Chapter 1084 Strong List

"I'm on the phone with Cameron at least once a day now. The post-production of "Titanic" can basically be completed by the end of May. Simon, now there are constantly negative news about this film in the media, I think the longer the delay is. The longer it's not good for us, it's best to release it on time in the summer."

"Forget about the summer vacation, the time is too tight, and if something happens again, many plans will be disrupted. In addition, tell Jim to stay in Australia, and don't come back if he can't finish Titanic."

Malibu, Daenerys Studios.

The time is already January 8, 1997, Wednesday.

Starting from Christmas a few days ago, under Simon's insistence, Amy Pascal, who was due to give birth, began to take maternity leave for a month. In business management, it is always said that if you want to know whether a company is developing healthily, you just need to see if the company can still operate normally after the head of the company has left for a period of time.

Simon wanted to see too.

However, as the chairman, since returning to Los Angeles, Simon can't get involved in professional and cumbersome financial, personnel, legal and other matters. As the core content area of ​​Daenerys Entertainment, at least in the general direction, he can still take care of it. stand up.

The ongoing meeting is to discuss the production and publicity arrangements of a series of key projects in 1997 with the heads of the three brands and several other executives, mainly the schedule.

As the three labels start to keep pace with each other, many times, if Simon or Amy doesn't make the decision in person, the competition for the schedule and the resulting disputes will be inevitable. Once such disputes are too fierce, internal frictions are likely to hurt the film business. fundamental.

Simon was just talking to Tom Pollack, president of Daenerys Pictures, about Titanic, which was finally completed before Christmas last year.

The news that the "Titanic" project was seriously out of control began to spread frequently in the second half of last year, and it was finally time for everyone to see that Simon Westeros also stumbled. For this film, Tom Pollack, the president of Daenerys Pictures, went to Australia to follow up for more than a month, and finally finished it before the end of 1996.

Now the timing is another issue.

Indeed, as Pollack said, if you want to break the rumors of the outside world, it is the safest to release it this summer according to the original plan, but not to mention whether Cameron can complete the later stage on time, even if it is completed, the time is too fast. There will be other changes, and it is safer to put it at the end of the year.

conference room.

Everyone heard Simon's last sentence, and finally felt that someone was still a little angry about this, saying that a certain guy would not be allowed to come back from Australia, perhaps the subtext is that once this project fails at the box office, don't think about going back to Hollywood in the future. .

Now Daenerys Entertainment definitely has the strength to block a director.

As for his own boss, people who come into contact with him often feel that the young tycoon is calm and easy-going, as if he has never been young and frivolous, which makes it easy for people to get close. .

Ruthless!

Tom Pollack saw Simon make a decision, so he had to say: "At the end of the year, the Thanksgiving schedule has been determined for "The Bugs" and "Macro Contact", which is in charge of MGM, and "Titanic" can only be the Christmas schedule. .However, there is "The Flash 2" in the Christmas file. The first "The Flash" box office is average, but after the cross-warming of "Wonder Woman 2", the box office of "The Flash 2" may go to a higher level. If we want to be on the safe side, Simon, maybe we should switch the schedules of Contact and Titanic."

As soon as Tom Pollack finished speaking, Mark Belford, vice president of global operations at Daenerys Entertainment next to him, reminded: "Tom, no accident, in order to avoid "The Flash 2", Disney has a high probability of using "The Flash 2". With Terminator 3 in the Thanksgiving slot, and maybe the Starship Troopers that Sony invested in Paul Verhoeven, which is said to cost $100 million, it’s still unwise to squeeze Titanic into the Thanksgiving slot.”

Tom Pollack retorted: "I've seen Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers" script. It's a very mediocre script, and it's not likely to sell well. "Titanic" moved to the Thanksgiving file, the theme and "Bug" "The Secret Service" does not conflict, and the remaining "Terminator 3" will never be higher than "The Flash 2"."

"I also think Titanic is still in the Christmas slot," New World Pictures president Danny Morris chimed in: "In addition to "The Bugs" and "Contact," don't forget There's also a 'Wedding Singer' by Adam Sandler on my side, no more stuff."

Ella Deutschman, president of Highgate Pictures, also expressed her own opinion: "Why don't we switch "The Flash 2" to the Thanksgiving file like "Wonder Woman 2", we should let Warner compromise?"

"It can't be like this," Nancy Brill, who was originally on the sidelines this time, immediately objected: ""The Bugs" must ensure that it runs through two schedules, and this project is the most important movie we have at the end of the year. "

Ella Deutschman reacted when she heard the words, knowing that she had made a blunder.

