Chapter 1064: The Strong Get Stronger
When Simon was with Irene on Martha's Vineyard on the east coast, Los Angeles on the west coast was still in the mansion halfway up the hill in Palisades on the border between Malibu and Santa Monica. Daenerys Entertainment was here at night. A small party was held.
Mainly to celebrate the "Annabelle" box office breaking 100 million and the complete formation of the conjuring movie universe, the creators of the recent box office "Boogie Nights" and many other Hollywood filmmakers who are close to Daenerys Entertainment have also been invited. , it is a large gathering to connect feelings at the end of the year.
First of all, I have to talk about the recent film market overview.
Today is Friday, November 15th, and the 1996 Thanksgiving season officially opens.
In the past box office week, from November 8th to November 14th, "Annabelle", which was released in its third week, continued to make $27.29 million in a single-week box office drop of 21%. In three weeks, this conjuring movie universe is brand new. The cumulative box office at the opening of the series reached 109.2 million US dollars, easily qualifying for the 100 million yuan club, and is expected to impact the first domestic box office film of the Conjuring Cinematic Universe to reach 150 million US dollars.
Another "Boogie Nights" produced by Gaomen Pictures, a subsidiary of Daenerys Entertainment, received another US$6.69 million in the fourth week of its release with a steady decline of 24%, with a cumulative box office of US$35.49 million, basically recovering a total of US$20 million. The total investment in production and publicity has entered the profitable stage.
In stark contrast to Daenerys Entertainment's two blockbuster films, it is undoubtedly the pressure and anxiety of other Hollywood studios in this year-end schedule.
This pressure mainly comes from three movies, the new DC movie "Wonder Woman 2" released on November 22 and the consecutive "Jumanji" and "Charlie's Angels" in the Christmas schedule.
Three super blockbusters.
Among them, "Wonder Woman 2" is the first DC movie universe blockbuster after "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", which finally reached $1.938 billion at the global box office at the end of last year.
As for "Jumanji's Game" and "Charlie's Angels", one is a special effects blockbuster with Stallone joining, the other is a blockbuster project that is linked with the 007 series and is expected to develop into a secret agent movie universe, as long as the word of mouth does not collapse after the release, Basically, the domestic box office level is 200 million US dollars.
As a result, just three super blockbusters basically locked the box office of 800 million US dollars in the two major schedules at the end of the year, leaving little room for other studio projects to move around.
Speaking of which, since the schedules of the three films have been announced successively since last year, Hollywood has been planning to actively reduce or delay the development plan in an attempt to avoid it.
Sony Pictures, which is really under pressure, simply adjusted the schedule of its new film "Ransom Storm", which had invested $80 million in Ron Howard and Mel Gibson before the launch of marketing at the end of September this year, and withdrew from the scheduled 1996 Thanksgiving Day. , transferred to the 1997 summer file.
The reason given by Sony is that it wants the film to get more post-production time, but an old-school crime action movie, not a special effects blockbuster, where does it need too much post-production time?
It is inevitable that there will be a lot of discussion, and it will inevitably have a negative impact on the film.
Sony had to do it.
Not only that, Sony also pulled Barbra Streisand's new film "Double Mirror" back to the Thanksgiving file, which was originally scheduled for Christmas. To be precise, it was a week before the Thanksgiving file on November 8, and it was ultimately to gain more opportunities.
The first week from November 8th to November 14th has passed, and Barbra Streisand is another self-directed and self-acted psychological film "Double Mirror" after the acclaimed "Times", with a production of 42 million US dollars The cost, 2,489 yuan for the opening screen, only 16.08 million US dollars at the box office for seven days of release, and an average of just over 6,000 US dollars in the museum. It is estimated that the total domestic box office is only about 40 million US dollars.
However, in the industry commentary, Sony has made a good move that is barely good.
If "Double Mirror" is not put up, but will continue to collide with new and old blockbusters during the Christmas period, this drama, which is far less popular than "A Storm of Years", will only end up being cannon fodder, even if the local 40 million Don't even think about it, once the local theater distribution fails to make a splash, the follow-up channels will only be more difficult.
Let's talk about the opening of the Thanksgiving file. The week before "Wonder Woman 2" was released, it was still a battle between two major players, namely "Sky Slam Dunk" produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and "Star Trek 8", a classic sci-fi series owned by Paramount. .
Needless to say, the "Star Trek" series, a rare Hollywood sci-fi evergreen, cost $45 million for this sequel.
