China Entertainment started from Nortel 2002

Chapter 460 The dying traditional distribution

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2", which was on schedule, ended with a domestic box office of 5.85 million, which seemed pretty good, but news came from overseas.

Because the box office revenue of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" did not meet expectations, Sony Pictures postponed the release of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2016", which was originally scheduled to be released in the summer of 3, to 2017.

Sony executives originally expected "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" to be released this summer to take in at least $10 billion at the global box office.

But in fact, the film only earned US$7 million globally, US$6000 million less than the first part, and the North American box office was US$2600 million less than the first part.

For Sony, a box office of US$7 million is a sure profit.

But this is far from Sony's hope that "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" can match the astonishing success of "The Avengers," "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man."

Fans' evaluation of the film also plummeted compared to its predecessor.

In terms of box office and reputation, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" cannot be compared with any of the old "Spider-Man" directed by Sam Raimi.

At the moment, Hollywood seems to have completely fallen into the vortex of superhero movies.

Compared with production companies, both theaters and distributors are really confused by the Internet disruptors.

Big bosses in the distribution industry are also worried that distribution companies will be sidelined by major online ticketing websites, just like Didi Taxi has sidelined taxi companies. "In the future, some blockbuster releases may not go to Enlight, LeTV, or Wanda." , just go to the major online ticketing websites."

Perhaps viewers have become accustomed to these online bargains.

However, this model will soon be defeated by the new O2O movie platform for online seat selection and ticket purchase.

However, big changes in the domestic film and television industry seem to have begun.

Li Mu smiled and said that the current group buying model is very fierce.

Li Mu took a look at the various groups. The theater group was discussing the issue of ticket prices, while those involved in distribution, such as Guangbo Bona, were discussing whether their distribution rights would be excluded, and each had their own concerns.

“There’s no need to compete with who has the lowest price, just stick to normal group buying.”

The model of continuously investing funds in the early stage and absorbing traffic through low-price tickets cannot operate in the long term.

Countless superhero fans are crazy about it, but whether the audience will get tired of paying for superhero movies sooner or later seems not to be considered at the moment.
Because nowadays, as long as you make superheroes, you can basically make money. There is a problem of making more and less, so much so that Sony is not satisfied with the box office of 7 million US dollars.
Li Mu and Liu Yifei are almost at the final stage of preparation for "La La Land".

Li Mu secretly muttered that building a ticketing APP would cost a huge amount of money in the early stages. He would need to compete with Meituan, Alibaba and other Internet companies to make up for the competition.

Liu Weijuan called, and now major theaters and theater chain bosses have finally "unbearable" and publicly stated that low-price group purchases have intensified "vicious competition" among theaters.

"Mr. Li, do we want to follow?"

However, as far as the current industrial model of the film industry is concerned, the "gold mine" of online ticketing business is not endless.

Marvel's "Ant-Man", "Doctor Strange", "Black Panther", DC's "Wonder Woman", "Justice League", "The Flash" and more superheroes will be brought to the big screen one after another.

The disadvantages of this approach also exist in e-commerce businesses such as online ride-hailing and food delivery.

Because a large number of websites and mobile apps specially launched for movie ticketing are emerging.

Although movie ticket purchasing is only a small part of group buying, the first step in Internet funding is to use price to compete for market share. The low ticket prices on many group buying websites even saved some poorly operating theaters.

One week before the release of "Transformers 4", major online ticket sales networks have launched ticket grabbing activities. Mobile Taobao once again launched a 19.9 yuan grab two tickets event, covering more than 80 theaters in more than 380 cities.

Marvel and DC have successively announced ambitious superhero movie plans in the next few years.

"It's a pity, it's too expensive, otherwise I could just get one for fun."

However, the film industry is different from the profit margins behind the two. It can continue to develop and there are not many existing users left.

Therefore, if you only build a ticketing platform without other ecological assistance, then all the money will be wasted if you burn it and steal customers.

While Li Mu was thinking, Wang Changtian called, and his words were full of worry.

"This wave of the Internet is so fast. I was just aware of it at first, but soon it became overwhelming."

Wang Changtian said with emotion that he has the strongest sense of worry now because the light works in the ground network mode.

Film distribution companies set up resident sales staff in theaters around the country to build relationships with theater managers, get a good first-week film schedule over meals, and promote the theaters. This model originated from Guangguang and is now popular with LeTV.

"Director Li, do you think our model will disappear?"

No wonder Wang Changtian is worried, because the distribution of light accounts for a large part of his company's revenue.

In fact, the local network model has begun to show signs of exhaustion a long time ago, because the number of theaters has grown rapidly in the past few years, and local sales staff are unable to cover theaters across the country.

