
Ronald wrote down this line and asked his assistants to check it when the time came. Although such a line and the age limit may not yield any results.
"Mayor Rudy wants to talk to you..." The bodyguard in front of the car handed over the phone. Did Rudy ask him for anything as soon as he landed?
"Ronald, this is my first victory parade speech..."
Rudy came to see Ronald when the New York Rangers held a victory parade after winning the NHL championship Stanley Cup.
Unlike the unsatisfactory Knicks, the Rangers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3:2 in the seventh finals, winning the team's first NHL championship in 54 years.
In 1940, when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, the owner of the old Madison Square Garden happened to pay off the mortgage on the stadium that year.
On the night of celebrating the championship, they put the bank mortgage loan documents into the Stanley Cup and burned it... Fans believed that this move desecrated the sacred Stanley Cup, causing the team to be cursed for more than 50 years.
Never won a championship.
Another theory is that Dutton, the general manager of the American Canucks, another ice hockey team in Madison Square Garden at that time. During World War II, due to a large number of players joining the army, the owner stopped investing, and the American Canucks temporarily withdrew from the NHL.
But after the end of World War II, the managers of Madison Square Garden at the time supported the NHL in breaking its promise and prevented the American team from returning to the NHL. This made Dutton very angry, cursing that as long as he was alive, the Rangers would not get
champion.
In short, this curse was so effective that in the 1980s, the Rangers' original second-tier team, the New York Islanders, whose home game was on Long Island, won the championship for four consecutive years after being qualified to participate in the NHL. Stanley
The number of cups is one more than the original parent team Rangers.
Islanders fans often display "1940" slogans during New York derbies to humiliate Rangers fans.
This championship was tantamount to completely breaking this fifty-four-year curse. Rangers fans were very happy and asked the team to hold a victory parade in Manhattan.
This matter came to Dolan, who wanted to give up the victory parade because the commercial value of the NHL was relatively low and he did not want to spend another sum of money to apply for city hall assistance in Manhattan, New York.
Regardless of whether this makes sense in business terms, if fans who have not won a championship in more than 50 years are not given a victory parade, their overwhelming resentment may be vented to the team owners.
After Ronald learned about it, he immediately called Mayor Rudy, abandoned Dolan, and settled the matter directly.
Tomorrow, there will be a victory parade in the Broadway area. The parade starts from Battery Park and ends at City Hall. Mayor Rudy will also give a speech there to celebrate New York's first professional sports championship since he took office.
"No problem, don't worry. I've already arranged everything." Ronald has paid a big price, and the floats, various performances along the way, and some feedback activities from old fans who participated in the victory parade are all
Already ready.
"Hahaha, very good, I'm going to do something big tomorrow..." Rudy was very happy with this championship. Ice hockey and basketball are somewhat similar. They are both professional sports tied to ethnic groups. Just like the NBA, where black people play the most, ice hockey
Almost all of them are white people.
The same goes for fans. Many of those who watch Knicks games are middle-class white people in Manhattan. Fans who watch hockey are almost all white, and the most die-hard among them are those from blue-collar families.
And these happen to be Mayor Rudy's most loyal supporters.
The section of Broadway from Battery Park to City Hall is also known as the Canyon of Heroes. The next day, a large number of floats with performances of various ethnic groups, accompanied by members of the championship-winning Rangers, arrived at the parade.
End point, City Hall.
There, Mayor Rudy gave a speech to the millions of people who attended the parade. He congratulated the Rangers on winning the championship that they had not won in the past 54 years in the first year of changing ownership.
Not only did he invite representatives of retired players who had not won a championship in the past half century, Rudy also invited all the living old mayors since 1940 to half celebrate the end of the curse and half to show off to them.
"This is Mayor Koch, who won two World Series with the Yankees. This is Mayor Dinkins, who won the Super Bowl with the Giants..."
"Boo..." When talking about Dinkins, there was a huge protest below. Rudy's move was like putting his predecessor on the stove. "Let's not forget that when the Rangers started this season,
He is still the mayor..."
"Boo..."
It's okay if I don't say it, but the fans below booed even more loudly.
"Finally, we would also like to thank the players, coaches, and owners of the Rangers for the great pleasure they have brought to us!"
"Oh oh oh..."
Rudy was still very good at sensationalizing in public. In the end, he gave part of the credit for the victory to Ronald, which also allowed the new boss to enjoy the cheers of the fans.
Although Ronald did not go to the Airport Rangers game, the free pizza and beer after winning the game have become a repertoire. The fans also support the owner who brings them good luck.
Ronald declined the opportunity to speak on stage. He did not want to take credit for the team that received it halfway. Anyway, the fans can see clearly that half of this Stanley Cup is due to the former Paramount appointee.
Half of the general manager's transfer operations are due to the strength of the players.
This refusal to go on stage to receive the merit happened to stop Dolan who also wanted to receive the merit.
To be a boss that fans like, you have to be willing to spend money... Ronald is very good at mastering this trick. He also arranged for many people from the team to be there at the terminal of the victory parade to provide convenience, as long as you are on the
Season ticket holders of any season within three years of the start of the season can receive free food and drinks, and a "Forrest Gump" movie ticket package, which can be redeemed for two movie tickets and a popcorn and Coke
combo.