"Sky Slam Dunk" is a combination of live action and animation, similar to Disney's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", which was a big hit at the box office. Moreover, Warner not only used its famous cartoon character Bugs Bunny this time, but also invited the legendary Basketball superstar Michael Jordan, costing $80 million, is full of ambition.
It's a pity that there is more than one "Wonder Woman 2" in front of the ambition, even the schedule from November 15th to November 21st is terrible. Because of the next box office week, November 18th will be the TV broadcast of the much-anticipated fifth Victoria's Secret show, and November 19th and November 21st will be the second "American Idol" fall season that is still in full swing. The ending episodes, even if they are all on weekdays, occupying three nights of these two phenomenal TV programs, will still seriously impact the viewing data of the first box office week of the Thanksgiving file.
If it weren't for "Ransom Storm" running ahead, "Air Jam" might have to run away.
However, think about next summer and the end of the year, "Tornado"
"Wind", "Day of Alone", "Titanic", etc., in fact, there is not much room to run away, and we can't run to 1998.
In the final analysis, the root of all this is that the current Daenerys Entertainment is too strong, the Hollywood plate is so big, Daenerys Entertainment occupies too much, and the living space of other studios is naturally getting smaller and smaller. In order to avoid the film projects they invest in becoming cannon fodder, other Hollywood studios will only fall into a vicious circle of being forced to reduce the scale of production and further decline their own strength.
At a party at the hillside mansion in Palisades.
The heads of the two talent agency giants wma and caa happen to be discussing this issue.
Michael Ovitz, who was also in the limelight in the 1980s, is full of emotion: "If the current situation develops, at most five years, the statement of the Hollywood Seven will become a thing of the past. I think that by then, Daenerys Entertainment will be alone. At the same time, there are at most two or three second-tier brands that can’t compete with them together, and the other labels are probably the only ones left.”
Now they are both younger brothers, so Jonathan Friedman, who was quite calm when he met his former nemesis, nodded slightly and asked, "Who do you think is left?"
"Backed by ge, and owns the DC movie universe, Warner is definitely one. Even if MGM can build the agent movie universe, it can only be considered half. The remaining one and a half places, it depends on Fox, Disney, Paramount. With Sony and their back-up capital, who can survive, and Simon's attitude."
"Considering News Corp., I think Fox should be one."
"Not necessarily," Ovitz said: "News Corporation is News Corporation, Fox is Fox, and Simon will definitely be on good terms with News Corporation. On Fox's side, even if Murdoch doesn't really care, he prefers to do TV, not movies with too much uncertainty. In fact, Eisner and I have also talked about this recently, and he is even more pity that Disney, falling into the hands of the French, is most likely to decline.”
Friedman agrees with this: "Simon doesn't seem to like France. However, Simon should be interested in Disney's theme park business."
"That's for sure, so the Disney label will definitely stay, just like Universal Studios. Also, even with Universal Studios, Daenerys Entertainment is now enough to eat Disney," Ovitz said. He couldn't help but sigh: "It's incredible to achieve this level in ten years."
Jonathan Friedman's expression showed a little nostalgia, and smiled: "Every time I think of the ambitious young man when I first met Simon, I feel that everything is normal now."
"It's a pity that you got a bargain back then, otherwise I would definitely beat wma down completely."
"Frankly speaking, with the bad situation of wma at the time, I once thought about switching jobs with you, but fortunately I met Simon."
When the two of them said this, they looked at each other and smiled, raised their glasses to each other under the light of the cliffside lawn, took a sip of champagne, and Jonathan asked again, "Speaking of which, the collar you and Eisner made Ying, how's it going?"
"The IPO has been launched. If everything goes well, it will be listed in January next year," Ovitz said, but he was inevitably worried: "I hope it can catch up."
Jonathan certainly knew what Ovitz was worried about, and he felt the same way: "The Nasdaq is crazy right now. I sold all my tech stocks before the general election vote, and frankly, made a lot of money. However, In the future, I plan to buy back some stocks of the Big Three as a long-term investment, and I have absolute trust in Simon.”
"Oh, I cleared the warehouse earlier than you. It was sold out at the beginning of October. Recently, my wife complained to me that it was sold out early, and I hope to buy some more."
"Don't listen to women like this."
"Of course," Ovitz laughed. "I was a little worried that I couldn't control myself, so I invested all in two-year closed funds."
"Haha, I suddenly found that I need this too, can you introduce me?"