Secondly, movie theater scheduling is no longer something that can be decided over a meal with the studio manager. There are currently more than 9000 movie theaters, and most of the directly-operated theaters are subject to film scheduling guidance from film management companies. The space for underground networks to play is very limited.

But this wave of Internet ticketing has indeed had a huge impact.

When the Internet began to enter China's film industry on a large scale a few years ago, it brought a large amount of funds and increased audiences, and it also spent a wonderful honeymoon period with the traditional film industry.

I didn’t expect this honeymoon period to be so short.

"To be honest, Mr. Wang, traditional propaganda is disappearing!"

Li Mu was giving Wang Changtian a vaccination, "Don't be fooled by their statement that the Internet and local push can be integrated with each other. When the Internet develops to a certain level, local push will not be able to survive. I believe Mr. Wang, you should know better than me." .”

In fact, Li Mu had considered doing distribution before, but traditional distribution was completely defeated in this war and had almost no ability to resist. Theater chains make money on the side, and ticketing platforms, if you don’t connect with theater chains, your ticketing platform will be abandoned, so we have a cooperative relationship.

The most important thing about a ticketing platform is to allow viewers to buy movie tickets they want to watch in suitable theaters. Low prices are only a means but not the core.

"Times have really changed."

In fact, Wang Changtian knew very well that he was afraid that he could not win this battle.

Even if the light goes out of the ticketing platform, it will not help.

Because Ray Ray does not have that much money to acquire users, and Ray Ray is not an Internet company, how can it defeat its opponents in other people's professional fields, unless it is a dream.

"If we delve deeply into the production side of the film industry, the Internet can take advantage of channels for publicity and distribution, but the Internet thinking on the production side cannot touch it."

Li Mu said calmly that no matter how powerful the Internet company is, he cannot rely on Internet thinking such as "closed loop," "logic" and "grasp" to make movies that audiences like to watch.

Quality content is not a fast food culture.

"It's time for Ray to think about the road ahead."

Wang Changtian is a little heavy-handed. A wrong step in strategic adjustments may lead to disaster.

Li Mu nodded. Compared to Huayi, the light adjustment was faster. As for Huayi, it was still immersed in the dream of de-filming and was now sleeping soundly.

"Is the impact so big?"

Liu Yifei blinked and asked. He also heard some of Li Mu's words just now.

"Times are always improving, and backward productivity will naturally be eliminated."

Li Mu said with a smile, "But it won't have much impact on us. Are you ready? It will be launched at the end of June."

Li Mu is scheduled to officially start filming "La La Land" on June 6, with a planned shooting time of three months.

This should not conflict with the overlapping promotion of "Interstellar".

As the second female lead in "Interstellar", Liu Yifei naturally has to shoulder the heavy responsibility of global publicity, especially in Asia, where she is the main force of publicity.

"Full of confidence."

Liu Yifei patted her chest. She was wearing cooler clothes at home, and her beauty was leaking out.

Seeing Li Mu staring at her, Liu Yifei also reacted and subconsciously covered her face, "Rogue!!! Look there."

"What are you covering? You said it as if no one cares about it. I raised my arms and waved it. I don't know how much."

Before Li Mu Niu finished blowing, Liu Yifei's claws pinched him.

"What are you talking about? What a wave of arms."

"It's over, you already have domestic violence tendencies."

Li Mu shook his head, but his hands were resisting his opponent's attack.

"Hey, I'm going to domestically assault you today."

Liu Yifei became very interested, and the two of them had a lot of fun in the living room.

When "La La Land" entered the final preparation stage, news suddenly came out that Brother Chen Kai had just been rescued at Yuyao People's Hospital due to a heart disease.

"what's going on."

Li Mu was a little confused after reading the report. He reported and uploaded photos of the rescue in the hospital.

It was attached to Brother Chen Kai lying on the hospital bed with his eyes closed, oxygen still inserted in his nose, and doctors and nurses beside him.

It's true, it's true.

For this reason, Li Mu made a special trip to call Chen Hong to greet him. After all, Brother Chen Kai was lying down and it was not suitable to talk.

Chen Hong couldn't laugh or cry after receiving a call from Li Mu.

"Director Li, I'm hospitalized. It's not a heart attack. I'm just tired. It's nothing serious."

Chen Hong explained to Li Mu that since the filming of "The Taoist Comes Down the Mountain" directed by Chen Kaige, he has been working hard for 5 months continuously, traveling to Xianghe, Ningbo, Hangzhou and Shanghai, etc., which is very tiring.

"It's a mistake."

"Thank you, Director Li. I'll ask Lao Chen to call you back later."

Chen Hong also thanked Li Mu.

"No need, rest is important."

Li Mu couldn't help but smile and shook his head. The media pictures were quite scary. He really thought something big had happened.

(End of this chapter)