Pixar's 3D animated films involve far more than the box office itself, but also the sales of peripheral products that are worth billions of dollars and even the entire Daenerys Entertainment's massive business in home entertainment, theme parks, game development, etc. Even if "Titanic" is completely smashed, the schedule of the animated film "A Bug's Service" must be guaranteed.

Thinking about it this way, Ella Deutschman increasingly felt that a super blockbuster that was expected to burn $200 million would probably have an ending similar to "Water World" or "Cutthroat Island" two years ago.

sit

Simon, who was in the first place, listened to the discussion, lowered his head and studied the 1997 box office weekly ranking list in front of him. After a while, he interrupted everyone's dispute and said, "Don't quarrel, "Titanic" will be placed in the Christmas file, "Titanic" The Flash 2's schedule is the most golden December 19th, which has been confirmed, and we move it a week earlier and put it on December 12th."

Everyone immediately looked at each other again, and then looked at their boss.

Tom Pollack hesitated a little, but said, "Simon, I think maybe a week later is better?"

"The Flash 2" was released a week ahead of schedule. In the eyes of everyone, it was almost like taking the initiative to lie down and let "The Flash 2" be crushed, just like the movies a week before "Wonder Woman 2", a thanksgiving file just past. If word of mouth If it doesn't meet expectations, "Titanic" may be completely closed for a week.

In comparison, if it is delayed by a week, the momentum of "The Flash 2" will slow down slightly, and there may be room for "Titanic" to survive.

Simon felt the eyes of everyone, and probably understood their thoughts, which was not surprising.

If you just want "Titanic" to 'live', it is a good choice to take the initiative to avoid the Christmas season where "The Flash 2" is located to catch up with the New Year's Day. Once "Titanic" gains its former popularity, its counter-attack rebound will definitely not be as good as the popular schedule, and the total domestic box office will drop by one level.

Besides, "The Flash 2" is a week ahead of schedule. If it can withstand the pressure of this super blockbuster and create a miracle, and there is room for the popular schedule last week at the end of the year, "Titanic" is expected to create a box office miracle.

In the final analysis, the executives present considered how to make the results of "Titanic" not too ugly, and Simon was looking forward to the film to create another box office miracle.

In fact, if you don't consider other things, putting "Titanic" on Thanksgiving is the best choice. Once the big ship breaks out, it will continuously crush the two popular schedules, and it is not impossible for the local box office to directly break 700 million. It's just that if you do this, other movies will not survive.

After all, because the plate is so big, one trades off the other.

Under consideration, December 12 is undoubtedly the most suitable schedule.

In addition to Simon's confidence in "Titanic", there is also that "The Flash 2" will not be as scary as everyone thinks.

Because according to the original agreement, Warner completely retained the copyright of the two superheroes and did not let Daenerys Entertainment participate in the investment. Bone' and 'The Flash', unless Daenerys Entertainment agrees, it's just going to be 'solo'.

The popularity of fighting alone, after all, it is impossible for the three heroes to cross together like "Wonder Woman 2".

After sorting it out again, Simon said with a final word: "It's settled, "Titanic" will be released on December 12. Next, um, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Ella, your plan is to participate in the Cannes Film Festival , the cancellation of this item, the positioning of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" should not be a literary film, participating in Cannes, no matter whether it can win an award or not, it will not be good for the release of this film. However, this film can have its premiere in Cannes. In addition, the schedule is a little further back, the box office momentum of various blockbusters in mid-July is still there, and it will be placed in late July.”

Ella Deutschman thought about it for a while, but she didn't object, she just said: "Simon, this year's Oscar we give to "The English Patient", we can always fight for it next year, right?"

Simon's expression paused, he couldn't say in advance that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Titanic" were the focus of this year's awards. For executives who do not have the advantage of a prophet like Simon, these two films, from the perspective of sales, are successful if they fail completely. How can they think of Oscar?

After thinking about it for a moment, Simon said: "You are following up on several projects we invested in Europe last year, the British "The Six Heroes of the Light Pig", and two Italian films, Tonadore's "Piano at Sea" The Teacher and Roberto Bernini's Life Is Beautiful, they should both have the potential to be award-winning films."

Ella Deutschman nodded and shook her head: "But they can't be considered mainstream, and the box office volume will not be too high. Boss, I want to do "Shakespeare in Love". This project has been under pressure for two years, and now it is launched. Just in time for the end of the year.”

Not to mention "The Pianist at Sea" and "Beautiful Life", the former "Six Heroes of the Light Pig" cost a mere £2 million, and the global box office exceeded $250 million. Is this volume not too high?

However, you can't be a magician.

