Chapter 1104

After watching the sample film of American pie for only half a year, it's lunchtime. It will continue in the afternoon. At lunch, we will discuss some work affairs with Amy Pascal who returned to work after maternity leave a few days ago.

Today is March 3.

Monday.

Easter in 1997 is on March 30, one week in advance of March 21, when the Easter schedule will be opened. It will be three films of danilisi entertainment, including "ghost of terror", "hurricane rescue" and "cable repairman", as well as MGM's "alien 2".

In addition, this year's 69th Oscar is March 24.

The Oscars in the 1990s are still at their peak, and even if this year is still the year when danielis entertainment deliberately gave up the award, Simon will not completely ignore it.

Finally, the recent box office situation.

The Star Wars series, which started its premiere on January 30, won control of the North American film market for a short time, and soon gave way to the films produced by Denise entertainment.

As of the four box office weeks on February 27, Star Wars: the phantom menace has been re released for one month, with a total box office of more than 100 million US dollars, reaching 103.37 million US dollars. According to the box office trend of the past weekend, the Star Wars premiere still has about 20 million US dollars at most, and the total domestic box office of this re release is about 120 million US dollars.

In addition, the second Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, which opened on February 21, has consumed most of the fans' feelings. After that, the box office in the first week is only $21.46 million, and it is estimated that there will be only 50 million in the mainland.

In contrast, BJ's single diary, which was released only on February 14, earned $37.62 million in the first week, and the box office decline was well controlled at 23% in the second week from February 21 to February 27. It received another $29.03 million, easily succeeding in winning the box office title in a single week.

In the past weekend from February 28 to March 2, the decline of BJ's single diary slightly expanded to 33% year-on-year, and it still earned $12.73 million. It is expected that the box office in the third week will still be around $20 million.

At the same time, two and a half weeks after its release, the cumulative box office of the film has reached 79.38 million US dollars, with a gap of only 20 million US dollars.

Considering the reputation of BJ's single diary, the film will still have a good curve until Easter, and the subsequent box office is conservatively estimated to be no less than $50 million, which also means that the local box office of the film will be at least $130 million.

As Julia Roberts is more popular than Renee Zellweger, and Hugh Grant, one of the male owners, has not been caught in the scandal of whoring, her popularity has plummeted. Therefore, the production cost of the new version of BJ's single diary is $10 million higher than the original $25 million, reaching $35 million.

Now, just two and a half weeks after its release, danelis entertainment has recovered all its production costs in North America.

The total publicity budget of the three British films in February is US $20 million. Even if 15 million of them are included in BJ's single diary, it will be only two weeks at the latest. With the film's domestic billion breaking, the project will also enter the profit cycle.

The other two films? By the end of the weekend, the cumulative box office of "two big guns" has reached 23.13 million US dollars, and that of "follow" has also reached 19.19 million US dollars. The budget of the former is less than 2 million US dollars, and that of the latter is only 3 million US dollars. With the additional publicity of 5 million US dollars, the cumulative box office of "follow" has exceeded 40 million US dollars since February 7? It has also begun to bring considerable profits to Denise entertainment.

It's just North America.

The most successful packaging strategy of Denise entertainment in February was in the UK.

There is no need to repeat the complex feelings that have long been entangled between Britain and the United States. In short, these three films, which are regarded as "winning glory for our country", have been successfully released in Britain.

Even because of its market size, the box office data in the UK in a short period of time can not be compared with that in North America, but according to the recent feedback from the British side, even if the box office of BJ's singles diary in the UK can not catch up with that in North America, which is worth more than US $100 million, there is not much suspense.

The other two small films, the new British filmmakers and the excellent quality of the film itself? Are more popular in the UK than in North America? It is expected that the box office in the UK will surpass that in North America.

Not to mention a series of blockbusters that were still on show at the end of last year? Three box office blockbusters broke out in the first slot of the new year in a row? That made Denise entertainment show a kind of arrogant attitude of "your uncle is bigger than before" in front of other Hollywood studios.

During the meal, for the success of the three films in February, Amy can't help but half jokingly and half seriously ask why Simon's choice of films is so accurate?

