I’m in Hollywood - Chapter 622

[Chapter 617 The Boss]

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Eric raised his arm and knocked on the door of Ya’s head as usual when he heard what the little girl said. There were so many things going on recently, he didn’t have the heart to deal with women, let alone two identical women.

It was already past eight o’clock in the evening. When he returned to the villa and sent the twins to prepare dinner, Eric checked the fax and took out the press release and several other materials that Firefly’s headquarters had prepared for tomorrow.

Although Eric showed full confidence in the conference room, he could not be completely free from worries.

The two heavyweight films Paramount and Universal chose to be released before “Saving Private Ryan” at the same time. The purpose is to give Firefly a blow this summer. Once “Saving Private Ryan” fails, under the guidance of the caring person Yu Lun , the follow-up two films will certainly be greatly affected.

Eric put the press release aside and first looked at the box office data of the first two films of Paramount’s “Beverly Hills Detective” series. The cost of 10,000 US dollars won the North American box office of 230 million US dollars, and won the box office champion of the year. The follow-up “Beverly Hills Detective 2” also won the domestic box office of 150 million US dollars.

The latest “Beverly Hills Detective 3” can be described as an ambitious work after Viacom acquired Paramount. Although it is a black comedy without special effects and big scenes, Paramount still spent it. The production cost of 50 million US dollars is equivalent to more than double the investment of the same type of film.

According to the more informative second sequel box office curve and the growth rate of Hollywood box office in recent years, Firefly’s internal data analysis department predicts that “Beverly Hills Detective 3” will premiere on Wednesday and Thursday plus the first two days. The three-day weekend total will exceed $50 million.

At the same time, Universal’s “The Mummy” is only higher than “Beverly Hills Detective 3” in terms of publicity. Although this adventure film similar to the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” series has a total investment of only 60 million US dollars, But this is mainly due to Nicole’s use of the form of remuneration and the fact that the crew went to Morocco in North Africa to save a lot of money. Without these two cost reduction measures, the production cost of “The Mummy” will not be less than 80 million. .

Taking into account Universal’s publicity model, trailers, and word-of-mouth accumulated from the preview, it is predicted that the box office in the first three days of the first weekend will reach 50 million US dollars.

Although both of them used a saturated release strategy with a generally large decline in the next week, they were calculated according to the 40% decline in the next week of “Beverly Hills Detective 3” and “The Mummy”.

If the data in hand does not change too much, the box office for “Saving Private Ryan” will only be about 35 million at most in the first three days of the first weekend, and the box office in the first seven days of the first week is only about 50 million US dollars.

Meanwhile, after the June 10 release of True Lies.

The assembly of four heavyweight movies, plus the cannon fodder movie that will share a box office, although the box office in a single week will hit a new high, but if the four movies are shared, the box office of “True Lies” will likely be limited to less than 50 million US dollars in the first week. .

The next two weeks are Paramount’s “Star Trek 7,” Warner’s “Titan of Law,” and Firefly itself, “The Lion King.”

Both Star Trek 7 and Law Enforcement Titans are big variables.

Eric has some sporadic impressions of “Star Trek 7”. Since he has no special memory, it shows that this film is not a threat.

Stimulated by the double harvest of Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgivable” box-office awards, Warner Bros. this summer, regardless of the overall weakness of westerns, bucked the trend and launched two masterpieces of westerns, except for “The Law Enforcement Warriors”. “, the other is the opening work of this summer’s “Gambler Ma Huali”, starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster.

However, the film only grossed $13 million in its opening weekend after its May 20 release.

Far below the expectations of Warner Films, and also withdrew from the competition for the summer box office.

“Titan of Law” is also a western film shot by Kevin Costner last year. With the reputation accumulated by Kevin Costner in “Dancing With Wolves”, no one can be sure of the “Titan of Law”. What will be the result.

Eric has no memory of this film at all, so there are only two possibilities. One is that this film fluttered silently in the original time and space, and the other is that this is a brand new film influenced by the butterfly effect. Film.

