From the initial release of the news in front of the audience, to the current removal from all theaters in North America, "Blair the Witch" has caused a violent shock among the audience, from the initial curiosity, to the enthusiasm in the middle, to the final accusation and even abuse, this film has, to some extent, its reputation has been stinky.

But what makes many media and industry insiders feel weird is that even after the main creators were interviewed and exposed by the media, there were still a large number of viewers who entered the theater in the scolding, to watch this movie that is not even a movie, and then watched it while scolding.

This also creates the illusion that the heat brought by the scolding can be carried over to the sequel.

When "Blair the Witch" finally left theaters, the North American box office stopped at $156.52 million.

$156.52 million, which also made "Blair the Witch" temporarily ranked eighth in the North American box office list in 1999.

The first seven films, which one is famous.

This year, "Star Wars Prequel: The Phantom Menace" is in the first place, followed by "The Psychic Sixth Sense", followed by "Toy Story 2" and "The Matrix", among others......

Along with these big-name films, "Blair the Witch" has also been awarded a title that may go down in the annals of film history by the media - the ancestor of pseudo-documentary thrillers.

As the operator behind the scenes, Ronan is unknown.

That's what he wants.

Whoever wants to steal the limelight can grab it, anyway, Ronan won't stand up stupidly.

Not everyone sees it as clearly as Ronan, such as the film's director, Daniel Mailik.

The director, who was pushed to the fore by Ronan, appeared on the cover of the new issue of Time Magazine and stole almost all the limelight brought by "Blair the Witch".

Subsequently, Daniel Mailik appeared on the Oprah talk show again.

The director took all the credit for himself.

For a time, Daniel Malik was full of beauty.

If the 1999 "Hollywood Person of the Year" was selected, Daniel Malik would definitely be shortlisted.

DreamWorks Pictures also took advantage of this momentum to hold a press conference to announce the start of preparations for the sequel to "Blair the Witch".

Only then did the media realize that the filming rights of "Blair the Witch" had been transferred to DreamWorks.

For a time, quite a lot of media commented that the decision-makers of Relativity Entertainment were in water and were a bunch of idiots.

Some media reporters even wanted to come to the door for interviews, but Relativity Entertainment adhered to Ronan's strategy and kept silent, counting the bills in obscurity.

Lewd development, don't wave.

If this situation is wasted, it is likely to be drowned by the spitting stars.

With the release of "Blair the Witch", the North American box office score also arrived quickly, this film does not involve foreign investment, there is no need to make special accounts, and the profits are only circulated between Relativity Entertainment and Embassy Pictures.

In the conference room of Embassy Pictures, Garcia looked at the report and said, "Yesterday afternoon, all the North American box office shares were all received, and we received a total of $79.5 million in North American box office shares. ”

As soon as these words ended, there was a round of applause in the conference room.

Thomas, Director of Theatrical Publishing, Terry, Director of Offline Publishing, Robert, Vice President, David Villa, Director of Publicity, and Fiana, the Director of Finance, who had just been transferred from Mary's side, all applauded enthusiastically and looked at Ronan at the same time.

It's not well-known to the outside world, but no one knows better than them that this is a victory for Ronan Anderson!

This kind of team leader with good ability, vision, mind and execution is so important to a company!

Ronan could sense the cohesion that was being formed by the management of Embassy Pictures, and applauded together, waiting for the applause to stop, and said: "The success of this film is the result of the collective efforts of the company, and I am asking people to develop a reward plan based on the revenue of "Blair the Witch." ”

The applause rang out again, and even more enthusiastically.

As a leader of a company, there may even be a larger team in the future, and if you want to make the team exert more powerful energy and truly achieve 1+1 greater than 2, in addition to the leader's own ability and personality charm, whether it can bring benefits to followers and bring actual benefits is also a key factor.

After the huge success of "Blair the Witch", Garcia has to admit that the new boss's ability is unquestionable, and this $79.5 million is the best proof of this.

In the past ten years, all the revenue of Embassy Pictures combined, there is no $79.5 million!

This is just one movie, and there are two more movies to follow, "Ace Agent" and "The Grim Reaper".

Garcia has been with the company for many years, and the slow-paced work and the conservative operating strategy of his former boss have worn out the ambitions of the past.

At this moment, he felt that he could do more, go to a higher place to see a better scenery.

"Let's talk about the financial aspects. Ronan said.

Fiana, the financial director, was a little hoarse: "During the entire operation of "Blair the Witch", Embassy Pictures invested $12 million in publicity, $7 million in distribution funds, $1 million in film purchase costs and other expenses, $2 million in distribution expenses for upcoming videotapes and discs, and a total of $22 million in publicity and distribution. ”

None of the others, including Ronan, spoke.

