A big-time Hollywood producer once told me that the hardest part of making a picture – harder than lining up the money and assembling the cast, harder than late-night shoots and expensive weather delays – are the days just after the film is released.
The tension, he told me, is excruciating. By that time, the movie is out on its own, to rise or fall depending on the audience’s enthusiasm. The print advertisements have been designed and paid for – so, too, the billboards and posters – and the television commercials have been edited and uploaded. There’s nothing left to do, as my producer friend put it, “but have a slow-motion panic attack until the box office numbers come in”.
It helps, of course, to have made a decent picture in the first place. But that, as moviegoers and moviemakers alike will tell you, isn’t always what brings people into the cinema.
Last week, for instance, while most of the world's population was lining up for the new Star Wars movie, another movie did pretty well, too.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip was released into the cinemas directly into the teeth of the $1 billion juggernaut called Star Wars – and it did pretty well, too. The kids' picture is a continuation of the series about three chipmunks and their adventures, and it's a pointless exercise to call the movies "good" or "bad". They're movies about rodents in jumpers who talk in squeaky voices. They aren't good or bad. They just are.
And for some reason, despite the blanketing media coverage of Star Wars, the movie about chipmunks did pretty well.
The marketing strategy for the movie seems to have been something along the lines of, "let's not spend any money and see what happens", which could only have caused the producers of the project a series of minor strokes. Producers are always complaining about the marketing budgets of their films – marketing, advertising and promotion are the sole responsibility of the studio – but in the case of the Chipmunks film, they'd have ample reason to raise a fuss. The movie just suddenly appeared in cinemas with little or no advance word.
Advertising is expensive. The general rule in the movie business is, if you’re not willing to spend at least $25 million on advertising and promotion, you’re probably not going to have a hit. But when the studio executives screen a movie for the first time, they have to make a complicated calculation: is the movie promising enough to gamble a big advertising budget on? Or is it a case of throwing money away on a lacklustre picture that’s never really going to go anywhere? Note, here, that no one is asking if the film is “good” or “bad” – that, as any moviegoer will tell you, rarely seems to factor into movie studio decisions of any kind. What they’re trying to divine is roughly what the producers are also fretting over: will anybody hear about this movie and then be inspired to drive over to the cinema, park, hand over cold cash, and sit through the thing?
The studio behind the Chipmunks project made a slightly different – and it turns out, canny – decision. They knew that the entire media universe was going to be obsessed with everything Star Wars, so they chose a low-to-invisible marketing profile and gambled that there would be enough cinema traffic and long queues for Star Wars that some folks – and, they hoped, enough folks – would surrender entirely and take their kids to see the Chipmunks movie. Formula One drivers might recognise this as a "slip stream" strategy: use the speed and velocity of the driver in front to pull yourself along, discreetly behind.
As it turns out, it was the right call.
What everyone in the entertainment business dreams about is something called “earned media”, which is the curiously counter-intuitive term for the publicity a project receives from newspapers, websites, magazines and the entertainment press. Movie studios love “earned media” because it’s not “paid media”, or what’s otherwise known to normal people, who like to call things what they are, as advertising.
Earned media happens whenever a movie is culturally significant – like Star Wars – or when one of the stars does something truly appalling – like, well, pretty much half of the pictures ever released – and suddenly the press swarms around the movie to "cover" the controversy. Entertainment journalists think they're reporting the news, but studio executives know better: they're advertising the movie for free.
This strategy works in politics, too. The current front-runner for the Republican Party’s nomination for the office of president of the United States is billionaire loudmouth Donald Trump, who has spent, according to sources, barely $200,000 on advertising. His opponents have spent far more. Trump seems to be executing a clever “earned media” strategy of saying appalling things often enough to remain at the top of the news every day, all without spending much money.
Trump knows what movie studio executives know: if the picture seems weak, don’t spend money on it.
Rob Long is a writer and producer in Hollywood
On Twitter: @rcbl
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The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Results
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1hr 32mins 03.897sec
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda) at 0.745s
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 37.383s
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 46.466s
5.Sergio Perez (Red Bull-Honda) 52.047s
6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 59.090s
7. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) 1:06.004
8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) 1:07.100
9. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri-Honda) 1:25.692
10. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:26.713,
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Company%20Profile
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