[US Entertainment] Hollywood reverses life

The schedule of "Juno" was selected by Kingfisher Films in June, which is some time before the summer vacation.

The schedule of American movies is divided into five periods: winter, spring, summer, autumn and Christmas holidays. The first three almost play a decisive factor in the box office. The number of films released in these three periods accounts for almost 70% of the total number of the year. %, and box office revenue accounts for almost 70% of the total annual revenue.

And a large number of "family carnival-style" movies are always released in summer, such as "Toy Story", "The Lion King", "Finding Nemo" and "Super Secret Service".

Obviously, Kingfisher Pictures also defines "Juno" as a kind of family carnival movie.

As for publicity, although in Hollywood, publicity and marketing seem to have become more and more important, and the publicity cost of a major commercial film may even double the cost.

But for a low-cost independent film like "Juno", the cost itself is only 200-300 million, and the film company will not spend much effort on special marketing and publicity.

Those marketing methods of later generations with small and big effects have gained a lot of publicity at a small cost, basically relying on social interaction software such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtubie, and INS, but let’s not talk about Facebook now. , Twitter, even the oil and soil turtles have not yet been established.

"Juno" was only adopted the most traditional way of publicity, first made a trailer of about 150 seconds.But this thing has no reference significance for non-fans, because everyone knows that the trailer and the movie itself are actually quite different.

At this time, Joy was sitting in the office of Kingfisher Films watching the 150-second trailer. After watching it, she was relieved, "This cut is not bad, which of your employees cut it ?”

The release manager smiled, "It seems that you were worried about the trailer?"

Joey smiled and sipped his juice to hide his embarrassment, "I don't want to be like Michael Bay, you know the trailer of "Pearl Harbor" is praised as 'don't go to the movie, because all the interesting scenes in the movie are cut into the trailer film' model."

The distribution manager does not seem to intend to make any comments on this well-known Hollywood blaster, "In terms of promotional posters, we will also make different versions for different regions. Currently, we have prepared three versions, each for different audience groups. One is for teens, one is for adult groups, and one is for family units."

Then he added: "Of course, it is undeniable that we will also use the usual methods of advertising bombing. The "Los Angeles Times" and "New York Times" mainly bombard ordinary audiences, while "Hollywood Report" and "Variety Show" It’s for people in the film business.”

"At the same time, we will also integrate the strategy into several waves. The first wave is two weeks before the listing, and the news is released through the news agency; the second wave is the newspaper hype two weeks after the listing; the third wave is 8 weeks after the listing. Zhou's magazine strengthens and extends the popular period; the fourth wave... the fifth wave..."

The other party talked a lot, and Joy was drowsy after listening to it, but she found that this was an extremely well-behaved marketing plan without any bright spots.

After hearing this in a daze, she suddenly brightened her eyes and said succinctly: "I'm sorry, manager, I think we have to think of a surprisingly successful way of publicity. You have to know that no matter how unique and individual we claim our movies are, they are almost Every movie claims to be that."

The other party replied politely and coldly, "Then what good advice do you have, ma'am, you must know that the promotional budget for this movie is only US$100 million."

Joey's tone was also helpless, "100 million US dollars is indeed pitifully small. But since we have no advantage in publicity, we need to create some other characteristics for ourselves."

"Tell me your suggestion, ma'am."

Joy has actually been thinking hard for a few nights, because she knows that her film only cost Kingfisher Pictures 700 million, which is nothing compared to other movies that cost tens of millions, and Kingfisher Pictures also has its own Investing in a movie with a cost of 3000 million won't really take her "Juno" seriously. It may be more of a gamble, and it depends on the market reaction before deciding on the promotional strength and later plans.

But in 2003, when social networking was not very developed, it was indeed a little difficult to spread a movie through the cheapest network, but there were still breakthroughs.

Joey looked at the other party with crooked and smiling eyes, "I think we can post some posts in the most popular bbs community now, and go to the hottest places, such as the Yahoo community, and even other professional movie fan communities, we can claim this It is a 'movie for losers', think about it, how many books, movies, and TVs in this society claim to be watched by successful people, but there is never a single thing claimed to be watched by losers."

"Isn't this nonsense? People yearn for success, who would want to read the stuff of losers."