Simon could only hold back, and his thoughts turned to "Shakespeare in Love", the once controversial Oscar best picture in history.

"Shakespeare in Love" is a well-known script that has been circulating in Hollywood for a long time. The story idea was born in the late 1980s. In the past, Julia Roberts, who was a popular Hollywood sister in the 1990s, personally ran for this project. Due to various reasons, the filming was ultimately unsuccessful, and after going around for ten years, it was finally completed by Miramax.

Then it was a big hit.

The quality of this movie is of course very good, but in 1998 it defeated the more excellent "Saving Private Ryan", "The Thin Red Line", "Life is Beautiful" and other movies to the top of the Oscar. One of Hollywood's most watery movie queens was born.

Daenerys Entertainment took down this script a few years ago, and was held down by Simon waiting for the right time. At this time, seeing Ella Deutschman looking at her expectantly, Simon was also a little helpless. Beginning with "A Room with a View" that started back then, Ella Deutschman has always had a special liking for films with classical literary themes, and "Shakespeare in Love" naturally became

good for the heart.

In the face of the executive's expectations, Simon can't always say Ella, let's wait, or this movie will become cannon fodder when it is made.

Still can't be a magician.

After a little hesitation, Simon finally nodded: "Okay, by the way, have you considered the hero and heroine?"

Either way.

Just when this movie's "last life" has ruined his character, this time he will pay off his debts.

Ella Deutschman nodded when she saw the boss, but she was very happy: "I want to invite Daniel Day-Lewis, the heroine, Julia Roberts, the heroine, and Julia just participated in the "Bj Singles Diary" last year. , She has specially received accent training and can get started directly, and she also likes this script very much."

Daniel Day-Lewis can be said to have been the first male lead candidate of "Shakespeare in Love", but because of the schedule, he was not invited several times before and after.

As for Julia Roberts, Simon is not very satisfied. The actress really lacks a kind of British classical beauty.

Thinking of this, Simon said: "Daniel is no problem, as long as you can get it. As for the heroine, let Kate try it first, Kate Beckinsale, she has performed very well in recent films, and she also has " Good Will Hunting got a Golden Globe nomination for supporting actress, and the key thing is that she's British."

Designing a heroine is one of the joys of your own boss.

Who is it not fun?

Ella got a promise to start shooting, and of course she won't make fun of herself on this matter, not to mention that her boss didn't mess around. Thinking about it a little bit, Kate Beckinsale is indeed more suitable than Julia Roberts, Ella Deutschman couldn't find a reason to refute at all, and nodded quickly.

This matter was finalized, and Nancy Brill, who was a bit suspicious of running to join in the fun, said: "Boss, I want to restart "Elderly Street", Shea recently gave a very good plan, and, you Isn't it also promoting the youth film plan, I think it can be tried."

Under the operation of Simon, New Line and Miramax, which were supposed to shine in Hollywood in the 1990s, collapsed one after another. As the controller of Blockbuster, Nancy Brill once hired the heads of these two companies. To try to approximate Blockbuster's production department, Simon also acquiesced in this matter, which is regarded as laying the foundation for the future streaming media era in advance.

The Weinstein brothers were then fired by Nancy for misconduct, leaving only New Line founder Robert Shea.

Simon has also paid attention in recent years.

Robert Shea came from a publishing background. Although the Blockbuster production department he hosted was mediocre, mainly because there were not many resources available, but in terms of film purchases, he did a very good job and helped Blockbuster buy in. Few quality and cheap movie rights.

Hearing Nancy's sudden mention, Simon also realized that Xie Yi was probably thinking of making a comeback, but said, "I didn't see the memo you gave me in advance, Nancy, how much are you going to spend, and how do you set the schedule? "

"$15 million, Shay hopes to use some CG special effects this time. In order to save money, we plan to find an independent special effects studio. Boss, if you think the cost is too high, Blockbuster can contribute part of it. In terms of schedule, if you give the green light If so, I hope it will be released in mid-September.”

"It doesn't matter if you share the investment, you discuss it with Danny first and submit a memo to me."

After talking about this, Simon took back the initiative of the topic and said: "Next, regarding overseas, we launched a batch of projects in countries in Europe and Asia last year, and there will be more in the future. Considering cultural factors, these projects will be in the future. It will be released in its local area first, or even limited to local distribution, and will no longer be introduced to North America. This requires us to further strengthen our overseas production and distribution network. Mark, this matter has always been your responsibility. I hope you will not let me disappointment."

Mark Belford nodded confidently: "Of course, boss."

