"Damn it!"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
After a string of expletives, Adam Scott still couldn't control the boiling anger in his chest. He paced back and forth, finally lowering his voice again to curse.
"Shit!"
Finally, barely managing to control his emotions, Adam turned to look at the others in the conference room.
"What did Edgar Cooke say?"
A slightly stiff voice replied, "He insists he didn't breach the contract. Anson's schedule doesn't conflict with our promotion in any way."
"No conflict of interest... Ha, haha, what a great 'no conflict of interest'!" Adam couldn't help but let out a cold laugh at the absurdity and unexpectedness of it all. He once again heard the bubbling sound in his chest.
At this mont, in this place.
In the conference room of Sony Columbia's marketing departnt, departnt manager Adam Scott was holding an ergency eting, and the entire departnt was in a state of panic.
While Anson and the others were confidently looking forward to the future, the future in front of Adam was dark, as if he could see a storm approaching.
The reason was "Spider-Man."
Since its inception, "Spider-Man" had been a top-tier project of utmost importance for Sony Columbia. With the continuous downturn of the sumr box office in the past two years, its importance had been steadily rising, undoubtedly making it the biggest blockbuster of this year's sumr season.
On one hand, Sony Columbia had almost desperately poured all its resources into it, and the marketing departnt had been working day and night on related promotions.
They couldn't afford the cost of failure.
On the other hand, the entire Hollywood viewed Sony Columbia as lunatics, mocking them both inside and outside for placing their bets in the wrong place.
Although "Batman Returns" in 1992 had once written the peak of superhero movies, to be fair, superhero movies were still a typical subculture at present.
Warner Bros. held the adaptation rights to the entire DC Comics universe, and Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman were all well-known superhero figures, yet they hadn't made any attempts in a whole five years.
The disastrous failure of "Batman & Robin" served as a wake-up call. So, Warner Bros. would rather develop new franchises like "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" than continue to invest ti in comics.
Indeed, in the past two years, 20th Century Fox's investnt in the "X-n" series had achieved considerable success. However, the films were planned entirely as B-movies, and their box office performance wasn't particularly impressive. Compared to genres like sci-fi, cody, and action, they didn't have an advantage.
From all indications, the superhero genre was still suitable for developnt as B-movies. There was no need for excessive investnt or taking it too seriously, and it might still be profitable.
Yet, Sony Columbia was planning the "Spider-Man" project on the scale of an A-list blockbuster. Even if it wasn't exactly throwing money away, in the eyes of Hollywood insiders, it was a blind bet made out of desperation.
And to make matters worse, Sony Columbia had put all its eggs in one basket.
In this predicant of internal and external troubles, the pressure was pushed to an unbelievable level.
Whether it was within Sony Columbia or among other Hollywood insiders, all eyes were focused on "Spider-Man," which was about to kick off this year's sumr season. Success or failure hinged on this one move.
Furthermore, there was another crucial unknown factor.
Since the "9/11" incident last year, the entire North Arican continent had been shrouded in a gloomy and pessimistic atmosphere. Hollywood was inevitably caught up in it, and the prolonged downturn in the film market seed to have no end in sight.
The upcoming sumr season carried the hopes of industry insiders to revitalize the market, but it was also mired in unpredictable chaos. No one could accurately predict what would happen next.
Which movie, when, and in what way would break the market's slump? Everything was unknown.
In previous years, the competition during the opening weeks of the sumr season was fierce, but this year, there was a cautious atmosphere of testing the waters. Sony Columbia scheduled "Spider-Man" for the first week of May and surprisingly encountered no competition, easily securing the release date. Everything was going too smoothly, which was unsettling.
All of this, all of this.
One could imagine the pressure the Sony Columbia marketing departnt was under.
For an entire month, Adam had been in a state of high-intensity, high-frequency work. To be precise, he had been on edge for the past three months, with everything revolving around the promotion of "Spider-Man."
And the result?
The result!
When Adam learned that Anson had secretly recorded "The Tonight Show," his first reaction was that his head exploded, and all his hair stood on end.
How dare he, how dare he!
They had countless etings and discussions, and finally, they determined the best promotion plan. They tried their best to avoid exposing Anson and Kristen's shortcomings. They were like Barbie dolls, obediently staying in the box for display only. This was the best plan, it was that simple.
Barbie. Display.
This was their only requirent, nothing could be simpler, but Anson偏偏 ssed up at this stage.
Moreover!
Of all the shows, why did it have to be "The Tonight Show"? The current king of talk show ratings, which ant that even a slight mistake or deviation from Anson could wipe out all the promotional efforts their entire team had worked so hard on for over half a year.
So might say, why not be optimistic? Maybe the show will be a hit? Maybe Anson's performance will bring surprises? Even if Sony Columbia doesn't help, at least they shouldn't hinder, right? Shouldn't Sony Columbia be grateful for Anson's proactive promotional attitude?
Firstly, Adam didn't like surprises. One surprise could disrupt his entire plan, which ant increased workload and the need for them to work overti to follow up and adjust.
Secondly, Adam didn't believe the show would be a hit. The collision between a newcor and a talk show was a disaster. This was a consensus throughout Hollywood, from top to bottom. No newcor would go on a talk show, none!
Thirdly, Anson taking the initiative to promote himself was definitely not helping but hindering. The promotional plan they had painstakingly formulated was based entirely on professional opinions and targeted strategies based on market research. Interference from an outsider would only bring unnecessary trouble.
Think about it, in "Spider-Man," Peter Parker was a shy and introverted high school student. No matter how Anson perford on "The Tonight Show," his appearance would only undermine the audience's sense of identification with Peter Parker.
Not to ntion, there were also those dia outlets waiting to stir up trouble. Even if there was nothing wrong, they might create so waves. Now, Anson was practically handing the dia a weapon, cheerfully inviting them to launch an attack.
God! Disaster, this was an absolute disaster!
Only an outsider would think that Anson was helping with the promotion.
Now, Sony Columbia had to spend resources, energy, and ti to compensate for the chain reaction caused by Anson's rash actions. How could they possibly continue to fuel the flas?
His ntality crumbled.
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