On the Ways and Means of Fleecing the Fans

This is normal. No movie can stay popular forever. Audiences will eventually get tired of a movie and look for other movies.

In the Japan film market, Toho's flagship film of the year, the romance film "The Promise of the World," adapted from a popular novel, finally broke Fate/Zero's monopoly and ended its ten-week reign at the top of the Japan box office charts.

However, the film did not receive good reviews, with many viewers saying that the slow pace almost made them fall asleep.

In fact, while the pacing of "The Promise of the World" is slow, it's not as exaggerated as people say.

These viewers had just finished watching the fast-paced 3-hour Fate/Zero, so watching this movie again naturally felt like watching a snail's pace.

Of course, ordinary viewers might complain a bit, but the real dissatisfaction with the movie comes from fans of the original novel. They feel that the movie failed to capture the essence of the novel, and the only redeeming quality is Masami Nagasawa's face.

But no matter how much the audience criticized it, "The Promise of the World" was undoubtedly a box office success.

This relieved the previously anxious executives at Toho. Even if the film's box office performance couldn't surpass Fate/Zero, at least the big brother's reputation was preserved.

On the contrary, film critics gave the film very high praise, showering it with compliments.

They unanimously agreed that this film was the essence of Japan cinema, rather than another meaningless and utterly worthless piece of trash.

Several newspapers that organize the Blue Ribbon Awards even stated directly in their articles that "The Promise of the World" would be a strong contender for this year's Blue Ribbon Awards.

Unlike the Japan film market, the North American market did not produce a powerful box office champion to take over the throne of Fate/Zero.

With Fate/Zero's theatrical run over, North American cinema has once again entered a chaotic state of fragmentation.

However, although Fate/Zero has finished its theatrical run in North America, the film's popularity has not completely subsided.

From its release in May to its run until late July, Fate/Zero was a highly anticipated film in North America.

The steady box office performance, which started strong and continued to rise, surprised countless people, while also making them envious and biting their handkerchiefs in envy.

Of course, what film industry peers are even more concerned about is Fate/Zero's promotional strategy.

The marketing strategies employed by Jidai Group. are extremely expensive, so much so that other Film Company can only dream of such a strategy.

However, this seemingly reckless promotional approach also yields very high returns.

In particular, the word-of-mouth marketing, whether it's the soft articles on major media platforms or the use of online trolls to boost popularity and ratings on IMDb, has ensured that Fate/Zero receives consistently high praise in addition to its professional reputation and ratings.

From any perspective, the Jidai Group has waged a brilliant publicity and marketing campaign, which directly resulted in Fate/Zero's incredibly stable box office performance.

From its opening weekend, Fate/Zero's weekend box office declines were all significantly lower than those typical for a box office cycle.

This trend was quite alarming, but it also ensured that the film's North American box office ultimately surpassed the $400 million mark.

Four hundred and twenty-three million US dollars!

This is also the final box office result of Fate/Zero in North America, which exceeded the 312 million US dollars of the Lion King in North America by more than 100 million US dollars.

Although the difference in global box office revenue between the two films is not as large as in North America, after all, a family-friendly film like the Lion King certainly has a larger global audience than Fate/Zero.

However, Disney is definitely not happy about this, because Fate/Zero's global box office has already surpassed the $988 million box office of the Lion King after its re-release, and is firmly marching toward $1 billion.

It is said that on the day Fate/Zero surpassed the Lion King at the global box office, loud smashing noises were heard coming from the offices of several Disney board members.

"What a pity. Hopefully, the money they make from DVD sales this year will be enough to renovate their office."

In the TYPE-MOON Film Company office, Shinji made a teasing comment on the childish behavior of the senior executives at Daiko.

Despite Warner's nickname "Disc Sales Warner," the Hollywood company that truly dominates the disc sales are undoubtedly Disney.

Regardless of other movies, Disney releases a new version of its classic animated films on DVD every few years, and each new version has a different selling point than the previous one.

It's not that some scenes have been added or deleted, or that the music playlist has been reset, or that there have been interviews with the film's creators.

Disney's strategy of making money through DVD sales truly makes them a champion in the DVD industry.

However, Shinji has no right to judge others; he was the one who caused Fate/Zero to be pulled from theaters in North America.

While the popularity of Fate/Zero hadn't completely faded, they withdrew from North American theatrical releases and capitalized on the momentum by releasing a DVD to rake in profits.

Although box office figures may decrease, DVD sales will increase significantly.

Shinji isn't Disney. Unless the film has the potential to reach $2 billion in global box office revenue, he won't keep it in theaters just for the sake of so-called box office figures.

That will only affect DVD sales figures!

Once this round of DVD monetization is over, Shinji will let the investors mature a bit.

Then, at the end of the year, they'll release an extended DVD version to harvest another round of profits.

"Absolutely perfect."

The Second Master slammed the laptop shut with a satisfied click.

A soft knock sounded, and Ophelia pushed the door open and came in.

"Boss, Mr. Emiya is here."

"Let him in quickly."

Shinji quickly stood up from his seat.

"Hi, Shinji."

As Shirou entered the office, he greeted the Second Master warmly, "It's been a long time."

Shinji quickly gestured for him to sit down. "Yes, Shirou. You're finally back."

This summer vacation, Shirou was taken abroad by Kiritsugu as soon as school let out, and he only just returned home now.

"Shirou, you've changed so much! Where did Kiritsugu take you to play?"

Shinji handed Shirou a cup of green tea and then asked jokingly.

After not seeing him for a summer vacation, Shirou had become much more robust, his once somewhat thin body now possessing more defined features.

"Don't even mention it," Shirou said with a bitter expression. "As soon as I got a break, my dad dragged me to the Middle East battlefield, and I almost didn't come back alive."

