Chapter 926 Arrangements for Summer Vacation

Keep in mind our website and wish you all a happy reading! Don't forget to spread the word.

After Simon returns from China, the North American summer vacation will also start on May 10.

Because of the Atlanta Olympics, major studios have deliberately avoided the 17-day period from July 19th to August 4th in this year's summer vacation, and many movies have been scheduled earlier or later.

This summer vacation will also be a potential watershed for Daenerys Entertainment.

Simon wants to control Hollywood to the greatest extent, but it is obviously far from a packaged project cooperation plan to guide the capital. The most direct method is to make the capital that intends to encroach on Hollywood feel unprofitable to the greatest extent.

The method is actually very simple.

Hollywood's resources are limited.

Whether it's schedules, canvases, promotional resources, etc., therefore, the more the Westeros system occupies, the less it is left for other studios.

Simon has also been quietly executing this strategy before, as has been the case with films with other studios. And, until now, Simon has been cautious in what he has done to avoid triggering an overall backlash from other Hollywood rivals. After completing the annexation of the Metropolitan ABC Group, coupled with the fact that most of the other Hollywood studios are controlled by foreign capital, Simon no longer needs to be too scruples.

So, this summer, Daenerys Entertainment, or the entire Westeros system, will really go hand in hand in Hollywood.

Especially the three labels under Daenerys Entertainment.

Compared with the past few years, the summer season is dominated by blockbusters from Daenerys Entertainment's core label Daenerys Pictures or big-budget projects in cooperation with other studios, Highgate Pictures and New World. The film industry did not do much in the summer, and this time, the three labels are no longer restrained.

In addition, Australian capital such as Johnston Holdings holds the majority of the equity and the actual control is actually in the hands of Simon.

Taken together, this summer, from the beginning of May to the end of August, for nearly four months, there are as many as 14 projects related to Daenerys Entertainment, far more than other studios, with four or five films at least two or three. The number of movies released in the Ministry's summer program.

For all 14 films, 9 projects were produced and distributed by Daenerys Entertainment's label, 2 projects were external cooperation projects, and 3 films were closely related to MGM.

Moreover, the 9 self-owned projects this time are still dominated by Highgate Pictures and New World Pictures, and only one blockbuster project directed by Tim Burton has been released and released independently by Daenerys Pictures. The bomb movie "Sleepy Hollow". Of course, if you count the two blockbuster "The Mummy" and "Mission Impossible 2" that have cooperated with foreign countries, Daenerys Pictures is not light at all.

MGM's three films are based on the 18th 007 movie "007 Spectre", which is also the beginning of the MGM agent movie universe planned by Simon.

Monday, May 6.

Malibu, Daenerys Studios.

Simon returned to Los Angeles, and his first day at work was to discuss the upcoming summer season with three of Daenerys Entertainment's labels.

In chronological order, on May 10, Daenerys Entertainment's first project in the summer season is the modern version of "Baz Luhmann, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Dennis. Romeo and Juliet".

In the original time and space, the North American release of "Romeo and Juliet" actually made a big mistake.

Because it is only a low-cost movie with a production cost of more than 10 million US dollars, even if Baz Luhmann's last work "Dancing Heroes" has a good box office in North America, the producer 20th Century Fox Pictures The film was still released on the unpopular schedule in early November, and the promotional resources and screen size given were far from satisfactory.

In such an unfavorable environment, this modern version of "Romeo and Juliet" still took in more than $46 million at the domestic box office.

Twentieth Century Fox, aware of the film's potential, adjusted its strategy during its overseas distribution. As a result, the film's overseas box office exceeded 100 million.

As for why.

This is Romeo and Juliet.

If the Westerner does not know this story, it is the same as the Chinese do not know "A Dream of Red Mansions".

To use a popular term in the entertainment industry later, "Romeo and Juliet" is a super IP at the full name level. This project can directly save tens of millions of dollars in publicity costs, because there is no need for publicity, all Everyone knows, oh, Romeo and Juliet.

There's a joke in Hollywood all the time.

Leonardo DiCaprio auditioned for "Titanic," and the women in the entire building turned out to watch it, so director James Cameron made up his mind to make him the male lead.

Why does this happen?

Chinese movie fans should not have delved into it.

In fact, it is because of "Romeo and Juliet", and before this project, Xiao Lizi's most famous role was just Johnny Depp's demented younger brother in "A Different Sky". Obviously, it is impossible to gather such popularity.

This actually indirectly explains the success of Baz Luhmann's modern version of "Romeo and Juliet".

This time, Simon certainly won't make another mistake like Fox's.

