SpongeBob SquarePants needed a good TV channel to show it. That would be very important for making money later.
But that wasn't Zane Blackwood's biggest worry right now.
His main focus was his new movie, "Juno"!
"Juno" was coming out on November 15, 1996. That was only 15 days away! Zane's company, Wald Pictures, had done some advertising, but it wasn't enough.
November and December are huge months for movies because of Thanksgiving and Christmas. But that meant everyone was releasing their biggest movies at the same time.
"Boss," Victor said, handing Zane a piece of paper. "Here is the list of all the other movies coming out in November and December."
Hiss!
Even though Zane was ready for bad news, he still gasped when he saw the list.
It was packed!
The week before "Juno," on November 8th, a big movie called "Ransom" was coming out. It starred Mel Gibson, one of the biggest superstars in the world! It was a Disney movie and would end up being the 5th biggest movie of the whole year.
"Phew," Zane sighed with relief. "It's a good thing we're coming out a week later, or we'd be crushed."
But the next week wasn't easy, either!
On November 15th—the same day as "Juno"—another giant movie was coming out: "Space Jam"! It starred Michael Jordan, the most famous basketball player ever, and was made by Warner Bros.
"Darn!" Zane thought. "Michael Jordan is huge! That movie is going to make a ton of money just because his fans love him. How are we supposed to compete with that?!"
And it didn't stop there. The list was full of blockbusters:
"Star Trek: First Contact" (Movie #8 in the series!)
"The English Patient"
"Jingle All the Way" (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger!)
"101 Dalmatians" (which would be the 6th biggest movie of the year!)
It was like being surrounded by wolves in front and tigers behind! None of them were going to be easy to beat.
"Boss," Victor suggested, looking worried, "maybe we should wait. We could release 'Juno' at Christmas instead?"
"No!" Zane said firmly. "Christmas is just as bad! Look at the list!"
He pointed to the Christmas movies:
"The Preacher's Wife" (Ranked 4th for the year!)
"The Long Kiss Goodnight"
"Michael"
None of them were easy targets.
"Victor," Zane said in a deep, serious voice, "we won't change the date. We release on November 15th. Yes, there are wolves and tigers everywhere. But our 'Juno' is strong, too. If we fight hard, we can carve our own path!"
"Okay... I understand, boss," Victor said.
Victor wasn't sure if the movie would make a lot of money, but he trusted Zane completely. In fact, everyone at Wald Pictures trusted Zane blindly.
Why? Because in less than a year, he had made hit after hit: Static, Hard Candy, and Wrong Turn. Plus, he had just sold the rights to "God's Talent Show" for 20 million pounds!
Zane had turned their tiny, bottom-tier company into a real, solid movie studio.
In Hollywood, success speaks louder than words.
...
In the next few days, Zane went all out. He spent a huge amount of money on advertising: $10 million!
"Damn," Zane thought, "I used up almost all my cash! If the money from Wrong Turn hadn't come in yet, I'd be broke!"
But he knew he had to do it. $10 million wasn't as much as the big studios spent, but if he used it smartly over two weeks, it could make a huge difference.
...
At a KFC restaurant...
"Dirk," a young man asked his friend, "why did you buy so many burgers today?"
Dirk smiled. "Didn't you see the poster by the door?"
"Oh?" The friend looked over.
It was a movie poster for Juno.
"The movie 'Juno'? Huh!" the friend said. Then he looked closer. "Wait! That's Jessica Chastain! She goes to our school! She's the goddess of our school! How did she get into a movie?"
Dirk smiled. "Now you know. I bought the burgers to support our goddess."
Zane was smart. He put posters in all the popular fast-food places across California. But he especially targeted schools.
Juno was a movie about teenagers. So, Zane focused all his ads on students. If he didn't target them, who else would watch it?
...
Zane also did something very new. He bought ads on big websites like Yahoo and AOL.
"A 16-year-old rebellious girl gets pregnant?!"
"Cool!"
In a girls' dorm room, students were looking at the ad online.
"Juno did something I wanted to do but never dared," one girl said. "Don't you think that's cool?"
Her friends all nodded. American teenagers loved rebellious stories. A story about a girl who gets pregnant and handles it her way? That was exactly what they wanted to see!
"I wish I had her courage," another girl sighed.
"Yeah, Jasmine," her friend teased. "If you were brave like her, maybe Mitchell from the basketball team would be your boyfriend instead of dating that cheerleader!"
In 1996, advertising a movie on the internet was a very new, "cutting-edge" idea. Most big studios just used TV and newspapers.
But Zane knew the internet was powerful.
After less than 10 days, his online ads were a huge success. On school campuses all across North America, almost everyone was talking about Juno.
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