But anyone with a little brain knows very well that this small production, which cost only $80,000 to buy, was a success in the market with a huge amount of money.

Normally, the publicity and distribution costs of Hollywood movies are half of the production cost of the film, and some can be equal.

And what about this film? Garcia knows how much money is spent, but when he hears the figure of $22 million, he still thinks it's crazy.

Looking back, the initial market response to this seemingly crazy plan was one reason, and the other reason was that the copyright of the film was completely in my hands.

The total publicity expenditure of 22 million US dollars did not exceed Ronan's expectations, spending such a large amount of money, the revenue at the North American box office alone was 79.5 million US dollars, followed by videotapes and DVDs, TV rights, and various overseas rights.

It's worth it no matter how you calculate it.

This is the advantage of having a issuing company, and it is also the advantage of standing in the upstream of the industrial chain.

The $22 million, even if you add the $25 million spent on the purchase of Embassy Pictures, is worth it for the release of "Blair the Witch" alone.

Robert is indifferent to these costs, and follows Ronan into success, leading him to decide that as long as Ronan spends money, he will definitely bring in more income.

His mind ran to another place: "Why are you so looking forward to the plan in Ronan's hands, so much looking forward to the future trip to India?"

Fiana said at this time: "The $22 million is all from the loan of Relativity Entertainment, and the loan and interest will be repaid within this week, with a principal of $22 million, and the interest is fixed at 15%, with a total repayment of $25.3 million." ”

In addition, Relativity Entertainment transferred the five-year offline rights to "Blair the Witch" to Embassy Pictures for a total price of $18 million. ”

All of you here are Hollywood insiders, and they are no strangers to this kind of left-handed to right-handed capital operation.

"The remainder. Fiana continued: "For the time being, it will remain in the account of Embassy Pictures as a reserve and liquidity. ”

Ronan answered: "This part of the funds will be given priority to the embassy film industry to develop overseas distribution channels, and we will extend our distribution tentacles overseas in the next step!"

It is much more difficult to establish overseas distribution channels than North American distribution channels, and now in the whole of Hollywood, except for the six major companies, only a few companies have overseas distribution capabilities, and even ambitious dream factories are not capable of overseas distribution for the time being.

However, if you don't try to establish overseas distribution channels, you will probably be like DreamWorks, and you will not have the ability to distribute overseas until the end.

Thinking about Lionsgate, it didn't have the ability to distribute overseas at the beginning, and the overseas distribution channels that followed were really expanded by acquisitions and self-construction.

If nothing else, they want to be independent like Lionsgate, not be swallowed up by big conglomerates like the mid-sized studios in Hollywood's history, and be able to distribute films not only in North America, but also globally.

Subsequently, everyone discussed the establishment of overseas distribution channels.

This work needs to be taken care of, and Embassy Pictures currently has no suitable candidates, and Ronan plans to find an opportunity to poach people from his peers.

It's better to dig a team.

There is also the distribution of "Ace Agent" and "The Grim Reaper", which are also on the agenda of this meeting.

Ronan once again emphasized that the promotion and distribution funds of these two films must be solved by borrowing from Relativity Entertainment.

Relativity Entertainment will immediately have $43.3 million in its account, and for the time being, it will not have to worry about bank repayments, and it can be re-lented to Embassy Pictures to run new films.

There is also the sequel copyright that Relativity gave to DreamWorks, and the transfer money will arrive soon.

At that time, he will be able to take a large amount of interest from the income of the two films "Ace Agent" and "The Grim Reaper".

This is the legal income of Relativity Entertainment.

"Garcia, the previous business of Embassy Pictures can continue. Ronan proposed: "Go overseas to buy small independent productions, release them in North America or distribute discs and videotapes, you have done a good job before, don't give up this business." ”

Embassy Pictures used to live on this business, which shows that there is a certain room for profit.

Since you can make a profit, of course, you can't give up.

Some overseas films are sold in North America and can be sold at a good profit in the disc and video tape market.

In the future, if I have time, I will also go to the film festival more often.

Two days before Halloween, the discs and videotapes of "Blair the Witch" were officially released, and Embassy Pictures had distribution channels, and chains such as Walmart and Peskind placed the film and related posters in prominent places.

It's sometimes really hard to guess the psychology of the audience, "Blair the Witch" has a bad reputation, and there are still people who are willing to pay for it, and in just three days in the first week of release, it has earned nearly $7 million in sales and rental income.

The rights to the film's TV premiere are also in the negotiation stage.

After Halloween, Ronan plans to throw a celebratory party, and no media is invited, in addition to the insiders of the two companies, some people who have worked together, such as directors, actors, and other important candidates for other positions who have worked or are working together.

Of course, it is impossible for this kind of activity not to send invitations to the main creators of the crew.