[Chapter 336: Counterasures and Breaking the Deadlock]
Although Linton was sowhat prepared for the coordinated pushback from Hollywood's Big Six studios, the dire situation reported back from the marketing departnt still took him by surprise.
No matter how confident he was in the film The Man from Nowhere, he still had to tread carefully now.
To be honest, the other movies didn't ring much of a bell for him, aning none were box office hits and none were on the sa level of competition as The Man from Nowhere.
But since it was the six giants united, their marketing power was imnse. No matter how good a movie was, if the promotion didn't keep pace, the audience wouldn't know about it, and if distribution lagged, theater slots would be limited, heavily impacting box office performance.
After consulting with his team, they imdiately swung into action.
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First, Linton personally called the major theater chains, requesting fair screening opportunities for The Man from Nowhere, with the promise to adjust dynamically based on box office returns after release.
During these calls, he tactfully ntioned the current sumr releases of The Rock and Interview With the Vampire, subtly reminding the chains whose film could draw bigger crowds. Ultimately, it all boiled down to box office numbers.
However, after careful consideration, he declined Harvey Weinstein's suggestion to lower the revenue-sharing percentage between The Man from Nowhere and the theaters to secure more screening slots. They had just finalized a new agreent, and lowering their cut before it even started would be unethical and could hurt future collaborations.
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Next, Linton took Monica Bellucci, Will Smith, and Scarlett Johansson to appear consecutively on variety shows on UPN and MCA networks, as well as NBC's Saturday Night Live, all to promote The Man from Nowhere.
He also bought pri-ti ad slots on these three networks to air 30-second trailers of The Man from Nowhere.
NBC and MCA had broad North Arican viewership, and with the booming popularity of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, UPN's influence was growing. With these three networks' campaigns, along with posters in comrcial districts, subway stations, and cinemas, The Man from Nowhere's promotion was quite strong.
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Additionally, Linton arranged with the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire production team to include four The Man from Nowhere-related questions over the next four episodes:
1. On which date did The Man from Nowhere officially premiere in North Arica? (Correct answer: a. December 9)
2. Who is the lead actor of The Man from Nowhere? (Correct answer: a. Linton Anderson)
3. Which movie starring superstar Linton Anderson premiered on December 9? (Correct answer: a. The Man from Nowhere)
4. Which female star appears in The Man from Nowhere? (Correct answer: a. Monica Bellucci)
Starting December 3, these questions appeared across four consecutive episodes, and were edited into the final aired show that audiences saw.
Since premiering on November 12, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire's ratings surged over three episodes.
By the third episode on November 26, it achieved an astonishing 4.4% average viewership, ranking first in that ti slot, surpassing the long-dominant Oprah Winfrey Show.
Embedding The Man from Nowhere questions into the show for four episodes guaranteed exceptional promotional impact.
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Following this, Linton spent $1 million to hold a special screening event for critics.
On December 7, the company held a grand premiere for The Man from Nowhere at the Los Angeles Do Theater.
At the premiere, Linton pulled out all the stops. Not only did he walk the red carpet with Monica Bellucci, but also with his group of girlfriends including Madonna, Nicole Kidman, Sophie Marceau, Cristiana Reali, Naomi Watts, Caron Diaz, Jennifer Connelly, Vivian Chow, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Noriko Sakai.
As Linton and this entourage of top-tier beauties and celebrities walked the red carpet together, fans, dia, and paparazzi erupted in excitent.
Linton was already a major dia focus. Though the entourage's individual fa wasn't as high as his, every one of them was a notable star. Their intimate interaction under the spotlight was like dropping a bombshell in the entertainnt industry.
Tonight and tomorrow morning, every entertainnt outlet would feature Linton and his girlfriends' appearance at the The Man from Nowhere premiere on their headlines.
Even dia outlets tied to Hollywood's Big Six studios, eager for ratings, would have no choice but to cover it -- though they might downplay the movie The Man from Nowhere itself.
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Sure enough, starting that night, the news spawned multiple versions and dominated all entertainnt headlines:
- "Superstar Linton Anderson and his girlfriends shine together at The Man from Nowhere premiere."
- "Hollywood playboy Linton's number of girlfriends revealed."
- "What's the reason behind so many female stars flocking around Linton?"
There were even sensational tabloid spins like:
- "The untold stories between Hollywood superstar Linton and his female stars."
- "Playboy Linton's guide to winning the hearts of many female stars."
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In any case, Linton's grand entrance at the premiere made The Man from Nowhere's publicity extraordinarily successful.
Major chains urgently expanded The Man from Nowhere's screening from 2,900 screens to 3,200 screens.
This inevitably impacted other films releasing at the sa ti.
For instance, Clear and Present Danger's initial screening slots dropped to 2,800 screens.
Even with pressure from the Big Six studios on theaters to favor their movies, theaters stood firm.
Linton's promotional moves had made The Man from Nowhere wildly popular ahead of release, and theaters were confident it would be a big box office hit -- they trusted it to bring in substantial revenue.
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That evening, while all the ladies were present, Linton took the chance before the party to warn them soone was secretly investigating their youth and beauty secrets.
He cautioned them that soone might take dangerous risks threatening their personal safety, advising them to stay alert and especially avoid hospitals and blood tests recently.
He also assigned each of them a female bodyguard. Luckily, security at the estate had been steadily reinforced, now totaling 40 female bodyguards, two assigned per person, which was sufficient for the mont.
Furthermore, as discussed with Hillary, Linton shared with them his magical powers. He explained he maintained their youth and beauty through magic, which he often used to help them during their intimate encounters.
*****
spatreon/Sayonara816.
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