"Good morning, Mr. Eisner..."
As he passed through the corridor, Michael Eisner nodded lightly to those who greeted him, pushed open the door to his office, sat in his chair, and took a sip of the coffee on his desk. The temperature and taste were perfect.
He put down the cup and pressed the intercom, saying to his assistant, "Colin, send me the latest theater box office data."
After a short while, there was a soft knock on the door. When Eisner called for them to come in, Cook Dick entered, holding a report.
"I saw Colin was about to bring it to you," he said, sitting across from Eisner, "so I brought it over."
Michael Eisner took the report and glanced at it. His brow furrowed slightly.
"Although our PR department joined in on the online crusade..." Cook Dick knew what the report was about and continued, "the effect was clearly not as expected."
"An excellent movie paired with excellent promotion," Michael Eisner shook his head, "It's impossible to defeat it so easily."
"But there was still some effect," Cook Dick quickly added what he had learned, "Warner Bros. released their projection for The Two Towers' opening day at 28 million dollars, but many believe the movie will surely break the single-day box office record set last year by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
A slight smile appeared on Michael Eisner's serious face. "In this regard, it can be considered a success."
Despite saying this, his self-deprecating tone was unmistakable. The Two Towers' first-day box office of 32.27 million dollars was still a bit short of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone's 33.55 million-dollar single-day record. But it couldn't be called a failure, right?
Yesterday, Michael Eisner had received a notice from Michael Ovitz. He tacitly worked with Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures to give a little push behind the Artist Management Company. Apart from these companies, Eisner also noticed the involvement of others. It was quite obvious. The major Hollywood companies had grown tired of Duke Rosenberg taking the biggest and most delicious slice of the summer box office cake every year. Though they weren't yet ready to go head-to-head with him and Warner Bros., they wouldn't pass up the chance to subtly hinder him with small, low-effort tactics.
In fact, they were all very clear that Duke Rosenberg had a team that often stirred up the internet, with many victims. They were just throwing the same tactics back at him.
However, from the online public opinion last night, Michael Eisner knew their actions had achieved some results but far from the expected outcome.
Duke Rosenberg's online PR team reacted swiftly, guiding public opinion online with skillful techniques, clearly not something their traditional media groups, with their newly formed teams, could compare with—especially after ten years. As a top director, Duke had won the support of a large number of young followers across the country. These people made up the majority of the online population, and they didn't hesitate to stand with Duke Rosenberg.
Michael Eisner knew well that Duke's PR team had merely guided the narrative, and these true movie lovers, with their passionate support, drowned out the negative voices online.
Getting people to voluntarily support—that was a brilliant strategy.
Feeling a bit philosophical, Michael Eisner put down the box office report and said to Cook Dick, "Let the PR department keep an eye on The Two Towers and give me a summary report afterward."
He also valued the role of online media and was determined to use this event to practice his skills.
"It's a bit higher than my 30 million dollar expectation."
At the Lord of the Rings studio, Duke closed the folder in his hand and said to his PR manager, "Panny, this event isn't over. Although we've suppressed the negative voices, we can't relax."
"I know what to do," Panny Kallis stood up, "If there's nothing else, I'll head out."
Duke nodded and opened the box office statistics again. In just one day, the audience's word-of-mouth hadn't changed much, but the IMDB score had dropped rapidly to 9.2. Despite the strong countermeasures, the negative impact couldn't be completely avoided.
Originally, Duke had thought the movie would have a massive opening day. After all, the reaction to The Fellowship of the Ring was there. He had considered that The Two Towers might break the North American single-day box office record. However, the negative reviews had circulated for over half a day, which certainly influenced some viewers, especially new ones.
Could it be that Hollywood is tired of me dominating the summer box office?
Duke saw it clearly. Such a large-scale negative campaign couldn't have been the work of just one company, but he wasn't too worried. He knew better than anyone that a person couldn't sweep through Hollywood just with a good movie. Behind him stood the entire Warner Group.