"Then I will ask the assistant to send you the information tomorrow."
The two were chatting when they saw Amy Pascal, who was six months pregnant, walking along with her husband, Bernard Weinraub, and quickly took a few steps to meet them.
"Good evening, Amy, and Bernard."
"Good evening, Joe."
After Jonathan said hello, Ovitz also stepped forward and hugged Amy gently, looked at her stomach and asked, "Do you know it's a boy or a girl?"
"It's a boy, and we're going to name him Daniel."
"Oh, congratulations."
"thanks."
After chatting, Jonathan asked about a thing that Hollywood has been paying attention to recently: "Amy, I heard that "Titanic" in Australia is in trouble now?"
"Yeah, Tom has already flown to Brisbane to watch it himself. Fortunately, if there is no accident, it will finally be finished next month."
Michael Ovitz was also curious: "What does Simon mean, I remember he went on vacation to Australia last month?"
Amy didn't know what to say about her boss. When she recalled the whole project, she always felt that her boss was deliberately letting Cameron go out of control. Of course, you can't talk to other people casually, just say: "Simon has also been staring, everyone has a headache."
Jonathan comforted: "Occasionally it's okay, Hollywood has always been like this, you should rest more now and pay attention to the children."
"Thank you, Joe, you are so sweet."
The two did not ignore Amy's husband Bernard,
I chatted with the other party about some current events after Clinton's re-election recently.
Now that she is in her current position, Amy can't have much rest time at all. Seeing that the three men are talking hotly, she greets them and leaves alone, and goes to the main creators of "Annabelle" to express her congratulations.
As the most powerful woman in Hollywood at this time, she happened to be pregnant again, and all the guests on the way came forward to greet her attentively and cautiously. Some people saw Amy chatting with the director of "Annabelle", and they were inevitably envious.
The director of "Annabelle" is William Malone, 43 years old this year, another typical late bloomer.
Or not a late bloomer. William Malone raised $70,000 to shoot his first sci-fi horror feature film as early as 1980. After its release, it sold well. Later, the second work was nominated for a Saturn Award. And was invited to be the director of the drama version of "Nightmare Street".
It's a pity that he was caught in the TV circle.
This time, "Annabelle" is a turnaround. Although it signed a harsh long-term contract with Daenerys Entertainment, and the director's autonomy is also poor, with the success of "Annabelle", William Ma Long also became famous in one fell swoop. Tonight, I realized a feeling of being surrounded by stars and the moon. The 43-year-old middle-aged man even had the urge to cry in the face of all kinds of big and small coffees around him.
That's how Hollywood is.
There is never a shortage of talents, what is lacking is only an opportunity.
When Bernard Weinlaub found his wife, Amy had just finished socializing with the "Boogie Nights" crew and was talking to Linda Vargas, and only after walking in did she hear about "Saving Private Ryan" matter.
"Simon's meaning is like this. There is no doubt about Steven's strength. This time, we will not participate except to send the accounting team to follow up the financial affairs. By the way, the hero of "Contact" has been delayed for so long. Has the list of gods given to Simon have any details?"
"Well, Simon finally picked one this time, from Australia, named Hugh Jackman."
Amy thought for a while, but she didn't have any impression, but said: "That's good. If the movie starts shooting early next year and still can't get the male lead, Bob will be mad. I really don't understand why Simon has to struggle with such a small role."
Linda said with a smile: "Simon said he is very religious. If an actor who does not look like a priest at all is chosen to play the priest, he will have a shadow."
Amy just wanted to roll her eyes.
After chatting a few more words, Amy waited for her husband to greet Linda and walked towards the other guests, holding his arm.
Separated from Amy, Linda Vargas looked for a little among the crowd of guests, locked on the target, and walked directly over.
When the men and women who were chatting saw Linda approaching, they stopped the conversation to say hello.
Simon Westeros's royal casting director is hotter than any big director and big producer in Hollywood now, because big directors and big producers don't necessarily make actors popular, and this Simon Westeros The opportunity given by Luo's spokesperson is much higher in gold content.
Linda just nodded slightly to the others, and motioned for a little girl and the short-haired man in his thirties who accompanied her to come to the railing near the edge of the cliff.
The man's name is Scott Lambert. He is an agent of wma. He is very ordinary. The most famous client under his name is Kiefer Sutherland, the son of veteran actor Donald Sutherland. , There are also some child actors, like this girl next to me, 12 years old this year, who just played a role in "Annabelle", named Scarlett Johansson.