Chapter 399: Changing the Release Date

Chapter 399: Chapter 399: Changing the Release Date

The first to speak was Cole, the head of the Marketing Department and a staunch opponent of changing the release date.

He slammed the thick budget book for offline promotional materials onto the table, his tone filled with obvious dissatisfaction.

"I absolutely do not agree with changing the release date! We are less than four months away from the premiere, and over half of our omni-channel promotional campaign has already been implemented. Changing the date now would result in extremely high sunk costs."

Cole listed the details of the losses one by one, clear and persuasive.

"Since March, we have already poured $20 million into promotional expenses. Lightbox posters in theaters across the U.S., large screens on buses and subways, movie trailer placements, and promotional posters for offline supermarkets have all been produced and deployed. The contracts for outdoor large-screen advertising in major cities cannot be breached. Online collaborations with mainstream film blogs and golden-hour advertising slots on television have all been finalized. Furthermore, the July offline roadshows, campus fan meet-and-greets, and talk show schedules confirmed by Matt Damon are all locked in. If we move or change the date, all offline materials will need to be redone and discarded, we will have to pay penalties for unilaterally breaching advertising contracts, and re-coordinating the artist’s roadshow schedule will be another exorbitant expense. A conservative estimate puts our direct losses at over $5 million—money that could have been saved and invested in new film productions."

"Secondly, the audiences for the two films do not conflict at all. There is no need for us to show weakness by changing the date. Changing the date is equivalent to publicly announcing that Universal is afraid of a joint production by Fox and Disney. The Bourne Identity 2 features hardcore espionage suspense and realistic close-quarters combat, with a core audience of adult males aged 25 to 45 who prefer serious plots and realistic action. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 is a fantasy adventure and comedy about sailing, targeting an all-age audience, primarily teenagers and couples. The audience overlap is less than 20%. Moviegoers can absolutely buy tickets to watch both films; there is no competition for box office revenue, so why should we retreat?"

After Cole finished speaking, half of the executives in the room nodded in agreement.

Many of the veteran distribution executives present held the same view: Hollywood release date competition has always been tough, and major studios should not make meaningless concessions.

Moreover, the other side was not even releasing their film in the same week as them; there was no need to be this afraid.

After all, once they easily changed the date, the industry would judge Universal as timid, and their bargaining power for future new film negotiations and theater screenings would be lowered—it just was not worth the loss.

However, Karen, the project’s production head, immediately stood up to rebut, her attitude pragmatic and calm, hitting the reality of the industry head-on.

"I oppose making decisions based on emotion. In the film industry, all decisions are based on profit, not face. Face is not worth box office revenue; going head-to-head will only result in mutual destruction."

Karen turned on the projector screen and pulled up the box office data for the first Pirates of the Caribbean and the projected anticipation for the second.

"The first Pirates of the Caribbean started slow but finished strong, grossing $712 million globally, with word-of-mouth reaching the general public. Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack has already become a national-level film character. The sequel has increased production costs, with fully upgraded special effects, backed by Fox’s top-tier theater screenings and Disney’s global promotional channels, plus the young demographic traffic that Echo Pictures brings. The industry’s minimum box office projection is $900 million, heading straight for the annual box office record."

"Conversely, look at us. The first The Bourne Identity was a minor hit with $210 million, a well-regarded work, but in terms of scale, public recognition, and general viewership, it is completely incomparable to Pirates of the Caribbean."

Karen continued to analyze the pros and cons, her logic straightforward and cruel.

"Even if the audiences do not completely overlap, the total summer box office is fixed. Theaters will prioritize adding screenings and golden evening slots to the more popular Pirates. We will only get unpopular midday or late-night slots. Moviegoers’ first choice will always be the nationwide blockbuster. We will be passively forced to have fewer screenings, and our final box office will shrink by at least 30%. A project that could have been a guaranteed profit will end up with meager returns or even losses."

She concluded: "It is not that we are not afraid of a strong opponent; it is just that there is no need to actively go head-to-head. Changing the date is not admitting defeat; it is avoiding risk. We do not need to sacrifice the revenue and profit of the entire project for the sake of the Marketing Department’s face. We are all employees, and everything should serve Universal’s revenue. Fighting over pride is the most useless thing."

The two factions of executives argued back and forth for forty minutes, debating from multiple perspectives including promotional costs, audience demographics, theater screenings, industry reputation, and future industry influence.

The meeting room fell into a stalemate several times.

Richard remained silent throughout, listening and noting down all the pros and cons in his notebook.

He knew very well that the losses Cole spoke of were real, immediate cash flow losses, but the box office plunge Karen predicted was a much larger, long-term loss in revenue.

The $5 million in promotional losses could be recouped from future box office, but by colliding with the Pirates blockbuster, The Bourne Identity 2 would miss the chance to be an annual blockbuster and might even end up as cannon fodder for the summer season, dragging down Universal’s entire annual financial report.

More importantly, Echo Pictures had been on a roll for the past two years, with horror films, art films, and commercial films all becoming breakout hits.

Whenever there were competing products released at the same time, Universal’s projects were almost always slightly inferior.

Deep down, Richard did not want to go head-to-head with a project managed by Irene Coppola again.

Moreover, this Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was no ordinary sequel; the other side was clearly aiming for the annual champion, so there was no need for them to be a stepping stone on someone else’s path to success.

After finishing his thoughts, Richard raised his hand to end the debate and made the final ruling.

"Based on the overall voting results, more than half are in favor of changing the date. We will immediately initiate the date-change process and abandon the July 23rd summer slot."

Everyone held their breath, looking at him, waiting for the final decision on the new date.

"We are pulling out of the summer slot and moving to the autumn slot on November 12th." Richard finalized the date and slowly explained his reasoning:

"In November, all the summer blockbusters will have finished their runs, and there will be no top-tier competitors in theaters. The espionage suspense genre fits the autumn/winter viewing atmosphere, adult audiences have plenty of leisure time, and word-of-mouth is easier to cultivate. At the same time, we will allocate special funds to the Marketing Department to rush the reproduction of materials, pay breach-of-contract penalties, and re-confirm Matt Damon’s autumn/winter roadshow schedule, minimizing the negative impact caused by the date change."

The resolution was passed, and those who opposed it were powerless to change the outcome.

The Universal Marketing Department immediately issued an official announcement regarding the date change and simultaneously notified theaters across the U.S. to adjust their screening plans.

When the news reached the Echo Pictures office, Robert saw Universal’s official announcement immediately and could not help but laugh out loud.

He walked over to Irene Coppola’s side with his tablet.

"Universal chickened out and moved The Bourne Identity 2 to November. Now we can at least dominate the entire August slot. There are no competitors for the whole of August; the schedule is perfectly wide open."

Irene Coppola was looking through the weekly report on the Canadian location shooting for Brokeback Mountain and smiled calmly.

"I expected this. Major studios chase profit and will never gamble with revenue out of spite. They say we rose to the top by stepping on Universal, but this time, it was just a matter of going with the flow."