A grand premiere is back at Disneyland.

Perhaps thinking that "Alien Battlefield" might make a difference in the amusement park project, Disney Studios, as the distributor, deliberately put the world premiere of the film at Disneyland in California, and sent the hero Tira to help.

As a partner of Walt Disney, Matthew naturally received an invitation.

Walking down the long red carpet to the door of the newly completed Disney Grand Theatre, Matthew meets Robert Iger, CEO of Walt Disney.

"What's wrong?" Matthew asked curiously, shaking hands with Robert Iger, "You look worried?"

Robert Iger looked at the huge poster of "Alien Battlefield" installed in front of the theater and sighed, "The last few movies have not been very smooth. ”

Hearing this, Matthew was a little angry and said, "Disney's movies are not going well this year? Please, Bob, can you take into account other people's feelings?"

Robert Iger spread his hands, "It's true. ”

Matthew said directly, "The total global box office of "Alice in Wonderland" released at the beginning of the year has exceeded one billion, right? "Iron Man 2" has been released to the present North American box office of 300 million US dollars, and the global box office is 700 million US dollars? "Toy Story 3", which was released more than half a month ago, has a double explosion of box office and word-of-mouth, which is obviously a film with 300 million + in North America and 800 million + in the world!"

He couldn't help but shake his head, "Disney's movies don't go well? ”

Robert Iger smiled like Mickey Mouse again, and then pointed to the "Alien Battlefield" poster, "I'm talking about this movie." ”

Matthew put on a curious look, "The test screening has a bad reputation?"

Until now, the ratings of "Alien Battlefield" such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB have not been lifted, but this film has held many test screenings.

Generally, after the formal preview screening, commercial blockbusters will lift the ban on word-of-mouth, because if word-of-mouth is good, it is also excellent publicity.

On the other hand, those who do not lift the ban on word-of-mouth are either films that have not held test screenings to the outside world, or blockbusters with super self-confidence like "Avatar", or the test screening reputation is very unsatisfactory.

He has been paying attention to "Alien Battlefield", and the word-of-mouth of this film has not been lifted, but there are many reviews that say that the film is very good.

Of course, insiders don't take these things seriously, and everyone knows that most film critics are people who work for money.

"It's not ideal. Robert Iger shook his head slowly, "I'm mentally prepared to fail." ”

"Oh?" Matthew frowned slightly.

Robert Iger sighed, "Andrew's ability on live-action films is not even a tenth of that of an animated feature." He still has a bit of luck, "Fortunately, Disney only invested 50 million dollars in this film." ”

Matthew didn't know what to say, after all, the film almost chose him as the leading actor.

Robert Iger suddenly looked at the red carpet, and Brad Pitt, who was extremely handsome in an off-white dress, had already walked on the red carpet.

Fortunately, the $200 million in funding for this film came from Brad Pitt's investment and financing. He said slowly, "Otherwise, Disney may face an extremely brutal defeat and loss." ”

Matthew thought for a moment and asked, "Is it that serious?"

After all, looking at it here, Brad Pitt was smiling and smug on the red carpet, as if the film had been a huge success.

"It's worse than the worst you can think of. ”

The film is about to be released, and Robert Iger has no need to hide it, "Do you know what the pre-sale of this film is?"

Matthew shook his head, "There is no publicly available data. ”

Robert Iger sighed again, "Because Brad Pitt's Plan B cost a lot of money and blocked the presale data." ”

"Bad?" Matthew asked again.

Robert Iger nodded slightly, "Well, the North American box office pre-sale on the first weekend was less than $5 million. ”

Matthew was silent for a moment, for a super production with a production cost of up to $250 million, the pre-sale of $5 million is not bad to describe.

The next moment, he turned into a good friend who was very considerate of his partners, and suggested, "Bob, Disney had better look at the box office reaction on the first day of release before deciding on the follow-up publicity investment." ”

From a stop-loss point of view, this is undoubtedly the most sensible.

Robert Iger smiled helplessly and said, "I've temporarily stopped letting Disney invest in this film again." ”

Knowing that a movie is very likely to lose money, and investing more in it, isn't there something wrong with the head?

Besides, Disney is not Project B and Brad Pitt, and there is no way out except for "Alien Battlefield".

Matthew saw someone coming to greet Robert Iger and took the initiative to leave, but instead of entering the Disney Grand Theater, he watched Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman walk the red carpet of the premiere of "Alien Battlefield" one after another.