The Rangers are one of the New York professional teams with the highest proportion of season ticket holders. They sell more than 10,000 sets of season tickets every year, and only have a few thousand loose tickets left for each home game.
In this big show, Ronald gave away movie tickets worth about more than 60,000 US dollars, which also contributed to the first weekend box office of "Forrest Gump".
After the premiere in New York, and after a few days of rest, Ronald flew back to Los Angeles to wait for the filming of Forrest Gump to begin.
When he came back, Ronald couldn't sleep because he had a good rest. He sat in the seat of the special plane and read a lot of newspapers and magazines that his assistant bought for him in New York.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave The Lion King three and a half stars, saying that it is another wonderful Disney-style animated feature film. The legend of Simba has a buried origin to some extent.
Originating from the Greek tragedy, and of course related to Hamlet, it is a learning experience for parents and an unforgettable entertainment for children.
But his partner on the TV film review show, Gene Sisco of the Chicago Tribune, was not too fond of The Lion King. Sisco said that the film was not as good as "Beauty and the Beast" from an artistic point of view, and not as good as "Beauty and the Beast" from a technical point of view.
"Jurassic Park" and "The Lion King" are good movies, but not great movies.
Most of the movie reviews in newspapers have this argument. The Lion King is a movie that is very suitable for family fun, but the artistic level is not very high. It seems that Shakespeare's story and the origin of ancient Greek tragedy make this movie more suitable for adults.
, rather than children.
"Hey..." Ronald could only shake his head at what these film critics said. It is suitable for adults and will be a big boon to the box office.
Anyway, this is a movie that both adults and children like to watch. One more child wants to watch it, and one more adult wants to watch it, and the result is three or more movie tickets...
Looking for the meaning of life and artistic achievement from a family-friendly animated movie is indeed a bit strange.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Ronald put down the newspaper and continued to read the magazine. The level of film critics in magazines is often higher than that of newspaper film critics.
Newspapers are highly time-sensitive and have a significant impact on box office. Therefore, many journalists who write film reviews in newspapers need to be more biased in the role of film reviews. Magazines, on the other hand, are not very time-sensitive. By the time the magazine's film review comes out, the movie has often been released.
It's been two weeks.
Therefore, they can have space to look at the level of movies more objectively. The readers that the magazine faces are also more educated, and some expressions can be more in-depth.
"Um?"
Ronald frowned as he held a copy of "Newsweek". There was a photo of OJ Simpson on it. The photo looked like a frontal mugshot of OJ, which looked very much like a suspect being arrested.
That kind of mug shot (Mug Shot) taken when I was a kid.
The headline on the newspaper cover is "Following the Bloodstains." This issue of "Newsweek"'s O.J. Simpson feature is about the LAPD's many investigations into the bloodstains.
Turning inside, the film review has been compressed into a very small space, and the O.J. Simpson case is still squeezing out the space of various other social news.
Putting down "Newsweek", Ronald picked up "Time"...
"Fuxk! What is this?"
Ronald was shocked when he saw the cover of Time Magazine. The editors of Time Magazine also used O.J. Simpson's mugshot as the cover, but... they used software to darken the original photo of Newsweek.
On the cover, OJ Simpson's face looks very dark, without any depth at all. It not only deepens readers' stereotypes of black people, but also makes him look very threatening. It's like a man emerging from the darkness of Central Park.
Just like the black people who suddenly jump out and rob someone.
Then came the very provocative title "An American Tragedy."
"What is this? Is it the tragedy that Simpson has been trying to enter the white circle and marry a white wife for so many years, but in the end he committed a crime and was suspected of killing his wife?"
Ronald touched his chin. As one of the most serious magazines read by Americans, this is not the first time they have done this. Last time, they brightened the picture of Michael Jackson, which was similar to the one who had just debuted.
When making comparisons, it was suggested that MJ's skin and appearance were more Caucasian than before.
Soon, this cover photo was criticized by many other media. After all, Newsweek's original photo was compared. When the two magazines were compared, the purpose of smearing OJ Simpson was obvious.
Time magazine was quickly labeled as racist editorials and yellow journalism. After a few days, they could no longer hold on and had to apologize for their inappropriate remarks.
Ronald also doesn’t know what these Jewish-owned media want to do. The country is now divided because of the Simpson case. Isn’t this adding fuel to the fire? The name of "Times" does not seem to need such eye-catching information.
Titles and photos to attract sales.
The O.J. Simpson case continues to make news. Ronald's "Forrest Gump" has already reached its release date.
Over the three days of the weekend, Ronald got a lot of real-time news from various places. Generally speaking, in big cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, the audience numbers of Forrest Gump and The Lion King were roughly the same, and it was difficult to distinguish them.
.
On Monday, the box office statistics finally came out.
First place, Forrest Gump, $24.45 million.
Second place, The Lion King, $24,425,000.
"God bless, fortunately, I gave away more than 60,000 tickets!"