"Middle East?"

Shirou nodded with lingering fear. "Yes, Dad said I was too naive and needed to train on the battlefield."

"Just you?"

"I also asked him why he didn't bring Illya," Shirou said, taking a sip of tea. "And he said, 'Boys should be raised frugally, girls should be raised lavishly.' Is that something a father should say?!"

Shinji did not comment on this, after all, his status and situation in the Matou Family were similar to Shirou's, also below Sakura.

"Seriously, these past two months have been insane. First, we helped evacuate a village, then we destroyed a terrorist hideout, and then we almost got into a fight with the US military because of a misunderstanding..."

At this point, Shirou let out a long sigh, glanced at his own body, and said helplessly.

"After two months of sandstorms in the desert, I got a really tan."

Shinji nodded. "You've gotten quite tanned, it's a pity your hair didn't turn white."

"How can your hair turn white from the sun..." Shirou's lips twitched. "Besides, wouldn't white hair make you look like that annoying Archer?"

"That's hard to say."

Shinji raised his eyebrows and steered the conversation to the main topic.

"Do you have any free time in the second half of the year? You probably won't be traveling far again, right?"

Although he had a vague suspicion when he received the notification that Shinji wanted to meet him, Shirou Emiya's eyes immediately lit up when he heard Shinji say it.

"Are you asking me to make another movie?"

"It's not a movie, it's a TV series." Shinji held up two fingers. "And there are two of them, and you're the male lead in both."

"Of course, making movies is much better than fighting wars in the Middle East."

Shirou answered without hesitation.

"That's good, Ophelia."

Shinji gave a signal, and the Little Secretary sitting on the other side handed Shirou a file folder.

"This is..."

Shirou Emiya looked at Shinji.

Shinji gestured for the other person to proceed, and spoke as he watched them open the file folder.

"Both of these dramas are spin-offs of FSN, and you'll be playing yourself again, Shirou."

"I don't mind that, but..."

Shirou looked at the UBW script outline and, recalling their conversation, his expression immediately became conflicted.

What exactly is Archer's true identity?

"Well~" Shinji smiled understandingly, "You don't need to understand the Fate setting so thoroughly, Shirou."

Chapter 88 On the methods of cutting leeks

Despite Shirou's conflicted expression regarding Shinji's script, this did not change Shinji's insistence.

Anyway, the TV series hasn't started filming yet, so Shirou has plenty of time to get used to the script.

Although FSN has both cast members and locations readily available, it makes it convenient for the production team to start filming immediately.

Although filming is still a while away, some preliminary preparations have already begun.

For Shirou, the main protagonist, the first thing he needs to do is to train his muscles.

Both UBW and HF feature a large number of action scenes that Shirou himself performs, and there are definitely many shots where he has to show off his muscles.

Although Shirou spent two months in the Middle East and became much more muscular, he still lacked the aesthetic appeal of celebrities on camera.

Besides muscles, fighting style is also a key focus of Shirou's training.

Shinji directly delegated this training task to Red A's mother.

Putting aside the fact that Shirou needs to learn Red A's fighting style, is there anyone in the world better than himself as a sparring partner?

Look at UBW, Shirou even dared to fight Gilgamesh Red A.

As for what kind of trouble Shirou and Red A, those two incompatible Second Master, might cause by getting together, I don't care at all.

If the two develop better chemistry while training together, Shinji will be able to relax a bit more when filming later.

It doesn't matter if the relationship between the two characters worsens; their scenes together during filming will feel more emotionally authentic.

In short, Shirou's friendship level with Red A hasn't changed much, so Second Master definitely didn't lose out.

While the relationship between Shirou Emiya and Shirou Emiya is one of love and hate, Shinji has other work to do during this time, such as promoting the upcoming DVD release of Fate/Zero.

The DVD industry in this world is more developed than it was in the same period before Shinji's transmigration, which is a rare advantage of this unique Parallel world in the entertainment industry.

After all, many slow-paced art films are more enjoyable to watch at home than in a movie theater.

Of course, there are also animated movies suitable for the whole family to watch together. As mentioned before, Disney relies on this to ensure that it remains among the top-grossing Film Company in North America every year.

It is said that Disney's annual sales of videotapes and DVDs are three times Disney box office revenue.

While other Film Company aren't as extravagant as Disney, video and DVD revenue still constitute a major part of their income.

However, the golden age of DVDs only lasted a few years.

Shinji had access to future vision, knew that before long, with the rapid development of online video-on-demand and downloads, the videotape and DVD industry would decline rapidly, and the era of streaming media would follow.

Shinji, who is trying to expand and strengthen his business in the entertainment industry, certainly hasn't forgotten about streaming platforms and has made some preparations for this.

Once the external hardware conditions are met, Shinji will launch his own streaming service.

However, Shinji's future foray into streaming media doesn't prevent Shinji selling DVDs now.

There's no way to stop harvesting the chives that have already grown, just for the sake of harvesting chives later.

In early August, Jidai Group. officially launched Fate/Zero DVDs and videotapes in the North American market. Both brick-and-mortar retailers such as Walmart and Kroger, as well as online retailers such as eBay and Amazon, began selling the DVDs.

As for sales, they can only be described in one word: booming.

Although Fate/Zero isn't as popular as the anime, its first-week sales figures were still impressive, easily selling $120 million.

Sure enough, when it comes to the prosperity of leeks, North America will always be the first.

Moreover, the profit per DVD is higher than the box office revenue share.

Even after deducting other distribution costs, the profit that a DVD brings to the Second Master is still several times that of a movie ticket.

Because a Fate/Zero ticket that sells for $20 costs less than $1 to produce.

Compared to DVDs in North America, Fate/Zero actually had a slightly higher production cost in Japan, which translates to approximately $5.