"The key is to be one step ahead of others?" Simon also replied with a smile: "in the film industry, from silence to sound, from black and white to color, at every stage, the types that can be discovered have actually reached the acme. If you want to break through, you can only move forward. The most typical case is the recently re released Lucas Star Wars series. If this film is put in the present 20 years later, the result is hard to say. For Denise entertainment, CG special effects and 3D animation are the progress of technology, while the concept of movie universe is the progress of innovation. Besides, the three films this time are a small innovation in marketing on the premise that we have three excellent films. "Even though Simon said something about him, Amy still showed a thoughtful expression. After a moment, she said, "in this case, the 3D and IMAX technologies that Denise entertainment has been promoting should be our next innovation and breakthrough, right?"

"Of course."

In recent years, Simon has been investing in the research and development of 3D and IMAX technologies and promoting them on a small scale. For this reason, he bought IMAX company in Canada. At the end of the year before last, "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of justice" was a debut of IMAX. Only 26 IMAX screens in North America contributed more than $50 million to the box office of super Batman.

After the success of IMAX in the super baton war, the total number of IMAX screens in the world has rapidly exceeded 100 in the past year, and this number will double this year. Among them, two Jinshu studios invested by Simon in China each have an IMAX screening hall.

After the success of the two pilot projects, IMAX will also become a standard configuration for the second batch of 20 studios under planning.

With the rapid increase in the number of IMAX screens, the once very expensive transformation and copy costs are more and more acceptable to studios after sharing, which makes this shocking film playing mode more and more popular.

As the owner of IMAX, Denise Entertainment's advantages in this respect can be imagined.

Compared with IMAX, the promotion of 3D technology is much slower. The main reason is that 3D shooting and projection technology are not mature enough. Therefore, Simon delayed the schedule of this technology and planned to launch again after 2000.

All these things are in Denise's entertainment plan, but Amy didn't talk much about them. Instead, she said: "Helen Fielding has finished the second novel of BJ's single diary, with the subtitle of" edge of reason ", to explore the story of Bridget and mark after they were together. According to the agreement, we have priority. Helen and I have a phone call. She also hopes that the sequel will be released with the second novel

Simon recalled the box office of the sequel of BJ's single diary. It was not hot in North America, but it still sold all over the world. He nodded: "you should be responsible for this. Well, I remember Julia signed five contracts with us at the beginning, should there be more?"

"Starting from the steel magnolia, there are exactly five novels, including pretty girl, sleeping with the enemy, order of gannet assassination, and the latest BJ's single diary." Amy said, looking back at her boss, and said with a smile, "does it feel like time flies?"

"Yes, I'm 29 years old."

It's strange to put this feeling on someone.

Amy rolled her eyes slightly, and then said, "five contracts have been completed, and you gave Kate Beckinsale the Shakespeare story that Julia wanted to play last time. If it's a sequel, it might be difficult for Julia to talk about it."

"If we don't talk about achievements, we can't develop a lot of projects. We don't lack this one."

Amy nodded.

Just now, with a little joke, Amy has been in charge of danilisi entertainment for so many years. In dealing with the big stars, Amy's attitude is completely similar to that of her boss.

Denise entertainment doesn't need to accommodate any filmmaker right now.

Then he talked about other things again: "the script of bad things last time has been snatched by paramount. It's planned to be produced under the Orion brand, with a planned investment of $30 million. It's also planned to be released at the end of this year as a prize winning film. Now many stars are in contact, and even our" Batman "is interested. I've seen the script, and I think it's very interesting Very good. Simon, why do you suggest Ella give up? "

Simon asked, "what do you think is good?"

"It's a very complete black crime story. Its creativity, suspense and rhythm are excellent, aren't they?"

Simon had to nod, too.

Amy asked, "so?"

Simon thought about it and said, "it's mainly because of the screenwriter Peter Berg, who insists on writing and directing himself, but I'm not sure about the other person's ability. You know, although I've always been very happy to support the newcomers, the premise is that they have to prove themselves first, just like the two British directors this time, the total budget of the two films is only $5 million, which I can accept. As for Peter Borg, he has neither directing works nor any professional background in film. He only wants to control tens of millions of dollars of investment with one script. No matter how good the story is, I would rather give up. "

After listening to her boss's explanation, Amy had no objection.

