Chapter Eight Hundred and Seventy Seventh Cover Too Tightly

Morton's Restaurant in Beverly Hills.

Roland Emmerich sat across from Columbia Films eo Bill Michanic, and dealt with the steak in front of him in silence, trying to ignore the glances of the guests around him from time to time. He even regretted why he chose this Hollywood film company today. Dining in a restaurant where people gather.

This is the second week of Godzilla's release, and it has been criticized by the media for a week. The box office data of the first week of the film was released in the morning, and Roland Emmerich did not feel any relief in his heart. In the afternoon, I drove secretly to some theaters in the Fernando Valley to have a look. Compared with the relatively strong attendance last Friday, most of the theaters showing Godzilla were empty for only one week. Can you imagine how much the film will drop at the box office this week, 60%, 70%, or worse?

There's no doubt that Godzilla will be the last time he's had a very bad Waterloo in his career.

After years of accumulation, Roland Emmerich already has a net worth of tens of millions of dollars, and even with Godzilla's $20 million salary and the next box office share, even if he chooses to retire now, he can guarantee a lifetime of food and clothing Hassle-free.

But in the Vanity Fair of Hollywood, whether a person is successful is far from being limited to the category of money. Most people pay more attention to career success and their own status and influence in Hollywood. Everyone wants to climb higher. Location.

As long as Hollywood stars are a little bit popular, they basically have enough net worth to support their rich and even luxurious life, but these people will still have various mental and physical problems under the pressure of ups and downs in their careers. Because for most Hollywood celebrities, suddenly being abandoned by Hollywood, without the following of the spotlight, and without the much-anticipated pursuit, this sense of loss is definitely more unacceptable than the sudden loss of all money.

Although Roland Emmerich knew that it was just a failure, it would never be able to cause a devastating blow to his career, but it also definitely meant that in the next few years, unless he made a quality comparable to the solo sun and the collision of heaven and earth again. Otherwise, he would never be able to enjoy the kind of generous treatment before Godzilla's release, the strong control over the film's production, the industry's top $20 million director's salary, and so on.

Even, if before Godzilla, he didn't have to appear here in person tonight to discuss follow-up contract issues with Bill Michalnick, which were just things that required his agent to come forward.

If you can do it all over again.

This thought came up, and Roland Emmerich immediately shook his head mockingly. Suddenly remembered that Firefly just announced the director candidate for the day after tomorrow, this project should belong to him. Firefly may not offer a director's salary of 20 million US dollars, but in the case of the continuous cooperation between the two parties, Firefly can't be too stingy. He believes that through fixed salary and dividends, he can get the same price as the independent day. The equivalent of $30 million in total revenue is not difficult.

On the basis of the current Godzilla's 20 million salary, 15% of the North American box office share may still be able to guarantee him to get 30 million US dollars, but due to Godzilla's reputation and both the box office fiasco, his next film will definitely not be able to do any more. The damage Godzilla has done to his popularity is incalculable.

Compared with Roland Emmerich's faint self-pity, Bill Michalnick's mood is more irritable.

The Godzilla project was pushed down by Sony Pictures from top to bottom. Logically speaking, if the project failed, the responsibility should not be blamed on him anyway.

However, this obvious and reasonable inference obviously does not really happen to a Japanese group with a clear management hierarchy like Sony. If Godzilla succeeds, everyone will be very happy, and everyone will have a celebration feast together. But now that it has failed, Nobuyuki Idei, chairman of the group, is naturally not at fault. Sony's US branch eo, his direct boss Howard Stringer will also not stand up and take responsibility.

Layer by layer, this pot can only be carried by Bill Michalnick, the most direct head of the film business.

Fortunately, everyone at Sony knows what's going on. Although he needs to take the blame, there will be no substantive punishment. This is the only thing that makes people feel better.

However, there is still another very tricky thing falling on him right now, that is, the contract between Sony Pictures and Roland Emmerich.

At the beginning, because of the confidence of the company's top management, Sony signed a trilogy contract with Roland Emmerich at one time.

Godzilla's box office fell all the way within a week of its opening, and the next two sequels are definitely out of the question.

However, Sony's contract with Roland Emmerich is unlikely to automatically expire.

During the signing of the contract, the two parties discussed the solution if the sequel could not be launched. The result of the negotiation was that once the sequel of Godzilla could not be launched, Roland Emmerich had the right to arbitrarily choose two from other projects under Sony Pictures. to direct.

Dongbao's special Godzilla series has made 22 films in 40 years. No one could have expected that after Godzilla was introduced to Hollywood, it would be difficult to continue after only one film. Therefore, no one took this subsidiary clause to heart at first.

