Chapter 750： Lucrative

As time has just entered 2007, China Film Group transferred a total of US$13.75 million in the box office share of "Transformers" to Disney Pictures. This quarter of the box office share is not too much, even overseas. In the box office split, none of them accounted for the top five.

However, no one can ignore the rapid expansion of the Chinese film market. You must know that two years ago, most Hollywood companies set $10 million as the box office target of those super commercial masterpieces entering China. What about now?

"Transformers" took 55 million U.S. dollars in the box office from China, which is close to 430 million RMB at the current exchange rate. This is already the highest box office record in the Chinese film market since statistics.

The huge population base, hundreds of millions of potential consumers, fast-growing theater chains, and its own extremely backward film industry are almost the ideal dumping ground for Hollywood movies.

It is a pity that it is not easy to enter this market. The negotiations between China and the United States on the supplementary terms of the memorandum of WTO films and cultural products have been fruitless.

After all, the bureaucratic group here is not stupid. If the market is excessively liberalized at this time, the Chinese film industry is bound to be smashed by Hollywood films, and even like European films, they can only survive in the cracks.

Fortunately, Disney’s films in recent years have basically been able to make a profit from the Chinese box office. The box office that is divided is also the money after China Film deducts the publicity fee and taxes.

"Transformers" has been released in North America for more than a month. After the box office exceeded 350 million U.S. dollars, it can only rely on the box office of less than 10 million U.S. dollars a week. Offline, the global box office has reached 790 million US dollars.

Whether the film can finally hit the world's $1 billion box office depends on the market response of dozens of countries and regions that will join the screening.

In the past month, Transformers temporarily surpassed Barbie and became the most popular toy in the United States. More than 10 years ago, Transformers were all the rage. This time, with the craze of the movie version of "Transformers", Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and Megatron made a comeback.

According to statistics from Disney and the North American Theater Alliance, since the screening of "Transformers", each theater has sold an average of about 2,500 Transformers toy models, and the revenue of a single theater in this area alone is as high as 150,000 US dollars.

Derivative product development is the general trend of Hollywood movies, and toy movies like "Transformers" are no exception.

Although the copyright of the toy belongs to Hasbro, according to the agreement signed by the two parties in the early years, Disney can allocate 30% of the profit of each toy related to the movie. For other image and text authorization, Disney, as the copyright owner of the movie, can share 70% of the profits.

In addition to traditional peripheral products such as toys, dolls, stationery and cultural shirts that are indispensable for each movie, Disney has also launched Transformers novels and photo series. Sales are also good. In just one month, it sold more than 100. Million copies.

Of course, the most popular among them must be related products of Optimus Prime.

"Kind and brave, he is the incarnation of justice."

"Have great endurance, impact, and optimism."

"When others are in danger, he will definitely sacrifice his life to save him..."

The Autobot leader Optimus Prime in the film is actually a symbol of the so-called American spirit, and won unanimous praise from the audience, not only that. Optimus Prime is also an idol worshipped by many "little audiences".

"My son likes Optimus Prime, so I bought him a leader-level toy model, and as soon as he got it, he immediately took it apart and played with it. Very happy."

This is what a parent who took children to watch a movie said, very representative and positive energy Optimus Prime. It is undoubtedly the best gift a parent can give to a child.

In particular, there is Christmas in the middle. According to a North American media report, during the 2006 Christmas period, the Transformers toy model became the most photographed Christmas gift among many families in North America.

The Internet is also a sales channel that cannot be ignored. Websites such as eBay and Amazon have opened Transformers sales areas. Various peripheral products in the play have become hot sellers on the Internet. Around Christmas and New Year, the value of 99 US dollars is also inscribed. The leader-level Optimus Prime model of'freedom belongs to all beings' has already topped the sales charts of these two websites.

However, in just over a month, Disney has received more than 150 million U.S. dollars in revenue from peripherals and other licenses, and this number is bound to increase over time.

In addition, Disney will also develop the game "Transformers: Battle for Cybertron" based on the worldview of the movie; and Disney TV will soon launch an animated series called "Transformers: Proof of Leader". .

There are also numerous sponsors that benefit, such as Chevrolet’s Camaro sports car is one of the most popular sports cars in North America; such as the ct sunglasses worn by Alexandra Ambrosio as the heroine in the movie. , The price is as high as 38 US dollars, after the film was released, it became a hot product.

