Chapter 28: Trouble with Cinema Chains

By the summer of 1992 (beginning the last week of May), the film industry was struggling. Ticket sales were the lowest they had been in fifteen years, and rising film production costs, as well as numerous box office failures in 1991, meant many independent film studios and even some major ones were financially struggling.

There were many studios that went bankrupt in the last two-three years and the audience was rarely seen flocking theatres in large numbers. Critics also became very harsh, and their opinion simply drove the audience inside or outside the theatres.

This simply made theatre chains cautious of each and every movie and they would finalise the number of theatres after their private screening.

However, Sunny was not prepared to receive the overwhelmingly negative feedback he received after the screening.

AMC theatre chain's current CEO Stanley Durwood who represented the theatre group called Sunny after the screening and almost pushed Sunny into panic mode.

"Hello, Mr Sunny? This is Stanley Durwood. We had a talk among us and collectively we believe this movie would not be suitable for America Market.

There are no songs that can entertain and the concept itself is completely new. Even if we take the marketing and promotions in consideration, we believe, this movie can be published straight to VHS and Home Cables rather than Cinema screens.

I am truly sorry but giving slots to this kind of movie might hurt our revenue directly."

"Wait, Mr Stanley. Please, think about the joy and the adventure theme that the movie represents, and the cute pets are definitely eye-catching. This will surely bring a lot of kids to cinema halls." Sunny kept debating and discussing with Stanley, but he made no progress.

After multiple rejections from other owners, Sunny was forced to take a bold step.

"Mr Stanley, I would like to book 5 theatres of yours for next week. From Friday, June 5 to next Friday, June 12.

I would pay for all the expenses and the theatre will only sell the tickets without the pressure of profit and loss.

After the first weekend and weekdays, we can negotiate the number of theatres again.

What do you think?"

Stanley was obviously very much ready for this kind of sure profit business. In the dying ticket sales, their revenue has already dropped and for 5 theatres, Sunny must provide them no less than 5 million for this operation.

Finally, a private screening deal was signed at the expense of 4.7 million and Sunny ended up paying almost 12 million for the promotion of this movie.

A movie made under a budget of half-million and its promotion took up almost 12 Million, Sunny thought this had to be another 'Blair Witch' movie.

Thankfully, Sunny's effort finally paid off and the movie was put in theatres in a limited release.

Sunny had to order the marketing team and promotion team to do multiple surveys and build word-of-mouth for this movie after the first premiere.

The first weekend, Friday-Sunday from June 5 to June 8, the openings were good enough to give Sunny confidence. 800,000$, 950,000$ and 1 Million on Sunday after the word of mouth increased in nearby areas around the theatre chains.

3 days and almost 3 million on Cinema halls also gave the Theatre chains some confidence and the positive feedback from the audience in the feedback form indicated there was a market for the movie.

Sunny checked the papers on Monday and collected the final reviews of the movie that were published by the critics over the weekend.

" An animation movie about pets that can melt your heart, teach you about life and entertain you from beginning to end! It's a worthy watch."

"If you only watch animation movies for laughs, this one might make you cry in some scenes. Great concept, good storyline, and cute characters to watch out for! A movie must for the kids!"

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Sunny read many great reviews from critics and the overall response was quite positive. In addition, they have no other movie in competition for this month. However, this was still not enough.

The Theatre chains still maintained a wait-and-see attitude on the weekdays. From Monday, June 9 to Wednesday 11 June, ticket sales suffered a minimum fall and Sunny found the collection was 600,000$, 450,000$ and 800,000$ on these three days.

On Wednesday night, Sunny met Stanley Durwood again and after another debate, the real screening with 2700 cinema theatres was finalised for the next weekend. Sunny would recover his money spent on the screening for this week and Durwood would never a production company make money from ticket sales.

However, Stanley was forced to sign a low share agreement as this was the first movie after last year September that could bring the audience to theatres. Normally, theatre chains take up 37-38% of the box office but this time, Sunny only agreed for 28% of the box office saving millions in this process.

Next Weekend with the super opening of 2700 cinemas across the US and Canada, there was a flood of kids and families rushing to grab the tickets for Pokémon.

Sunny arrived today at the nearest theatre to watch the movie alone. The entire distribution team was dispatched across the US to personally check the audience reaction and there were professional survey teams to get final reviews.

When Sunny took his seat inside the theatre, he found almost 80% of the theatre was booked which was a great sign. If this was the same across all theatres, he can very well earn around 14 million in the second weekend.

Keeping his fingers crossed and praying to all the possible gods he knew, Sunny watched as the light dimmed inside the theatre and the logo of Rover Pictures came on screen.

It was a very simple text logo with the name written in watercolour painting style to match the movie. Sunny decided to customize his studio name as per the movie which was popular in future across many studios.

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"ha ha ha… That Pikachu is so funny...."

"Ash is so miserable!"

"So cute!"

"I want a Pikachu!"

"No….noo....Pikachu!"

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Many kids keep talking during the movie and their voices was really not low but this is a common thing in these kinds of kid's movies. Kids do not contain their thoughts like Adults and Sunny was happy to see kids relating to Pokémon characters so easily.

Pikachu became a favourite in the first half of the movie while in the later half, the Charmander and other Pokémon also attracted many kids. Bulbasaur and its cute expression or Butterfree with its beautiful wings, kids were very happy to see these magical creatures on the big screen.

This anime was different from the musicals of Disney as there was only one song and that was in the end credit scene. Still, kids watched the movie with great passion.

Even parents found this enjoyable as the focus was on the emotional story of pets and friends and there was no distracting music in middle.

The 1.5-hour-long movie finally ended but many kids refused to leave the cinema halls. Their parents had to drag them away and many cried miserably. However, when they came outside, kids were immediately attracted to the merchandise stores that had Pokémon Dolls and Soft Toys.

Sunny watched all of this and released his tight heart. No one knew how much he bet his future on this single movie. Thankfully, his bet worked.

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