But at the moment, Godzilla has a total investment of 200 million US dollars. According to the current situation, it is an extravagant hope that the film can earn 500 million US dollars in North America, not to mention the initial expectation of 300 million US dollars. Judging from Japan's dismal box office performance, overseas markets are also not optimistic. This project has been determined to bring huge losses to Sony Pictures. As the producer and director who directly led to the failure of the project, Sony executives had the heart to strangle Roland Emmerich to death, and naturally they were unwilling to fulfill the subsidiary terms.

The drudgery of resolving this contract issue naturally fell to Bill Michnick.

There is no director in Hollywood who has not suffered failure. Even Cameron, who has just created a box office miracle, the original abyss also gave Fox a toothache. But no one is sure when these directors will make a comeback. Having been in Hollywood for decades, Bill Michanick naturally understands this truth, so he doesn't want to tear his face with Roland Emmerich.

It wasn't until the end of the dinner that Bill Michalnick, who had been mulling over a lot of rhetoric, did not talk about the topic: "Roland, I remember that there are at least five firefly disaster films in the series. Will Williams really want you to continue working with Firefly?"

Roland Emmerich didn't feel better when he heard Bill Michnick's words put him in the main position. Of course, Eric said that he is welcome at any time, but Roland Emmerich also has his own self-esteem. He gave up the good cooperative relationship with Firefly for the high salary. Now that the project has failed, he naturally cannot let it go immediately. Face to go back to the firefly.

Roland Emmerich is very clear about the purpose of Bill Michalnick's appointment today, and he actually did not mean to forcefully hold on to the attached clause. The two sides cannot cooperate willingly, and the project he forcibly took over from Sony will certainly not work well, which will definitely affect the quality of the film. The project failed again, and the rich and powerful Sony only lost some money, but if he screwed up two movies in a row, he really had to retire early.

Putting down the tableware, Roland Emmerich wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin, then looked up and said, "Bill, thank you for your dinner, so you can still think about it."

Roland Emmerich's attitude made Bill Micah Nichols relieved, saying: "That's it, Roland, we are currently preparing a project, a story about the American War of Solitude, called Patriot, and the director has not yet been determined. , if you're interested, you can direct the film."

"I've never been exposed to war-themed films," Roland Emmerich said, suddenly realizing something and asking, "Has the protagonist of the film been confirmed?"

Bill Michanick didn't expect Roland Emmerich to react so quickly. After a pause, he still confessed: "We are in contact. There are two suitable candidates, Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner."

The atmosphere between the two sides fell into silence again.

Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner are not only Hollywood A-list superstars, but they have also been nominated for Best Director Oscars for Braveheart and Dances with Wolves, respectively. or awards.

No matter which of these two men is the Patriot actor, Roland Emmerich's control over the project as a director will be greatly weakened, and even without him as a director, the project can obviously go on smoothly.

Roland Emmerich can feel that Sony has put him in such a type of film that he is not good at as a director, and it is more like letting him serve as a 'vase' that will not have much impact on the whole film. Such an arrangement would be an insult to his position in Hollywood.

Taking a sip of the red wine on the table and calming his thoughts, Roland Emmerich asked, "Then, what if we just cancel the contract?"

"$1 million," Bill Michanick had obviously considered this possibility, but when he said this somewhat perfunctory compensation amount, he couldn't hold his face, and added: "This is the highest I can call the shots. That's the amount, and I can talk to Howard if you want that, maybe a little more."

How much can it be improved?

Roland Emmerich thought so, a little tangled in his heart.

The solution given by Sony is already clear.

He came to be the director of the Patriots. This film has Mel Gibson or Kevin Costner as support. The quality of the film and the box office should be guaranteed. After the film is completed, the two parties can also take advantage of the situation to reveal the affiliated terms. past. It is conceivable that if he accepts this director job, the salary he can get will definitely not be too high, 20 million US dollars, box office splits, etc. must not even think about it, even if it is to maintain him 8 million before Godzilla. It's not easy to fix a director's remuneration in dollars.

But if he wants to terminate the contract immediately, he can only get a nominal compensation.

Moreover, after losing this contract, in the case of Godzilla's failure just now, other Hollywood film companies will definitely not cooperate with him easily in the next one or two years. This is not because of his personal directing ability. But Godzilla's one-sided bad reviews are destined to have a very bad impact on the reputation of his next film. The first solution given by Sony is actually to use the influence of Mel Gibson or Kevin Costner to reduce this influence as much as possible.

Obviously, Sony must have preferred that he could automatically choose to terminate the contract, but at the same time he was unwilling to pay too much compensation, so he came up with such a difficult solution.

Sony also expects that he will not take drastic measures such as lawsuits to solve this matter. After all, just screwing up a big production of others, and then suing others, who would dare to cooperate with you in the future.

