Chapter 523： Little wizards and awards

In the second week of the movie, the Christmas holiday in the West officially kicked off. Although some audiences were inevitably lost, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is still hot and dominates the theaters in the United Kingdom and the United States. Absolute advantage, and it is the tradition of the entertainment market that the whole family enters the theater to watch the family carnival movie on Christmas, and parents with their children line up to buy tickets everywhere in the theater. Watermark advertising testWatermark advertising test

Different from Warner's small propaganda before the movie was released in the past life, Ryan set out sky-high advertising and marketing expenses, a lot of which was spent in the second week of a sharp decline in the box office of commercial films, intensifying the offensive in publicity.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is the first in the entire series. The more successful the film, the greater the follow-up influence, and the greater the promotional expenses saved in the future.

Just the day before Christmas, Madame Tussauds launched the Harry Potter series of wax figures, which was overcrowded for a while.

They obtained the relevant authorization as early as a year ago, and of course paid a lot of money.

Authorized manufacturers from all walks of life have also launched their own Harry Potter series of products, such as magic brooms, wands, Quidditch jerseys, invisibility suits, Hogwarts uniforms and badges that have swept the entire West world.

Whether it is big cities like London and New York, or North American towns like Venice and Barcelona, ​​almost all stores can see a large number of related products.

The popularity of movies drove the sales of these products, and the well-made peripheral products also attracted people who were not interested in movies to enter the theater.

The show-offs and comparisons among children are sometimes more serious than adults. When most of their peers are talking about Harry Potter, those who have not watched movies and have no related toys in their hands will naturally feel lonely and lost. At this time Walking into theaters and shops has naturally become their first choice.

Subsequently, the box office of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was released in the second week. With more than 75 million U.S. dollars, it won the North American box office champion, and the British box office of more than 13.5 million pounds is also arrogant.

In addition to these two places, the film has basically been released simultaneously in Australia and New Zealand.

In sparsely populated Australia, the first week's achievement was more than 7.2 million US dollars. Overwhelmed "Lord of the Rings 1." Became the holder of the new local box office record for the first week.

Although "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" is not as popular as "The Lord of the Rings" in New Zealand, it is worth a million dollars at the box office. Also achieved the second best result in history.

Starting from the third week, films have successively landed in major overseas film markets such as the Far East, Latin America and Continental Europe. Although some places have received cold reception due to cultural differences, the overall situation is still optimistic. Even the cumulative rate of the box office vaguely surpassed "Lord of the Rings 1."

Of course, most people are also aware that the rating of "Lord of the Rings" pg-13 and the targeted audience group have natural disadvantages in front of family movies like "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone".

Similarly, after Christmas and New Year, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" cannot escape the inevitable laws of commercial movies. The North American box office plummeted to 38 million U.S. dollars. Relatively speaking, the box office in the United Kingdom was stronger, with more than 9.5 million pounds in the third week. Still eye-catching.

The North American box office exceeded US$200 million in three weeks, which almost indicates that the movie is bound to sell well. According to the prediction of professional organizations, the North American box office of this movie should surpass "The Lord of the Rings 1" and won the 2001 North American box office ranking without any suspense The throne of the champion.

However, the already downgrade "Lord of the Rings 1" received more than 355 million U.S. dollars in North America. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" wants to surpass it and needs enough time to show.

However, this movie completely killed "The Lord of the Rings" in terms of profitability, and the movie became profitable within a week of its release.

Everyone knows the power of Ryan's series, and his past achievements are in front of everyone. The possibility of failure is infinitely small. A large number of businesses have signed various licensing agreements before the movie is released, sharing the horror. Production costs and promotional and marketing expenses.

Leaving aside the peripheral products, after the movie was released, books with characters and illustrated pages were re-matched, and more than 27 million copies were sold within three weeks. In addition, the sales of old editions of books have made statistics. The sales figures of the "Harry Potter" series of genuine books surpassed 300 million copies in one fell swoop.

This series of novels has been born for more than ten years, during which it was translated into more than 60 languages ​​and scripts, and appeared all over the world, even in war-torn Afghanistan, you can find its traces.

The sales volume of 300 million copies has also become the third most-selling book in the world in history, second only to the Bible and a certain quotation on the other side.

According to statistics from some professional institutions on Wall Street, this series of books alone has brought Ryan more than $800 million in royalties so far.

Then, the media discovered with hindsight that the first person in history to become a billionaire only relying on books had long been born.

At the same time, the merged Disney Asia branch is also actively negotiating with the Far East. The two sides have reached a preliminary opinion on the introduction of the film, and the existing differences are nothing more than schedule issues.