A super selling movie can always create countless business opportunities.

As the popularity of the film continues to rise, Disney also announced its future disc plans.

The Blu-ray DVD discs of "Transformers" will be officially released in North America in April. This is not a simple director's cut version. In order to attract fans to buy, Disney has added a lot of content.

It includes a commentary by the director Michael Bay on the film, an in-depth expansion of the human perspective of the "Transformers" film, and an introduction to the process of making Transformers virtual images; Ryan will talk about his fascination and understanding of Transformers in it , The original idea of ​​the film, the filming process, how to turn Hasbro’s iconic toy into a living action hero on the screen, and discussions with Michael Bay and the digital engineers of Industrial Light & Magic, etc.

Some interesting tidbits, such as the Transformers Cultural Crash Training Course, Transformers Cultural Consultants, and the military's rental of real guns to help film the movie will also be introduced in detail.

What can attract loyal Transformers fans even more is that the DVD also shows behind-the-scenes sketches of major action scenes in the movie, such as the scene of the Thacker Giant and other Decepticons attacking the Decepticons. It will show fans the director's ideas and screenwriter. Step by step, how the idea of ​​the movie has become a staggeringly tense shot on the screen.

In addition to the above filming related content, "Transformers" DVD also specially prepared a special gift-Transformers characters online interaction.

Consumers can connect to the Internet through discs, see the famous Transformers characters constantly updated by the "Autobot" studio, and see the characters and weapons of various Transformers, their power attributes and appearances through the "Transformers Intelligence Mode" Update.

The most important thing is that the Autobot studio will update the image of the two newly added King Kong in the second part on this system as soon as possible. Even the disc has horizontal guns, sound waves, robot dogs and Al Akane's conceptual modeling.

Shortening the time it takes for movies to enter home entertainment from theaters has always been the focus of Walt Disney's business operations, and online pre-sales are undoubtedly one of the best ways to achieve it.

With the help of the enthusiasm of movies that has not faded, Disney launched a huge media promotion for the pre-sale of DVDs, which is unique in the history of the company’s distribution. The cost of the promotion is as high as three million US dollars, covering TV, radio, print media and Internet media.

The marketing also provides some interesting mini games for consumers. For example, fans of "Transformers" can customize a message sent by "Optimus Prime" for their friends online, and send it to friends via SMS or email.

Cooperative promotion partners-Chevrolet Auto and McDonald's will also promote the pre-sales and distribution of DVDs through their channels. Every buyer of "Transformers" DVDs will have the opportunity to obtain three specially customized "Bumblebee" sections from Chevrolet. One of the Myro sports cars...

In just over a week after the pre-sale was released, the number of DVD pre-sales for "Transformers" reached 6 million, which is infinitely close to the total sales figure of 7.3 million for the 2006 DVD sales champion "Spartan Three Hundred Warriors".

You know, the latter's discs have been on sale for three months, and if you count the online pre-sales, it will take longer.

Although there is still some time before the DVDs are officially launched, many media and professional organizations have begun to predict that the DVDs of "Transformers" will inevitably create new records of weekly sales and total sales of North American discs, and a weekly sales breakthrough at the time of release. Ten million is not impossible.

Disney’s price for the deluxe disc set is US$39.9, and the regular version is US$19.9. The North American market alone will bring a huge amount of income to Disney even if Hasbro wants it. Share 30% of the profits, but Disney's "Transformers" in the next few months can only be described as profitable.

Besides, this is only North America, and Disney’s authorization transfer negotiations with many countries and regions around the world are coming to an end.

Even if the box office is not counted, Disney's profit in peripheral products in the next year is expected to be at least US$400 million.

As a commercial director, Michael Bay completely turned over and once again stood in the ranks of Hollywood's top commercial film directors. As the parent company of "Transformers", Hasbro regretted the company's two relaunch series too early. The adaptation rights were sold to Ryan...

That is, in January after the New Year, Hasbro proposed to buy back the adaptation rights of "Special Forces" at a double price. At the same time, they almost finalized another toy series "Super Battleship" with Universal Pictures as quickly as possible. "The film adaptation plan.

Ryan’s reply is simple. There is no problem in repurchasing the film adaptation rights of "Special Forces", but the two parties have to make some changes to the "Transformers" peripheral sharing agreement... (to be continued...) ()