Joey declared with bright eyes: "But in fact, the things that are declared to be for losers may be more interesting to people. After all, there are already too many things for winners. Everyone wants to know what is for losers." What the hell is that thing!"

"But if they went to see it, wouldn't that be the same as admitting that they are a failure?"

Joey clapped his hands and said confidently: "So this is how the art of language is embodied. We have to use interrogative sentences, such as 'Are you a loser? You will naturally have the answer after watching the movie.' A loser's movie, but you can't say that directly, save some face-saving people who don't want to be mistaken for a loser."

"You can give this idea a try, and it doesn't cost much, as long as some Internet trolls go to various bs to post. But this idea still needs some improvement, let's discuss it later..."

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A month later, with the release of the trailer of an unknown small-budget independent film "Juno", which obviously did not cause any sensation, an unknown film company and a director whom he had never heard of - Anne Jones (Joey's pseudonym), an original script without any mass base.

However, the same type of posts mysteriously appeared in various bs communities and movie fan forums. Of course, people at that time did not have the awareness of the navy.

"Testing to see if you're a loser." is roughly the same theme for these kinds of posts.

Click in, and you will find that it is an interesting psychological test - "losers usually don't think they are a loser, but their inner choices can't deceive anyone. 80% of the people in the world are complete failures." Or, are you among them?"

Usually after reading this text, people will choose to test to see if they are a loser.

This basically fell into the trap of the film dealer.

When they take a test, 100% of them will show they are total losers in life, for no reason, because the system is programmed.

Then, there will be a line of words at the end, "Are you satisfied with the test results? If you are not satisfied, go and watch this movie. After watching it, you will naturally have the answer."

Then a Juno poster appeared, with the words "Are you a loser?" in the largest line on it.

If you admit that you are a loser, you will definitely want to watch this movie for losers. If you don’t admit that you are a loser, you will also have feelings for this movie. If it whets people's appetite, then this network marketing can be regarded as a success.

After all, the promotional cost of "Juno" is almost nothing, and a mere 100 million yuan really won't do much, and you can only earn a little in other places.

However, this kind of network marketing method seems to be quite effective. After all, 2003 was a year when the Internet developed rapidly. Well-known Internet sites such as fackbook and youtube were established at this time. At this time, people may not have realized the importance of network communication. The speed is so scary.

Therefore, after this wave of online propaganda spread, Kingfisher Pictures did not expect that the official website that had just been established a few days ago was compromised.

Many netizens left messages on the official website, saying that they are looking forward to this movie, hoping to see if they are a loser, and how to live as a loser.

And unexpectedly, not only young people, but also many middle-aged people who have encountered a mid-life crisis are also very interested in this movie.

The number of views on the official website was far greater than expected, which forced Kingfisher Films to rush to produce a second version of the trailer and more posters.

Then, Kingfisher Pictures was also relentless, and quickly received a lot of hard publicity.

Magazines, billboards, buses, TV commercials and other channels have started to promote "Juno". Most of the 100 million publicity budget is spent on this. After all, advertising has always been the most expensive in advertising. part.

Although among a large number of commercial blockbusters, there are really very few locations that can be bought with the budget of "Juno".

Of course, it is also necessary to spend money to buy some film critics and film magazine columns. In 2003, when the Internet was not so developed, people did not understand the operation of Hollywood as much as they did ten years later.

The majority of movie audiences still don't know that film critics are actually the "cousins" of the film industry. Basically, a reception can handle a group of film critics, and the rest of the difficult ones can be solved with some gifts.

Therefore, film critics like Roger Ebert are so credible that they can even influence the box office and leave a name on the Avenue of Stars.Because there are too few people like this who never accept bribes in the circle of film critics.

Now the time has come to May 2003, 5, the World Labor Day.Juno hits theaters next month.

After a round of publicity campaigns, although "Juno" is still unknown and has no influence among many commercial masterpieces, at least it is no longer so obscure.

At least some of you know, there's a movie called "Juno" coming out next month.

It was filmed by an unknown newcomer director, run by an unknown independent film company, and the whole project was so short of money that you might only see its advertisements in the corners of movie magazines, Even only the deserted bus stops have its billboards. Maybe you still remember the humble set in the 150-second trailer.

But it's unique because it lets you know if you're a failure or not!