"The Lord of the Rings" was pushed on the other side of the film market by the China Film Group before the new year. Even without a novel foundation, it swept the box office for several weeks without any suspense. It is a pity that Hollywood movies at this time have only a poor three to four weeks schedule. , And as an introduction film, it is almost impossible to get the so-called deferred'key' of a certain bureau.

After the two parties reached an agreement on a series of issues such as the Harry Potter schedule, news came that Ryan was confused-Sanlian Publishing decided to terminate the publishing contract with Ryan and temporarily cancel the remaining Harry Potter. Special series of books are on sale on the opposite side of the market.

This almost disrupted his intensive publicity plan.

Fortunately, after he called, the staff on the other side sent a message of relief.

The People’s Literature Agency on the opposite side took a fancy to this series. Through some pressure, Sanlian took the initiative to give up and listed it as a key publishing project. They contacted Ryan’s agent over there, and even the copyright battle has not yet fallen. At the moment of the curtain, we organized a re-translation and final proofreading for the capable forces, and completely abandoned the three-linked translation.

On the one hand, they are seeking prime time for the simultaneous listing of books and movies. On the other hand, they want to send people to North America directly with proofreading drafts to ensure that the text style and ideas are consistent with the original text.

These are naturally handled by related staff, and Ryan is going to Buckingham Palace.

As early as when the shooting of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" began, the British royal family and the House of Lords were discussing the award of Ryan, because he was not enthusiastic and the subsequent Manchester United acquisition controversy, this matter has been Dragged it down.

But after the release of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", the influence of this series has completely exceeded the limits of literature and entertainment, and has become a social phenomenon, especially from film shooting and distribution to production and sales of peripheral products. All of the British manufacturers have participated, and these have significantly boosted the employment rate and boosted the British economy like stagnant water.

The royal family also needs to take a share of this incident to demonstrate their transcendent status, and awarding honors to Ryan has naturally become the most appropriate choice.

Although he didn't pay much attention to it, Ryan would not reject it like those artists did. Moreover, it was not only himself who accepted the award, but also Nicole, who is equally dazzling in the film industry.

Of course, neither he nor Nicole are British, and they received the so-called "jazz" award, which is called the Knight of Honor.

The only difference is that the royal family held an award ceremony for the two of them in the press conference hall of Buckingham Palace, and the queen and his wife also personally attended the event.

"May God bless you, Your Majesty."

Standing in front of many cameras, Ryan showed good upbringing and manners, and gave a standard gentleman's courtesy to Elizabeth II.

"May God bless you, Your Majesty." Nicole on the other side made a standard curtsey.

Her Majesty is naturally the same expression that has remained unchanged for decades. After the royal spokesperson gave a short, routine speech to the few news media on the scene, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Ryan and Nicole the honorary knights. medal.

"You have made outstanding contributions to the spread of British culture throughout the world."

After Elizabeth II’s polite words, Ryan immediately said in a humble voice, "This is my honour, Your Majesty."

Both Ryan and Nicole maintained the necessary respect for the royal family.

Regardless of how outsiders comment on the royal family, this family has an influence that cannot be ignored in Britain and even in the entire Western world.

Afterwards, the two of them shook hands with Prince Philip and Prince Charles one by one, and this brief award ceremony also ended.

Although this is actually more like a show, it is also the highest-level show. The subsequent royal lunch invitation cannot be rejected by the two of Ryan, and this kind of almost rigid banquet is obviously not suitable for Ryan, and there is almost no exchange. Under the circumstances, after running out of traditional British meals, he and Nicole got in the car on the return journey surrounded by reporters.

"It's okay."

In the car driving to Kensington Ryan took off his tuxedo jacket and said to Nicole, "Not as serious and rigid as I thought."

"In fact, your Majesty has made a lot of changes over the years." Nicole kicked off the high heels directly.

"I heard that the queen let go about Camilla?" Ryan asked Nicole. She has been in contact with Prince William and other royal family members over the years.

"It should be a few years." Nicole suddenly remembered the friend lying on the island in the lake, "Wait for the public to gradually forget the past between Diana and Charles."

Gently shook Nicole's hand, Ryan didn't say anything.

In addition to Harry Potter-related news in the media recently, an interesting thing is still circulating in the media. It is said that it originated from the palace of the crown prince. Someone heard a bald man talking about how to be a crown prince—it’s nothing difficult, it’s not just waiting for his own mother. Die?

Of course, this is more of a kind of ridicule. In some respects, what the British royal family now represents is not much different from Harry Potter. They all convey mainstream values ​​such as happiness, happiness, stability and courage to the society. . ()