Not to mention Paramount's $30 million, even if it's doubled a few times, daenerys entertainment can now afford it and lose money.

It's just that it's not about money. It's about time. It's about schedule. To invest in such a project, it is necessary to give corresponding schedule resources. At that time, the loss of 30 million is still the second. It takes up a period of schedule and fails. As far as danielis entertainment is concerned, the potential loss may be more.

Denise Entertainment's rapid growth over the years, in the final analysis, is a large number of successes corresponding to other studios' repeated failures.With this in mind, just picking up some spaghetti in the plate with a fork, Amy suddenly remembered the project that her boss had proposed some time ago: "Simon, in this case, should you be more cautious about ghosts? This is your own idea. I believe there must be a lot of directors in Hollywood who are willing to take over. There is no need to use a new director?"

"Have you seen that work of Lin?"

Amy shook her head. "No, I don't. why don't I spend some time in the evening?"

"No, you'd better spare some time to take care of your son," Simon said with a smile. "First of all, I'm very optimistic about this director. He's just the opposite of Peter Borg, who just talked about. He has a standard film academy background and is very pragmatic. He's only 23 years old and has already made two long films. There are so many people in Hollywood who dream of becoming famous overnight, but few of them are really willing to work hard. "

Amy listened carefully, feeling deeply, and asked, "what's next?"

"Second, in order to pursue a sense of reality as much as possible, the project is best done by new people."

"I've read your memo, but I think it's right for the actors to use new people. The director doesn't have to?"

"The director is the same," Simon said, "because the film itself needs to give people a more green texture. If it is a famous Hollywood director, it will inevitably have some deep-rooted patterns. Well, Lin Neng, who has made two long films, is a bit too mature. But, you know, I can't find a real rookie. "

Amy laughed and said, "you're the one who's watching. It's no problem."

"Yes, I will have a good chat with them after watching the sample film of American pie in the afternoon, which is the production meeting of ghost record."

Amy nodded slightly, and then said, "and the first male owner, Hugh Jackman, who has been determined for the Los Angeles secret that Brian is working on, you should be very optimistic about him, right?"

"Well," Simon said, cutting the lamb chops in his plate and bending the corners of his mouth, "in fact, I've been looking for some actors in recent years. I'm not very deliberate, but I've been doing it. Guess what I'm preparing?"

Amy thought about it for a while, then suddenly a flash of inspiration came out: "Marvel movie universe?"

"Bingo, that's empathy. I want to give you a raise."

Amy said with a smile, "boss, I'll take it seriously."

"Forget it," Simon continued joking. "Hugh is one of them. As for which role he is suitable for, keep it a secret for the time being."

Amy raised another objection: "but, Simon, if you make the candidate you are looking for too popular, you won't be able to use it in the future. You won't be able to sign a long-term contract."

"I'll pay attention."

Speaking of this, they had a quiet lunch. Then Amy said, "besides, boss, we should also arrange some acquisitions this year, blockbuster. Or, remember boss, you mentioned before, Viacom of leishidong?"

"Not for the time being. As for blockbuster, this year's work is to separate the direct stores from the authorized stores, sell the authorized business, take the initiative to slim down, and reduce the resistance of our future wholly-owned acquisition. As for Viacom... " Simon thinks that MTV and Showtime, the media company's covetous TV stations, can only shake his head: "the timing is not right for the moment, mainly in the stock market."

Amy thought for a moment and nodded, "I see."

"Moreover, if you know leishidong, you should know that it is very difficult for us to get Viacom."

"Redstone is very tough, and I know that, but Simon, he's 73 years old."

Simon thought of a tough old man in his nineties who was still clinging to power 20 years later and resigning after being asked by the court for compulsory psychiatric evaluation. He laughed and shook his head: "it shows that you still can't understand Lei Shidong."

"It's a big deal. We'll take over maliciously."

"If I remember correctly, the leishidong family's control over Viacom should be a two-tier equity model."

"That's the trouble."

