Chapter 146: Caught in a Dilemma
Chapter 146: Caught in a Dilemma
Compared with the Indiana Jones series, which had powerful box office appeal worldwide, the Ghostbusters series held no advantage. Its genre was comedy, and comedy films did not easily accumulate fan popularity. After everyone laughed, there was not much left behind.
Moreover, five years had passed between the two films in the series. For a comedy, this meant an even greater loss of popularity. If Columbia truly had not lacked any other series film to support this crucial summer season, it would not have launched this project.
However, Columbia’s all-out publicity for this film made up for most of its disadvantages. Although its promotional intensity was still slightly weaker than the insane campaign for Running Out of Time, compared with the summer tentpoles of other film companies, Columbia’s publicity had completely rushed toward the goal of not caring about profit as long as there was box office. Their real objective was indeed exactly that.
The acquisition negotiations with Sony had already entered their final stage. This time, the Japanese were determined to play the fat sheep. Under these circumstances, all of Columbia’s business actions ultimately aimed toward raising its stock price. For a listed film company, box office data was the factor most capable of affecting its stock price.
Ghostbusters II was released on June 16. After its first-week box office was announced, the figure of forty-five million dollars sent Columbia’s executives into ecstasy. One had to know that Indiana Jones 3 had only earned forty-six million dollars in its first week. This meant Ghostbusters II might very well follow Indiana Jones 3 and, according to estimates from evaluation agencies, earn nearly two hundred million dollars at the North American box office.
But this excitement lasted only one week.
In its second week, Ghostbusters II suffered a direct box office plunge, with a drop reaching 55%. It earned only a little over nineteen million dollars in its second week.
Box office evaluation agencies quickly lowered their estimates for Ghostbusters II by a large margin, cutting the two-hundred-million-dollar estimate in half to 110 million dollars. Although Columbia’s stock price, which had originally been rising quickly, did not fall because of this news, its upward momentum also slowed. After all, for one of the Big Six’s main summer films, a box office of around one hundred million dollars was really nothing outstanding.
Aside from the film’s word of mouth being worse than the first installment after its release, the most important reason for this situation was that the film had unfortunately run into Batman.
From the first serialization of Batman in 1939 to the present, exactly half a century had passed. As the first superhero in North American comic history without superpowers, Warner had not been very optimistic about launching this series. This lack of confidence was directly reflected in the budget.
Compared with Indiana Jones’s large production budget of nearly fifty million dollars, Warner had only provided thirty-five million dollars in production costs for Batman, barely reaching blockbuster scale. It was even lower than Ghostbusters and Running Out of Time. Although Running Out of Time had only spent thirty-four million dollars, Columbia had initially provided a budget of forty million dollars, and Ghostbusters II’s budget was also forty million dollars.
Because Warner had not been optimistic about Batman, Columbia had not taken it seriously either. That was why they had placed Ghostbusters II one week before Batman’s release.
But everyone had severely underestimated the influence this superhero, serialized for half a century, held in the hearts of Americans.
On June 24, Batman was released. One week later, this live-action comic book blockbuster swept up sixty-eight million dollars at the box office with unstoppable force, occupying 45% of the total weekly box office and squeezing the box office of several other films into pieces.
The film hit hardest was Columbia’s Ghostbusters II. After its box office fell by a huge 55%, Ghostbusters II’s dream of a two-hundred-million-dollar box office was completely shattered. After all, once the box office fell sharply, the possibility of a reverse decline was almost negligible.
Thus, Columbia could only place its hopes on Eric’s Running Out of Time. After all, after internal screenings and critic screenings, this film had been unanimously favored.
However, after Batman’s second-week box office was released, it cast a shadow over the heads of everyone full of expectations for Running Out of Time. That was because Batman’s second-week box office drop was only a slight 23%, and it still earned fifty-two million dollars, much higher than the opening-week box office of many blockbusters.
Although the total weekly box office during the summer season would hover around 150 million dollars, once that 150 million was divided among more than a dozen summer films, it would no longer seem like much. And the films brought into the summer season were either cannon fodder or excellent films with high hopes placed on them, with the latter making up a larger proportion. Under these circumstances, with Batman alone occupying one-third of the share, if the next week did not see a large-scale box office drop, one could imagine the box office pressure on Running Out of Time.
Inside the conference room at Columbia’s headquarters, a group of executives was nervously discussing countermeasures. Coca-Cola had also sent a vice president to sit in on the meeting. Eric sat beside Amy Pascal and patiently listened to everyone’s discussion.
Although he was the director of this film, Eric did not have much say in its distribution. The only reason he appeared here was because he was the director of Running Out of Time. During the production process, Columbia had fully delegated authority to him, but when it came to distribution, they had almost not let him participate at all. Eric had previously submitted a document about his own ideas for the film’s publicity, but Columbia had not responded to it.
“I think Running Out of Time should be delayed. At least push it back one week,” the executive from Columbia’s publicity department stated his view. “Batman’s momentum is too fierce. Stubbornly keeping the release date on July 7 is a very unwise move. We’ve already lost Ghostbusters II because of this. If Running Out of Time’s box office fails to meet expectations because of Batman, then our previous plan to use two blockbusters to boost the stock price will be completely ruined.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, another executive asked, “Bob, according to your plan, what do we do about the agreements already signed with the theaters?”
“Coordinate with them. Properly compensate the theaters for their losses. We can take out a few completed films and temporarily fill the slot. In short, right now, ensuring Running Out of Time’s box office comes first.”
The head of the data analysis department cut in, “Batman’s box office has already broken one hundred million. This kind of momentum is unlikely to continue. Also, critics have not rated the film too highly. I think its third-week box office should show a normal drop of more than 40%.”
“According to you, this film should have shown a normal drop in its second week too. But the fact is that didn’t happen. Its second-week drop was only a slight 23%,” someone retorted.
“The media has already started mocking our release-date arrangement for the two films. If we don’t release according to the confirmed schedule, it will definitely send the signal that we lack confidence in Running Out of Time’s quality. That is very dangerous. Once moviegoers develop this misunderstanding, they will preconceive Running Out of Time as a bad film. That would be the deadliest blow to the film. By comparison, releasing it according to the original plan is the safest approach. It’s not that we don’t want to delay. It’s that under the current circumstances, we absolutely cannot delay.”
“I also agree with Rhett. It’s not that we don’t want to delay. We can’t delay. Once we delay, it’s equivalent to telling everyone that we have no confidence in Running Out of Time. We’re afraid. Running Out of Time is not actually as excellent as we advertised.”
“But if Batman has another slight drop of about 20% in its third week, it will still earn around forty million dollars. Can you imagine how much box office pressure Running Out of Time will face under those circumstances?”
Everyone noisily discussed for an hour. The Coca-Cola vice president who had attended the meeting remained in listening mode throughout the entire process. When everyone paused slightly, he finally sat up straight and turned his gaze toward Eric, who had been ignored by everyone and had listened in silence just like him.
“Mr. Williams, I noticed you haven’t said anything. Why don’t you share your opinion?”