May 10 may not be the most prime time for the summer vacation, but it is far better than the original time and space in early November. Moreover, based on the production cost of 15 million US dollars, the publicity of "Romeo and Juliet" also directly reached 1500. million dollars, opening screen

Count 2107 blocks.

In addition, it has to be said that on May 10th, the same day will be released on the same day as Warner Bros. produced Arnold Schwarzenegger's $100 million super blockbuster "Evaporation Order".

In the eyes of ordinary people, the two projects are simply not comparable.

However, compared to "Evaporation Order", Simon is more optimistic about "Romeo and Juliet".

The "Evaporation Order" in the original time and space is a standard for Schwarzenegger's personal career to change from prosperity to decline. Later, Schwarzenegger could only maintain his popularity with the sequel of "Terminator" which kept remaking and failing, but in "Terminator". In addition to the series "Evaporation", Schwarzenegger has no representative works.

A dead skinny camel is bigger than a horse.

In any case, in front of the behemoth "Evaporation Order", "Romeo and Juliet" seems too weak, and it seems unwise to directly pit the two against each other.

However, if you want to hit the summer vacation, this is inevitable.

If you want a better schedule but don't want to compete with blockbusters, this kind of good thing doesn't exist in the summer schedule.

Compared with "The Mummy", "Mission Impossible 2", "007 Spectre Party", etc., "Evaporation Secret" is actually the weakest one, because it is very clear about the box office potential of this project. The original time and space barely exceeded 100 million, just because there were no competitors, this time, although it also cost 100 million, but under the trade-offs, "Evaporation Secret Order" wants to exceed 100 million, and there is little hope.

On the contrary, "Romeo and Juliet" is very promising to become the first dark horse of the summer.

Because this love movie with handsome men and beautiful women and a big IPO with its full name on its back happens to be the main consumer of the summer season, young students, think about the whole building in the original time and space running to watch the beauty of Xiao Lizi Girls, just didn't run.

After "Romeo and Juliet," which opened on May 10, "The Mummy" follows on May 17.

Putting this project on May 17 is also based on the premise that "Evaporation Order" may be a soft persimmon, "The Mummy" and "Evaporation Order" are the most direct competitors, and at the same time they will not be too crowded. Press the living space of "Romeo and Juliet".

For several consecutive internal previews, the new version of Fang Kilmer and Rachel Weisz's main "The Mummy" is at least as good as the Brendan Fisher version in Simon's view, and Fox, who is in charge of the distribution, also regards this project as a project. The focus of the summer program was a budget of $35 million. At the same time, with the support of Daenerys Entertainment, the number of screens in the film reached 2,986.

And then, on May 24, another movie worth mentioning: "Black Man".

That's right.

It's the "Black Man" starring Jett Lee.

Simon has been quietly pushing New World Pictures to introduce excellent Hong Kong films in North America in recent years. "Red Zone" is one of the most successful films. "Rush Hour" on Valentine's Day at the beginning of the year is one of Hong Kong stars' entry into Hollywood. peak. And this "Black Man" was finalized before the release of "Rush Hour".

The production cost of the film is as high as 60 million Hong Kong dollars, which is definitely a super blockbuster level on the other side of the ocean, and the project was originally intended to enter Hollywood.

Compared with Jack Cheng's humorous kung fu, probably because of his feelings, Simon prefers Jet Lee. Under the personal promotion of his big boss, the two sides hit it off. However, the 60 million Hong Kong dollars on the other side of the ocean, converted into US dollars, is actually only 7 million, which is suddenly reduced to a small cost in Hollywood.

As a co-producer, New World Pictures obtained the omni-channel distribution rights of "Black Man" with an investment of 2 million US dollars. This is actually the reason why the main purpose of the Hong Kong side is to test the water. After all, in the process of discussing the project, Jack Cheng After trying to hit Hollywood so many times, only one "Red Zone" can be taken out, so the most important thing there is the local Hong Kong Island and the Southeast Asian market, which is also the bulk of Hong Kong films.

Simon knew, however, that "Black Man" was to Jet Li as much as "Red Zone" was to Jack Cheng.

Jack Cheng filmed "The Red Zone", and in order to break into the Western market, he also came to the United States to shoot, while Jet Li attracted the attention of Hollywood completely with his own charm.

In the original time and space, after its release in North America, "Black Man" successfully achieved a box office of more than 12 million US dollars, far exceeding the production cost equivalent to 7 million US dollars. Not only that, the box office is even small. This kung fu movie from Hong Kong Island It was even more successful in the videotape market, with more than $50 million in revenue from videotape rentals and sales alone.