"So, only leishidong offered to sell Viacom to us."

Amy thought about it and shook his head again: "Viacom's MTV is very profitable. If, as you said, leishidong is more tough than I expected, it's very unlikely that he will let go."

"Actually, I've been doing it all these years," Simon said. "Ray Shidong always wanted to buy Hollywood studios, but he failed every time, and he won't have a chance next time. In the future, the media industry will be a world of diversified giants. Viacom only relies on cable TV business, so it is difficult for it to develop for a long time... "

Simon didn't go on, but Amy showed a knowing smile.

Whether it's MTV or Showtime, which is still developing, Simon is determined to win. Over the years, Viacom has missed the opportunity to grow into a comprehensive media group. Next, danilisi entertainment wants to target Viacom, which is too easy.First of all, the foundation of the leishidong family is the national entertainment company, which is a cinema company.

Now Denise entertainment wants to crack down on a cinema company

Tut tut.

Then there is Viacom. Both MTV and Showtime are cable stations.

AOL, which is controlled by westrow system, has begun to test run cable TV operator business.

Simon's plan is that after the collapse of the new technology bubble, AOL will rapidly expand its cable television business through large-scale acquisitions, and strive to grow to be the first cable TV operator while maintaining the largest network service operator. As long as this goal is achieved, Viacom's cable TV channel will also be clamped down by AOL platform.

Danielis entertainment can also create a similar cable station to compete with Viacom.

In a multi pronged way, Viacom will either take the initiative to sell, or go to the most extreme bankruptcy liquidation, and then be acquired by Denise entertainment.

Of course, both options take time.

Compared with leishidong, Simon has no shortage of time.

Three or five years are not afraid, slowly endure.

talked so much that after lunch almost at the end, Amy mentioned another thing: "Rome Universal Studios, Simon, you should go and see."

"It's reassuring for you to stare at me," Simon joked. After thinking about it, he said, "there's no time this month. Next month, after Easter, I've accumulated a lot of things, so I should go to Europe again."

At the end of lunch, they went to their own business.

It continued to take two hours to see the "American Pie" sample film and discuss the follow-up issues, followed by the production meeting of ghost.

During this time, Lin Yibin has completed the script with Simon's brief idea.

In fact, this can be handed over to a more professional screenwriter. Lin Yibin is not good at this either in memory or after contact. However, for that reason, Simon needs a real green texture. If he gives it to a professional screenwriter, the script may be easier to fall into a fixed routine than a professional director.

In order to avoid this situation, Simon specially told Lin Yibin not to watch any horror films in the process of writing the script, especially Denise Entertainment's evocative film universe series.

It's written according to the idea of an ordinary person hitting a ghost.

In the past more than a month, the script has been completed, and the selection of actors has also ended.

As for actors, Simon not only requires as many new people as possible, but also needs acting skills. Therefore, Linda WAGGS, Simon's Royal casting director, conducted a small-scale selection in some performing arts schools in Los Angeles and New York, and the final candidates were all students of performing arts schools.

Both coincidentally and deliberately, Simon chose two "acquaintances.".

It's all female characters.

One is Amy Adams, the other is Jessica chastan.

Amy Adams is 22 years old. She came from the bottom of the class and didn't go to college. She just studied acting part-time at a private acting school in Los Angeles.

Simon's demand for the heroine is that she should be beautiful with 70 points or so, and she also needs to bring some gloomy temperament suitable for the atmosphere of horror movies. Therefore, the Hollywood actress who once made Simon feel very suitable for acting as a female pervert and murderer is very lucky to be selected by the conscientious Linda.

Lucky and unexpected.

Knowing Simon's preference for choosing actresses, Linda always considerately prepares more candidate lists for her boss. Otherwise, it's hard to say whether the actress can be shortlisted. Simon is not interested in looking for any big stars in her memory.

As for Jessica chastan, the same is true.

The actress is now a student of the famous American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She is much higher than Amy's pheasant class and performs better than Amy in the audition.

However, Simon only gave the model worker a friend role in the story who came to visit her when she learned that the main apartment was haunted.