With the ability to suppress the negative reviews in less than a day, the supporters and influencers had played an important role. They would remain a crucial part of the online PR efforts going forward.
Getting the audience to spontaneously form a wave of support under guidance sounds easy, but it's not. The most important part is making the influencers believe that what they are supporting is truly worth supporting. In other words, the foundation of turning the audience into influencers is to have enough excellent content!
Why didn't the blacklists against Godzilla, Pearl Harbor, Jessica Alba, Angelina Jolie, and others create this kind of counterattack?
A key point is that their content wasn't good enough. How many loyal supporters could they win?
Looking at the time, Duke briefly tidied up, planning to head to the second-floor editing room to continue working on Return of the King's post-production. As he walked out, he saw a studio manager leading three people toward him.
Two of them were unfamiliar, but from their black hair and eyes, it was clear they were of Chinese descent. After living in this country for over thirty years, Duke could still easily distinguish Chinese among Asians.
The other was a tall blonde woman with a very noticeable baby face.
If Duke remembered correctly, she used to be a Victoria's Secret supermodel.
"Hi, Duke."
When the studio manager greeted him, Duke nodded at him. "Hello, Jeremy."
Then Duke saw one of the Chinese men lightly nudge Jeremy. Immediately, Jeremy said, "These are our two clients..."
Duke, always polite, nodded at each of them, and Jeremy introduced them. "Duke, this is Edward Yang. This is Pete Kerr. They are our merchandise distributors."
"Hello," Duke shook hands with both of them, his interest piqued. He asked, "Are you first-tier distributors?"
"Yes," Pete Kerr nodded, and Edward Yang continued, "We run chain stores."
Duke was intrigued and asked, "Which new products are selling the best?"
In addition to continuing the merchandise from The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers also launched new merchandise, such as wolf riders, White Gandalf, etc.
Without hesitation, Pete Kerr answered, "Lord of the Rings keychains, evening star pendants, White Gandalf, Warrior Arwen, Legolas."
This answer wasn't too surprising. Duke asked another question, "Can you share your single-store sales numbers? If it's not too inconvenient..."
"No problem," Pete Kerr replied, "At the Santa Monica Mall store, Lord of the Rings merchandise sales have exceeded 300,000 dollars. I haven't received other statistics, but many stores have already sold out of stock."
He smiled awkwardly. "Edward and I came here to coordinate restocking."
Duke could tell that Pete Kerr operated chain stores, and the sales of Lord of the Rings merchandise were good across all stores, which met his expectations. Compared to box office revenue, the profit from merchandise was much higher.
After asking a few more questions about the merchandise, Duke wrapped up the conversation and went to the second-floor editing room.
In the office downstairs, Pete Kerr and Edward Yang were negotiating for more stock. As The Two Towers showed a hotter trend than The Fellowship of the Ring, many products had sold out. How could they miss such a profitable opportunity?
In May and June, their focus had been on Lord of the Rings merchandise, and by July, it would be The Matrix merchandise.
Both Pete Kerr and Edward Yang had made up their minds: they wanted to make money this summer, and they were clinging to Duke Rosenberg's giant leg.
"Jeremy, 2 million dollars' worth of merchandise is far from enough!" Pete Kerr said seriously. "I request to triple it. If possible, please give us all your stock!"
"This is impossible!" Jeremy immediately shook his head. "Pete, Edward, do you know? Since this morning, I've received at least 40 calls requesting merchandise. I can only give you this much..."
"We'll pay in cash..."
"And from now on, if it's Duke's movie, no matter what the merchandise is, we'll buy it..."
In the outer office, Miranda Kerr sat, listening to the argument inside. Thinking about the director she had just met, her curiosity grew. What kind of magic did he possess that could make such a large commercial group revolve around him?
Just then, a young man walked into the outer office. He froze for a moment when he saw Miranda Kerr. "Is Jeremy not here?"
Without thinking, he asked, but as soon as he saw the young woman's face, he walked over and introduced himself generously. "Hello, beautiful miss, may I have your name? I'm Orlando Bloom..."