"Specifically, some of this year's films, "Two Smoking Guns" and "The Six Heroes of the Light Pig" in the UK, have a strong localization style. They will be released in the UK first, and then imported into North America depending on the situation. The two Italian films are also In the same way, these two films will also carry out award-winning operations, and you need to cooperate with the Gaomen Films team. In China, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is directly introduced, and the rest will be ignored for the time being."

Mark Belford and Ella Deutschman echoed that note.

Determined overseas, Simon began to sort out the most important local film list with everyone.

This year, the total number of films released by Daenerys Entertainment's three labels is expected to still exceed 40. However, of course not all films are the focus. For example, Christopher Nolan's first feature film "Follow", which was recruited by Simon last year, and Quin Ting's new work "Dangerous Relationship", a Hong Kong film "Young Feihong: The Iron Horse" bought by Simon remembered after the success of "Black Man" last year, etc., are only secondary.

Of course, it is not without the opportunity for dark horses to appear in these projects. Perhaps Nolan's "Following" will be an instant hit. After all, Simon has seen the samples, very Nolan style, and the cost is only 6 million US dollars. It's easy, but none of these items are the focus.

Specifically, starting with the Valentine's Day schedule on February 14, the first major project in 1997 was Simon's purchase of the copyright last year for "Bj's Diary of a Single" starring Julia Roberts.

In the previous "Bj Singles Diary", frankly speaking, the global box office is still close to 300 million US dollars, which is a miracle.

This time, Simon chose the more likable Julia Roberts, the two male protagonists are still Colin Firth and Hugh Grant, and the main creative team behind the scenes is basically unchanged, at least for the previous box office results. , Simon is confident.

Determining the date of Valentine's Day is also a strategy for unpopular counterattacks.

In addition to the overcrowded summer and end of the year, Valentine's Day is also perfect for "BJ Singles Diary".

Then, in the Easter schedule, four main titles.

Peter Jackson's Horror Ghost, Jett Lee's Hurricane Rescue, Jim Carrey's Cable Repairman and Natasha Henstridge's Alien 2. Frankly speaking, none of the four films has a local sales of over 100 million yuan.

Among them, "Alien 2" was released by MGM as the first film to be released in the "foreign cooperation plan" to divert overseas funds.

Then there's the summer season.

Five films were released in succession: "Face Change," May 23; "Tornado," June 6; "American Pie," June 20; "Independence Day," July 4; "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" , July 25.

Finally, there are three year-end schedules.

The Halloween schedule is the new work "The Conjuring 3" in the Conjuring Cinematic Universe.

Thanksgiving is the three main feature of "The Bugs", "Contact" and "The Wedding Singer".

Needless to say, "Bugs" and "Contact", "Wedding Singer" starring Adam Sandler, is actually Adam Sandler's famous work.

In the history of the past, if 1994 was a brilliant year for Jim Carrey, and the three big hits "Geek in Disguise", "Dumb and Dumb" and "The Detective Plane", 1998 should be regarded as Adam Carrey. In the year when Sandler broke out, "Wedding Singer" and "Tea Boy" also all sold well.

Among them, "Wedding Singer" was scheduled for Valentine's Day in 1998. Although it encountered "Titanic", it still won $80 million at the box office at a cost of $18 million. It can be said that if there is no "Titanic", the schedule will be better. Breaking a billion is easy.

This time, Simon gave such conditions.

Another "Tea Boy", which was released at the end of the year, also had a low cost of 23 million US dollars and a local box office of 160 million, which directly rushed into the fifth place on the annual list.

However, although Adam Sandler does not belong to the bad boy gang, he just has some intersections, but similar to the bad boy gang, this comedy star also lacks overseas box office appeal, which is mainly due to cultural factors. Comedy section, overseas can not understand. Unlike Jim Carrey, body language, global accessibility.

last of the last.

Christmas file: "Titanic".

And, "Shakespeare in Love", in which Ella Deutschman took the initiative to request a "sacrifice" without knowing it.

A careful analysis of the film list is not difficult to find. Compared with previous years, the biggest difference in 1997 is that the number of cooperative films has been greatly reduced.

In the past 1996, including the "Wonder Woman 2" that locked the annual crown, as well as "Mission Impossible 2", "The Mummy", "Jumanji" and "Charlie's Angels" and other heavyweights, they are actually all Cooperative projects, and this year, there are only three related films, "Alien 2", "Solitary Day" and "Macro Contact". Among them, "Alien 2" is just an addition, and all the others are wholly owned by Daenerys Entertainment. project.

In addition, there is a comprehensive layout worldwide.

All in all, global expansion and a monopoly will be the core development strategy of Daenerys Entertainment for many years to come.