The main reason is that the model worker is much worse than Simon's 70 points. According to Simon's personal aesthetic standard, she can get 60 points at most. As an ultra-low-cost horror film, the actress should not be too beautiful, otherwise it is easy to distract the audience, but she must also be patient. Amy Adams's 70 points is just right.

Even more coincidentally, Simon, the heroine in the original ghost story, can't remember her name, but her appearance is obviously similar to Amy Adams.

Although this time a female owner and a small partner, but since meet, after performing "ghost record", two female stars will also become Simon deliberately focus on training goals.

As for the leading actor, Simon didn't have so much interest and his acting skills were enough, so he chose a young man who had no impression but had excellent acting skills.

The production meeting in the afternoon was the first gathering after the completion of the small team. In addition to Lin Yibin, because of the confidentiality work in advance, several other people knew for the first time that such a small film would get Simon westero's personal attention. Later, they were even more excited when they learned that it was Simon's idea. The two actresses were even less able to get in touch with Simon than others Meng's woman is so bold, it's hard to avoid some small initiative.However, Simon has no other special interest except to train the two girls to be actresses in the bag.

The main reason is that as the stomachs of several women around him get bigger and bigger, Simon's interest in women is getting lower and lower during this period of time.

Maybe it's some kind of prenatal anxiety of being a father.

Six women get pregnant together and then add up.

There's a lot of pressure.

Unlike American school, the meeting time with the cast of ghost is very short, only half an hour. It mainly explains the matters needing attention in the process of film shooting, which must be realistic and life-oriented. It is also suggested that all the main creators go to see real person shows such as Beverly's wife.

Of course, Lin Yibin and others can only figure out what to do. Simon will find time to watch the sample film several times during the shooting process. If he can't, he will go back to the studio. Anyway, it's digital shooting. The cost of returning to the studio is very low, so he's very relieved.

At the end of the meeting, Simon kept on rushing to the next production meeting of "the clash of heaven and earth".

And so on until evening.

Seeing off Ben Stiller, who is in charge of the writing of "hangover", girl a came in, with a little quirky expression, and handed a note: "this is just sent by my wife."

Simon took a look.

First of all, a list of addresses. I think it's a mansion in Beverly Hills.

Then there is a sentence.

Very white Natasha is waiting for my dear to enjoy.

Simon was a little stunned after watching it, and then he remembered that the Ukrainian Representative he met at SpaceX headquarters in the morning didn't expect Janet to start so soon. Well, no, she helped her man.

What a wonderful wife.

He thought about it slightly, and then he understood that Janet might have noticed his anxiety, so she took the initiative to find a woman to let him relax.

A girl saw her boss turning around and returning to her desk. She just threw the note at the corner of the desk. After a pause, she couldn't help coming over: "boss, do you want to make arrangements in advance?"

Simon shook his head. "No, I'll go home later."

"Well?"

"I haven't been interested lately."

Girl a, of course, had no objection. She nodded and left the office.

Simon worked until six o'clock before returning to domay point.

Janet has returned ahead of time and is browsing a book with Seattle by the glass curtain wall. She is quite surprised to see Simon.

Simon held the woman in his arms and motioned to Zoe, the baby face maid beside him, to take away her baby daughter, who would feel inferior if she saw her now. Then he and Janet sat on the sofa together and watched the last sunset at the end of the sea through the curtain wall.

Janet was rubbed to find a comfortable position, enjoying the man's embrace, and asked with a smile, "why don't you go to Beverly Hills? It's really white. I took her to do a full set of maintenance?"

Simon joked: "I'm such a responsible man. Of course I have to go home after work. How can I go out and fool around?"

Janet wrinkled her nose with a small expression of "you're kidding." she opened her mouth and bit Simon gently. Then her head was on Simon's shoulder. Only after a moment's silence, the woman jumped out of Simon's arms and ran away barefoot, leaving behind Simon with an unknown face.

Just, in less than a minute, Janet came back again, sat across Simon's lap, held the man's head, and whispered with a bit of evil and a little excitement: "this time, it's mouth. It's as a reward for coming home on time after work, but don't think too much."

With these words, Janet bowed her head and kissed the man on the lips.