Because of the success of "Black Man", Jett Lee was also able to get a villain in Mel Gibson's "Lethal Weapon 4" that allowed him to further break into a Hollywood villain, and further triggered a widely circulated 'wait' Two hours' joke.

This time, as long as "Black Man" can be successful, Simon also intends to quietly plan for Jet Li.

The original time and space opened up the Hollywood situation. A batch of B-level films starred by Jet Li are really a bit unsatisfactory. As for the villains in "Lethal Weapon 4", just don't get involved this time.

In fact, there has been a better opportunity recently.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

In the original time and space, the first male protagonist considered in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was Jet Li. Due to various reasons, he failed to reach a cooperation and was eventually taken over by Fa Ge.

Simon isn't going to change this time.

Because fundamentally, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is more inclined to a literary martial arts rather than an orthodox martial arts that really pursues visual effects, and in the film, the male protagonist Li Mubai does not have much drama, but focuses on Yu Xiulian and Yu Jiaolong two

A woman, according to Ang Lee, this is a martial arts version of "Sense and Sensibility", the core of which is the story of two women.

So Fa Ge is just right.

Forcing Jet Li into this project may be counterproductive. After all, the audience will see in the future, hey, the neat fight in "Black Man", who wants to see you and Yu Xiulian talk about the realm of martial arts, we Depends on kung fu.

On the other hand, Simon also instinctively hopes to introduce more excellent Chinese actors into Hollywood.

The original version of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was sent out of this consideration.

As long as all goes well, in the next few years, there will be three well-known Chinese actors in Hollywood, Jack Cheng, Jet Li and Fa Ge.

In fact, there are two Chinese directors.

Ang Lee, and Dove Wu, who directed "Mission Impossible 2" on May 31, following "Black Man." In fact, as long as you don't talk about making war epics such as "Wind Whisperer" and "Red Cliff", White Pigeon Wu will definitely be able to stay in Hollywood for a longer time. Of course, Simon will definitely not let Ang Lee go to film "The Hulk", how good "Youth Pie" is.

The original "Mission Impossible 2" was directed by Bai Ge Wu, and this time it is in line with history.

On May 31, Paramount's Mission: Impossible 2.

On June 7, the third project of New World Pictures' summer program, Adam Sandler's "Over-age Transfer Student". It's Simon's desire to nurture a new generation of comedians, including Ben Stiller, who has already auditioned for Ghost.

On June 14, MGM's "007 Spectre," the opening of the Agents movie universe. There was no funding from Daenerys Entertainment for this project, however, that would change as the subsequent Agents movie universes began to cross-integrate.

June 21, "Police Empire."

Sylvester Stallone's crime film, written and directed by James Mangold, was originally considered for last year's awards season. After the film was finalized, there were several internal test screenings. Although the quality was not high enough, the film critics who participated in the test screening did not think the film would be favored by the Oscars. The competition is really fierce, so we just adjusted to this summer.

It is intended to be released as a commercial.

Of course, I didn't expect too much, so I placed it after "Spectre 007" on June 14 and before Daenerys Pictures' "Sleepy Hollow" on June 28. However, the production cost of the film was only $10 million, and even if it failed, it was really nothing. What's more, with Stallone's appeal, after all, it is a summer season, and a little publicity can still attract a lot of attention.

June 28, "Sleepy Hollow", needless to say.

On July 4th, the holiday of Solitude Day, which is actually a Thursday, one day ahead of the normal box office Monday, another important project of MGM, "Bird Cage", was released.

"Bird Cage" is a very offbeat project, starring Robin Williams, with a budget of $30 million, but the production process was slightly overrun, reaching $31 million. The film tells the story of a gay club.

Yes.

gay.

This project is very unusual in Hollywood, so when the project was first established, MGM was very concerned.

Or Simon intervened a little.

Because in Simon's memory, "Bird Cage" was the seventh annual box office in the original time and space in 1996, and it only got 120 million US dollars at the domestic box office, and it happened to be produced by MGM. Although Simon is not too cold after reading the script and the film, to tell the truth, he prefers lesbians, um, Lily is king.

But as long as the audience likes it.

Who can get along with making money?

From May 10th to July 4th, for 9 consecutive weeks, 9 movies, the important projects of the Westeros system have basically been launched.

Then, there are also five films, "Different Instinct", "Frozen Blood", "The Uneasy Farm", "Emma", and "Killing the Dawn", which are scattered across the subsequent summer vacation period of the Olympic Games, Neither are noobs, but neither are they big box-office hits, and, after all, there's still a little breathing room for other studios.

[Tips]: If you think this article is good, please recommend it to more friends! Sharing is also a pleasure.