The summer season of 1997 has come to an end, and the biggest winner is definitely Universal Pictures' "Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World", and what about the losers?

As in recent years, most summer films cannot recover their costs at all by relying on the box office, but videotapes and gradually booming discs have undoubtedly allowed many films to make profits with offline income, but some films with too miserable box office and audience reputation, even if they have offline income, are doomed to huge losses.

The most typical is Warner Bros.'s latest Batman masterpiece "Batman and Robin"!

"The production cost of the film is $125 million, and the cost of publicity and distribution is $40 million."

In the Warner Bros. conference room, the head of the publishing department, Doug ? Walter's face was solemn, not at all as relaxed as he was at Sydney Fox Studios, "At present, the film has been in theaters in North America for ten weeks, and the North American box office has accumulated $106.13 million; In the same period, 45 countries and regions released overseas produced a box office of 35.21 million US dollars! ”

He paused, and then said, "The audience praise rate of 'Batman and Robin' has dropped to 61 percent, and the box office of a single theater in North America on a weekend is only $153. ”

With such a single-theater¢ box office result, the film can still be screened in North America, which can only be said that Warner Bros. has indeed done enough to save Batman.

However, the high-level executives on both sides of the conference table looked stern, they were not young people full of illusions, and they knew that the film had actually come to an end, and with such a single performance, continuing to be screened in North America would not increase much box office figures in the end, and the film's reputation among the audience was extremely poor, and the subsequent sales of discs, videotapes, and TV rights were all facing huge difficulties.

Doug? Walter was silent for a few seconds. He added, "According to estimates, the final box office of the film will not exceed $110 million in North America and $250 million worldwide, and the audience's expectations for Batman have been reduced to a minimum, if the sequel continues to be made." may face even more disastrous failures......"

Although DC has long been acquired by Warner Bros., and there is no need to worry about copyright disputes caused by the film's poor box office, it is definitely not a situation that Warner Bros. wants to see when such a famous series is completely ruined.

Superman failed miserably in the fourth episode, and Batman failed miserably in the fourth episode...... It seems that the heroes of DC can't escape this fate on the big screen.

All eyes turn to Jeff? Robinoff, the fiasco of "Batman and Robin" has put the CEO under great pressure, and recently there have been rumors that the group is preparing to transfer him to Time Warner. Then choose a new CEO......

Jeff? Robinoff also knows these rumors, and there are people within Time Warner who are pushing for it, although the transfer to the head office seems to be a high position, but in fact there is not much real power, and an ordinary Time Warner executive is not comparable to the position of CEO of Warner Bros.

If he wants to keep his position as CEO, he will have to prove himself with Warner Bros. performance.

In the past few years, Warner Bros. has supported its performance with two thighs. One is the Batman series, and the other is Duke? Rosenberg's Films......

Although Duke? Rosenberg is closer to Warner Bros. than he has ever been. But the other party is not a small director a few years ago, and any film company that wants to cooperate with a super director needs to pay a lot of money.

Alone with Duke? Rosenberg's cooperation is not enough to support Warner's performance, Jeff? Robinov is well aware of this.

And the Batman series must not rot, taking the same strategy as the Superman series. It is undoubtedly the wisest choice.

"My Jianyì, end Batman for the time being."

Surrounded by all eyes, Jeff? Robinov finally spoke, "Seal this series and wait for the right director and timing." ”

Executive Vice President Robert? Solomon agreed. "I agree with Jeff's advice, superheroes have never been a major force in the North American film market, this short era of superhero movies is over, and I don't think superhero movies will be significantly changed in the next ten years."

Others also largely agree with Robert? Solomon and Jeff? Robinov's words.

After all, since the birth of superheroes, comics are their territory, and now, the superheroes who are really successful on the big screen are just Superman and Batman, in recent years, DC Comics' opponent Marvel Comics is also adapting its superheroes into movies, but without exception fiascos, coupled with the arrival of the comic sales winter, Marvel is ready to file for bankruptcy protection.

The discussion about Batman quickly reached a consensus, and the topic of the meeting gradually shifted to other aspects.

"Now Universal Pictures has the Jurassic Park series, Twentieth Century Fox has the Star Wars series with Lucasfilm, MGM has the Zero Zero Seven series, and Sony Columbia is working on the Godzilla series......"