If you want to become a qualified actor, you must first be thick-skinned enough, and from the faces of Natalie Portman and Brad Pitt, there is no concern about "Alien Battlefield", it seems that it is not difficult for this film to be a big hit.

Of course, it is not uncommon for films with poor word-of-mouth in test screenings and box office hits after their release.

So, this huge premiere jointly invested by Disney Studios and Plan B is only going according to plan, and I'm afraid Robert Iger is not without luck in case it succeeds.

But the pre-sale was extremely poor, and the test screening had a bad reputation, which was enough for Matthew to make a clear judgment that "Alien Battlefield" would follow the old path.

Moreover, just now Robert Iger also said that there is a problem with the director Andrew Stanton.

It's okay to say that there is a problem with the actor, but if there is a problem with the director's direction, it will be fatal to any film.

Matthew glanced at the main creative staff of "Alien Battlefield" who were crowded in front of the background board and took a group photo, and turned around and walked towards the theater gate.

There is a fatal problem with the film, isn't that what he wants?

Think about it, if the box office of this film is average, Disney Pictures deducts the distribution commission and the publicity and distribution fees paid in advance, how much of the share can fall to Plan B?

Maybe the large amount of money invested by Plan B and Brad Pitt will not even be able to recover a tenth of it.

Which crew with a slightly larger investment will dare to use Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman in the future?

Failure once can be bad luck, messing up two big productions in a row, not to mention them, even a star of Matthew's level will suffer a huge negative impact.

Soon after Matthew entered the Disney Grand Theater, the group photo of the crew of "Alien Battlefield" ended, and Brad Pitt took the lead towards the door of the theater alone, turning his body and not facing the media anymore, the smile on that handsome face immediately disappeared without a trace, and worry occupied almost all expressions.

Even if the test screening is poor, the pre-sale is also poor, which really worries him.

Pre-sales often represent the true appeal of a movie, a director, and the film's leading actors.

The advance box office of less than $5 million also made it clear to him that Andrew Stanton, who left Pixar's animated feature film, was basically not attractive to fans, and he and Natalie Portman, the two leading actors, did not have much commercial appeal at all.

This is particularly frustrating, but there is no escaping it.

Maybe it was a mistake to choose a big-budget commercial film? Brad Pitt suddenly had a realization.

But if you want to become a superstar, this is a necessary choice, in this era, without the support of the commercial box office, an actor can't touch the threshold of a superstar at all.

Brad Pitt walked into the theater in a cranky way, and as soon as he entered the door, someone suddenly flashed in front of him.

The man wore glasses, a black gown, and a face full of shrewdness and competence belonging to the business elite.

"Antonios, why are you here?" Brad Pitt's originally melancholy face was faintly angry.

"I am the guest of honor who accepts the invitation. The middle-aged man named Antonios didn't seem to see the expression on Brad Pitt's face, "I came here to remind you of something. ”

Brad Pitt looked around, pointed to an empty corner in the theater foyer, and said, "Let's go talk over there." ”

The two of them came to the corner one after the other, and Antonios said directly, "Brad, I need to remind you that the debt you owe must be paid in time. ”

Brad Pitt's face was cloudy, "I owe you money, and I won't miss a penny." ”

Antonios suddenly laughed, "I don't know what you're going to use, don't tell me it's the revenue share of Alien Battlefield?" he didn't give Brad Pitt a chance to speak, "I suggest that you sell your fixed property in time, and if we apply for enforcement in the future, their collateral will be very low." ”

Brad Pitt's hand trembled slightly, but he didn't panic.

"We've forgiven the debts you've dismantled on Cloud Atlas and allowed you to defer paying them back this year. Antonios continued, "There is only one grace period, there will be no second time. ”

He is a debt collection agent for several money lenders and bank conglomerates, and has been keeping an eye on Plan B and Brad Pitt, who can't hide the test screenings and pre-sales of "Alien Battlefields".

"I'll think about it. Brad Pitt forced his unhappiness and said, "My film hasn't been released yet, and everything is still inconclusive!"

Antonios achieved his purpose of reminding the debt, took his leave at the right time, and said before leaving, "Good luck to you and Alien Battlefield." ”

Watching this person walk away, Brad Pitt stood silent for a long time, the two projects of "Cloud Atlas" and "Alien Battlefield", the loans and mortgages amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.

And that's not even counting the interest, but also the financing that was brought in......

Brad Pitt's body trembled at the thought of the consequences of defeat, which would leave him with nothing!

No! no - Brad Pitt shook his head, "Alien Battlefield" has not been released yet, who said that his film can't be a box office hit?