Chapter 1427: Squeeze

The next day is November 13th.

Friday.

The 1998 North American Thanksgiving Day schedule officially opened. Not to mention some on-demand films, there are four mainstream commercial films with a drawing scale of more than 1,000 yuan on the same day. Collision".

Project director Roland Emmerich has come all the way from the DC movie universe, not only has formed his own reputation, but also proved his ability outside the DC movie universe through the super hit of "Independence Day" last year, so this film "Clash of Heaven and Earth" has become the focus of fans' attention since the project was established.

In addition, the comet hitting the earth is also a very popular social topic in recent years, and the theme of "Collision of Heaven and Earth" is right on current affairs.

Although the project plan was finalized before "Independence Day", Roland Emmerich was unable to offer too high a salary and production conditions, but the film eventually burned a budget of 120 million US dollars, not only far exceeding the previous Mimi The $75 million for Ryder's version is also a third higher than the $90 million for "Independence Day" last year.

At the same time, the film's publicity and distribution expenses also reached 60 million US dollars.

It can be said that, like "Jurassic Park 3" in the summer, as Daenerys Entertainment's super blockbuster at the end of the year, "Clash of Heaven and Earth" does not count as a success if it breaks through 200 million domestic box office, and 300 million US dollars is the goal.

The premiere ceremony was held on Thursday night the previous day, and the word-of-mouth ban was lifted today.

Compared with the original version, except for a general idea and gimmicks such as Morgan Freeman playing the first black president on screen, the film has been completely two movies as before, with more Emmerich style, and the level of special effects has also been significantly upgraded. . The final comprehensive media score of 8.3 points made the audience completely free of any scruples about entering the theater to watch this movie.

Not only that, but the film's 4316 block opening screen figure is the highest at the end of the year, and it is even larger than the new DC movie universe "Suicide Squad 2" in the Christmas file next month.

In short, although the four mainstream films competed in the same period, "Clash of Heaven and Earth" basically captured more than 70% of the public's attention.

The other 30%, worth mentioning, is Gangs of New York, directed by Martin Scorsese and co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis.

This is the last of a series of cooperative films that Simon launched with MGM starting from "Alien". The first four "Alien", "Alien 2", "Contact", and "Independence Day" all achieved good results. Among them, "Independence Day" was so successful that the Daenerys team couldn't help wondering whether their boss had a brain problem and handed over such a good project to others.

The last "Gangs of New York" has naturally attracted much attention.

Martin Scorsese had the idea of ​​shooting this movie since the 1970s. The project has been circulating in the circle for a long time, and the news of the project's approval has been reported many times, until Simon made a move.

The main thing is that the opportunity is right.

In addition to the gimmicks that the old Martin had prepared for many years, the main reason was Li Zi, who had just reached the peak of his popularity with the success of "Titanic". But now, for the same project, Xiao Lizi will definitely get a maximum salary of 15 million, and there may be a split agreement.

For this alone, all parties in the know should once again sigh with Simon's vision.

In the end, the project was successfully completed with only 65 million U.S. dollars, far lower than the previous 100 million U.S. dollars, which is also a credit to Simon's careful planning.

The premiere of "Clash of Heaven and Earth" was held one day earlier on the previous Wednesday, as Xiao Lizi's first starring film after "Titanic". Well, a guest appearance that was only a few minutes in September was also promoted as a gimmick. Woody Allen's new work "Celebrity" is of course not counted. In short, the Chinese Theater where the premiere was held was crowded with people and it was very lively.

Unsatisfactory places also exist, of course.

The word-of-mouth ban was lifted on the second day of the premiere. Although it received some praises such as "Martin Scorsese's "Les Miserables", the overall media word-of-mouth was somewhat unsatisfactory, and the comprehensive media score was only 7.3. point. The main criticism is that the story is too weak to support the ambition of an epic.

In any case, as originally expected, bringing in Xiao Lizi saved at least 50 million in the publicity budget. Now the film is definitely not lacking in popularity, even if it can only be released on November 13 because of the tight schedule at the end of the year. Contrasted with "Clash of Heaven and Earth", MGM estimates that after the worldwide distribution is completed, it should not be a big problem to recover 200 million box office worldwide. This will basically achieve a balance of payments, and follow-up channels will have good profits.

Furthermore, although it cannot be compared with "Clash of Heaven and Earth", MGM also arranged 2,734 opening screens.

The other two films in the same period, one is "Total Siege" produced by Warner starring Denzel Washington and telling the story of anti-terrorism in New York, which cost 50 million US dollars and opened 2,381 screens. The other is Disney's love film "A Date with This Life", directed by Martin Brest, director of "Scent of a Woman", and invited "Superman" Brad Pitt, costing 35 million US dollars, and the number of screens 3103 blocks.

Obviously, it's a pretty crowded schedule.

In the past, with a super blockbuster like "Clash of Heaven and Earth", not to mention squeezing four mainstream films, there may not be a single competitor in the same period.

The problem is actually very simple.

Still involute.

Let’s just talk about the next two schedules, except for the opening finale

Next, in the new week of November 20th, there will be Fox leading the cooperation project "The Mummy 2" with Daenerys, and White Pigeon Wu and Paramount will burn 1 $100 million American Sheriff.

Then there's Daenerys' New World Pictures' latest Adam Sandler comedy, The Tea Boys, which doesn't seem too flashy. However, the domestic box office of this comedy in the original time and space was 160 million U.S. dollars. In the current situation, Simon's expectation this time is only to exceed 100 million U.S. dollars.

It doesn't matter if it doesn't break.

Because the package agreement was signed in advance, although Sandler's "The Wedding Singer" last year sold 80 million copies at a cost of 18 million U.S. dollars, the cost of this "Tea Boy" is still controlled at 25 million U.S. dollars, so the pressure is far lower Two blockbusters released on the same day.

Later, Christmas stalls.

Not to mention other things, but projects related to Daenerys Entertainment. The four weeks starting from December 4th have also been rolled out along the way. "Screaming Laughter", another new DC movie universe "Suicide Squad 2" and the romantic comedy "My Best Friend's Wedding" starring Julia Roberts.

Among them, "Suicide Squad 2" is just one, which makes other blockbusters want to subconsciously avoid it.

After all, even if it is highly anticipated, "Clash of Heaven and Earth" is only an original film, while "Suicide Squad 2" has the popularity of the entire DC movie universe for ten years. "Clash of Heaven and Earth" wants to hit the local 300 million, and there is a lot of suspense. "Suicide Squad 2", referring to the first local score of 303 million, the probability of breaking through again is more than 80%.

In short, at the end of this year, everywhere is crowded.

Of course not without options.

Put it off until next year.

It's just that filmmakers who are a little more sensitive can feel the change in Daenerys Entertainment's strategy.

It will only be more crowded next year.

The heads of the various studios even understood Simon’s intentions. Daenerys did this to suppress the continuous reduction of film production by other studios. After all, if you don’t make movies, you don’t have to squeeze, let alone worry. Risk, and the final result of compression is that the former first-tier became the second-tier, the second-tier became the third-tier, and those outside the third-tier probably had to close their doors.

The final result is that only Daenerys Entertainment is left, forming a monopoly with a more oligarchic structure than the current one.