Jeff? Robinoff is well aware that if he wants to stay in the position, he must find a new profit point, "I think you all know the benefits that a successful series can bring, Warner Bros. needs a new franchise, and a new Batman!" ”

He waved his hand behind him, and immediately an assistant walked up to the conference table and handed out a book to the many high-level people present.

Robert? Solomon flipped through it, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?" Jeff, is this a new project you're talking about? How come I've never heard of it? ”

How many independent directors also looked at Jeff with inquiring eyes? Robinov.

"Guys, this is a magical novel for all ages." Jeff? Robinov didn't make them wait, and said directly, "A few months ago, Duke recommended this book to me, and in the last two months, our marketing department has been doing targeted research. ”

Hearing Duke's name, several disapproving directors immediately solemnly lowered their heads and looked through the books in their hands.

They wouldn't be in the position they are in if they didn't even pay attention to the work recommended by such a successful director, who is a shareholder of Warner Bros., and has been increasing his shareholding since last year, and is now one of the largest individual shareholders of Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. has too many common interests with him.

"Up to now, we have done a lot of research and statistics on this novel in the United Kingdom and the United States."

Jamie from Market Research? Johnson took over, asked his assistant to send out the statistics, and said, "The novel has not sold well, and it has sold less than 30,000 copies since it came out this year." ”

Less than 30,000 copies?

Although there are many people frowning, they are all veterans of the media industry, and they understand that books and movies actually have many similar operating rules, such as the same need for hype.

Jamie? Johnson added, "The novel was written by an ordinary middle-aged British woman, and she herself and the book publisher did not have much fame and power, and the work basically did not have any publicity and recommendation, which strictly limited the sales of the book." ”

"However, we did a lot of follow-up interviews with children who had already bought books." He looked at the statistical report and said confidently, "The market research department spent two months to count the responses of nearly 10,000 buyers to the books. ”

"Ninety-five percent of those over the age of 10 found it an incredible book that blew their minds, and their parents claimed that it was the best children's book available, and according to the author's feedback, the second part of the novel has been completed and it will be a whole series......"

Listen to Jamie? Johnson read out the statistics one by one, and the management of Warner Bros. became more and more solemn. Rosenberg may look away, but the stats don't lie.

"I want to ask." Robert? Solomon withdrew his gaze from the book and looked up, "Did we get the rights to adapt this series?" ”

This is the focus of many of Warner Bros. executives.

Jeff? Robinoff continued, "The adaptation rights are in the hands of the Duke Studios for the time being, but Duke is willing to share the rights with Warner to create the series." ”

He looked at his subordinates in the conference room, "No one can guarantee the success of a series, just like we work with other companies on Batman to share the risk, if the group company decides to promote this series vigorously, we will join forces with Duke's studios to both use Duke's influence to promote the popularity and adaptation of the work, and also minimize the upfront risk......"

As the meeting draws to a close, the fate of the Harry Potter series has not yet been fully decided, and Warner Bros. must not only conduct relevant market research, but also conduct preliminary negotiations with Duke, and the two sides must also reach a preliminary opinion on the future investment and income ratio.

No capital will only invest and not care about returns!

"Doug...... "Jeff?" Robinoff said, "Keep in touch with Duke, as much as you can with Nancy? Josephson contacted him, and if the group company could get through the project, I would go to Australia and talk to Duke in person. ”

As soon as the Warner Bros. meeting ended, Duke, who was far away in Sydney, received Jeff? Robinoff's phone call, although the other party did not say anything explicitly, but the implied attitude was already more obvious, the former Harry Potter series was also recommended by others, and the company that he didn't remember the name of the company also shared benefits with Warner Bros......

The only difference now is that he wants to get as much of this big cake as possible, and it depends on the outcome of the negotiations between the two parties.

Duke is well aware that the failure of the Batman series has temporarily deprived Warner Bros. of the most important pillar of performance, and he, a director who has worked more and more deeply with Warner Bros., will inevitably increase his weight, so as to increase his leverage in future negotiations.

In this respect, Duke has always maintained a very sober mind, with the strength of the Duke's studio, it is impossible to stimulate the full potential of the little wizard, and the independent system is promoted, and the income is greatly reduced compared to the past, and it can even create one-tenth of the industrial chain of 100 billion US dollars, which can be called a miracle.

If the negotiations go well, in terms of actual benefits in the end, independence is far less cost-effective than working with Warner Bros. (To be continued......)