Finally, Roland Emmerich said, "Then, Bill, give me some time and I'll think about it."

Roland Emmerich did not mention the termination of the contract again, and Bill Michnik knew that he had decided to accept the position of the Patriots director, but he could not let go of the air for a while and agreed immediately. Bill Michanic didn't rush, and he was very satisfied that he was able to get this thing done without any obvious unpleasantness between the two sides.

Neither of them had any interest in continuing to talk. Bill Michnik was about to wave for the waiter to come over to check out. There was some commotion on the other side of the restaurant. A man and two women came out of the booth not far away, causing others Warm greetings from guests.

Roland Emmerich heard the movement behind him, and turned his head to look, just in time to meet Eric's gaze.

There are only two weeks left before the release of Casino Royale 007. Eric can still be lazy in the early publicity work, but at this last moment, as a director, he must still participate in the film's promotion properly. Today, I took the girl to eat with Amy Pascal, mainly to discuss this matter.

Politely responding to the greetings of the people around him, Eric was holding the girl and walking out with Amy Pascal. He didn't expect to meet Roland Emmerich, and his footsteps could not help but stop.

These days, Eric should definitely be one of the people Roland Emmerich doesn't want to meet.

It was the two films, The Clash of Heaven and the Independent Day with Firefly, that pushed him to the ranks of super directors, and also prompted Sony to offer that huge salary contract in order to win him over.

At the beginning, Roland Emmerich felt a little uneasy about giving up his cooperation with Firefly because of the generous compensation from Sony Pictures. At this time, Godzilla's reputation and box office were bleak. Facing Eric, Roland Emmerich felt even more in his heart. embarrassing.

"Good evening, Eric," Roland Emmerich took the initiative to say hello to Eric even though he felt uncomfortable, but he hesitated for a while, not knowing whether to get up or not.

"Evening and, Roland, oh, and Bill."

Eric can also see his current state of mind from Roland Emmerich's expression. There are many Hollywood insiders around. If he deliberately stops at this time, there will definitely be new jokes in Hollywood tomorrow. Not wanting to embarrass Roland Emmerich too much, Eric just nodded softly with the two of them, and the two passed by.

Roland Emmerich's reaction to Eric was both relaxed and a little blocked. He glanced at Bill Michnick, and neither of them had any intention of paying the bill immediately. Come on, I really don't know what to say.

In the parking lot outside the restaurant, the girl was still hanging on Eric, smiling and saying to Amy Pascal, "Haha, Amy, did you notice Roland's expression just now? It's really interesting."

Amy Pascal just smiled and did not echo the girl's words.

"Okay, don't be schadenfreude," Eric knocked on the door of Ya's head, and then said to Amy Pascal: "About the acquisition plan of e! Entertainment, you can talk about it as soon as possible, preferably before the end of the month. Get the results."

"Eric, Warner Cable saw us suddenly take the initiative in this deal again. It seems that they are no longer eager to sell shares. They may guess that you are interested in e! Entertainment."

The twins drove the girl's Land Rover over, Eric didn't rush into the car, leaned against the door and said, "I read some materials recently, and it seems that Rainbow Media, a subsidiary of Basic Cable, is also for sale. You can also sell them with them. Contact, the Bravo TV station in the hands of Rainbow Media is similar in nature to e! Entertainment."

"I noticed this too," Amy Pascal nodded, "However, Basic Cable shouldn't sell too many shares, and GE seems to be interested in Rainbow Media, which has been expanding over the years. its own cable business.”

"Basic cable companies definitely know which side has more potential to cooperate with. If possible, we don't need to seek too many shares at one time, we just need to get the operating rights. Moreover, your main energy should still be on e For entertainment, Rainbow Media is an alternative." After thinking for a while, Eric smiled again: "However, I guess after the release of Batman and Robin next week, Warners should be very willing to abandon e as soon as possible! Entertainment's Equity burden. If Time Warner's losses continue to expand this year, Terry Semel's eo position may be replaced."

Amy Pascal immediately realized the meaning of Eric's words and confirmed: "Eric, don't you like Batman and Robin?"

"I haven't seen the Batman and Robin films, so I'm not too sure. However, if you pay a little attention, you should find that Warners have covered Batman and Robin too tightly. So far, except for Trailers, substantive information related to the content of the film are pitiful, and there is no public preview film review."

Amy Pascal sorted out the information in her mind and found that it was indeed the case.

Warners strictly sealed the content of the movie before its release, perhaps to maintain the mystery of the movie, but there is another possibility, that is, there is no confidence in the quality of the movie, and it is worried that the word of mouth will leak in advance, which will affect the box office of the movie in the first week.

The novels inside are updated quickly, with few advertisements, complete chapters, and broken anti-theft]