Eric really hopes that the result is the former, but looking at the production budget of “Law Enforcement Titans” of 63 million US dollars and the golden schedule of June 24 given by Warner, Eric thinks again.

The latter may be more likely.

After all, with years of experience, studios are able to make detailed assessments of a film’s quality and box-office prospects almost before it’s released.

Although often misunderstood.

But this kind of assessment is like a weather forecast. There is no guarantee of accuracy, but there is little chance of deviation in the general direction.

If the box office performance of “Law Enforcement” is really worthy of its production cost and schedule, then the box office of “The Lion King” will also be unpredictably affected.

With the platform given by Eric over the years, even if Drew, who was already very shrewd, did not have nine tails, he must have had seven or eight.

It’s just that the girl shows her shrewd side less and less around Eric.

Of course, she was well aware of the current situation. Seeing Eric’s frowning and thoughtful appearance, the little girl gently rubbed over and said, “Eric, why don’t I put “Mission Impossible” and “The Wonderful Museum” together. The distribution rights of “Night” and those copyrights are returned to Firefly, right?”

Drew’s voice broke Eric’s contemplation, glanced at the data analysis data in his hand, and Eric laughed at himself at the troubles just now. , he has so many ‘good cards’ in his hand, even if he really loses this game, it won’t affect too much, he will make a comeback.

Carrying the little girl over and kissing the white and tender face, Eric smiled and said, “Of course not, these are all our small treasuries, and no one will give it to anyone who wants it. By the way, “Forrest Gump” is ready How’s it going?”

The little girl shrank in Eric’s arms and said: “Hanks’ remuneration has been negotiated, 8 million US dollars, but he hopes that we can provide enough Oscar PR resources in the future. In addition, the godfather also likes this script. , Amy and I visited his house last week, and he specially helped to invite Robert Zemeckis, and Robert has agreed to take over the project.”

Tom Hanks signed “Saving Private Ryan” for a salary of 1000 Wan, Eric knew that the reason why he lowered his salary was that he regarded “Forrest Gump” as an Olympic film.

Hanks will soon be forty years old, and his desire for an Oscar winner is even more urgent.

If it weren’t for “Saving Private Ryan”, Hanks is expected to take the “Philadelphia Story” just like the original time and space.

Although history has made a difference.

But with his outstanding performance in “Saving Private Ryan” and the following “Forrest Gump”, it is not impossible to repeat the miracle of two consecutive Oscar winners.

Hearing that the director Robert Zemeckis was the help of Spielberg, Eric was also curious and asked, “What movie is Steven preparing recently?”

“No. The godfather just served as the producer of a few movies. , I heard that he and David Geffen plan to set up a new studio, just like the United Artists led by Chaplin at the time, only responsible for production and not involved in distribution,” Drew said here, shaking his head , said: “But I don’t think this plan will work at all. If you don’t publish it yourself, you won’t have to be restrained by the Seventh Congress.”

Eric thought that this time and space “Jurassic Park” fell into his own hands. Greg is also honestly staying at Disney.

Spielberg shouldn’t want to stand on his own. Hearing Drew’s words, he realized that this matter should be dominated by the rich and powerful David Geffen, who owns his own record. And the production company, with a net worth of more than 2 billion US dollars, left Time Warner last year, and Eric rejected him to join Firefly. It is estimated that David Geffen then had the idea of setting up a big studio.

Remembering the last few words of Xiao Nizi, Eric asked, “You wouldn’t say that in front of Steven, would you?”

Drew shook his head with a grin.

Said: “I’m not a fool. The godfather is eager to do something big. I’m not asking myself for such a thing.”,

Eric smiled, although Xiao Nizi and Spielberg have gotten a lot closer in recent years.

But it really hasn’t gotten to the point of saying that.

Although he slept in the car for a while, Eric quickly rested after having eaten the dinner prepared by the twins.

The next day, before dawn, Eric was awakened by a sudden ringing of the phone.

He touched the microphone drowsily and put it to his ear, and Katzenberg’s excited voice came over immediately: “Eric. Can you imagine the news that the company just got, $1.72 million, only $1.72 million. Dollars, haha.”

Eric looked at his watch, it was less than four o’clock, and sighed Katzenberg, a lunatic, don’t workaholics need to sleep, so energetic.

He got out of bed lightly, and helped the sleeping little girl pull the thin blanket. Eric walked out of the bedroom with the cordless phone. Although he had realized something, Eric asked again: “What 1.72 million Dollars?”

“Of course it was the first day of ‘Beverly Hills Detective 3’, which was only $1.72 million, only 30% of the estimated $6 million on the first day. Paramount had hoped that the sequel would hit $200 million at the box office. , now it seems that the total box office is not necessarily $50 million, as long as The Mummy can’t get out of the box office curve of Jurassic Park, our ‘Ryan’ box office potential will not be suppressed.”

Hear Card After Senberg’s confirmation, Eric was also instantly drowsy. He also understood why Katzenberg was so energetic. Hearing the faint voice on the other end of the phone, Eric asked, “Jeffrey. , you won’t be in the company now, are you?”

“Of course, Michael is also on his way. I just want to let you know. You have other jobs today, so you don’t have to come here. I will call you as soon as I have anything,” Katzenberg said. , and added: “Paramount originally wanted to cover up this news. It took the on-duty manager of the data department more than two hours to get the exact data. We are now contacting the media to further expand the influence of this news, although The morning paper is a little late, but the morning news will focus on this message, and there will be special film review articles in the evening newspapers in major cities today, even if “Beverly Hills Detective 3″ is only a temporary loss, we will also Let it have no chance of a comeback.”

Hanging up the phone, Eric’s mood suddenly relaxed, as Katzenberg just said, even if “Beverly Hills Detective 3” is only a temporary box office failure, The subsequent one-sided negative reviews will also make the film have no chance of turning over at all. Although Universal and Paramount have a vague intention to jointly target Firefly in this matter, Eric believes that Universal must also be doing it. same job.

After dawn, there will be a lot of negative news about “Beverly Hills Detective 3” in the media, and the dismal box office of “Beverly Hills Detective 3” on the first day of 1.72 million US dollars also makes Paramount have no rebuttal. Excuse.

Once the United States loses, as a black comedy with a good reputation, don’t expect it at the overseas box office.

Although the box office revenue of movies in Hollywood’s current comprehensive statistics only accounts for 30% of the total revenue, and other surrounding areas are as high as 70%, it is also in the case of a good movie quality. Once “Beverly Hills Detective 3” has both box office reputations If it hits the street and forms a domino effect, then this movie will also be ignored in the video tape and TV broadcast market.

Based on “Beverly Hills 3″‘s $50 million North American box office, the comedy, which cost close to $100 million to produce and distribute, could end up costing Paramount no less than $50 million.

For Redstone, who is ambitious to make a big splash in Hollywood, this loss is enough to hurt the old man for a while.

Next, only “The Mummy” is left. UU reading www.sonicmtl.com only has this movie. Even if “The Mummy” is a small explosion, it will no longer suppress “Saving Private Ryan”, “Saving Private Ryan”. As long as Ryan has a normal box office level and under the guidance of Firefly, it will be able to form a healthy competitive relationship with the subsequent “True Lies” in word of mouth and box office.

The loss of “Beverly Hills Detective 3” was like a game of chess where the opponent suddenly lost an important piece, and the Firefly side immediately gained the initiative again.

Excited, he didn’t have any thoughts of going back to sleep. Eric got dressed and went downstairs ahead of time. He went to his basement study to deal with some emails accumulated yesterday, and left after the window turned white. Study, plan to exercise.

As soon as the automatic door of the study opened, Eric saw the twins walking down the stairs side by side.

The two sisters wore identical black vests and shorts, which further contrasted the slender waist and long legs that are typical of Slavic girls. The blond hair was tied into a ponytail, the oval face was delicate and round, and the blue eyes looked big even without eyeshadow. The mouth is very petite, and there is a different kind of purity between the thin eyebrows and thin lips.

Seeing Eric who suddenly appeared after the automatic door opened, the twins stopped in unison and shouted in unison: “Boss.” (To be continued.)

[End of this Chapter]