The Ninth and Forty Second Chapter Should Also Spit It Out

After the first day of $23.1 million that exceeded everyone's expectations, "Rush Hour 2" continued its momentum into the weekend, hitting a record high of $24.34 million on Saturday and only 19 on Sunday. % decline to close another $19.95 million.

In three days, "Rush Hour 2" has already grossed $67.4 million in its first weekend.

This box office data not only easily surpassed the same period of "Monsters, Inc." and "Night at the Museum 2" during Thanksgiving, but also left the "Starship Troopers" released at the same time.

In the first three days of the first weekend, Sony Pictures’ special effects blockbuster costing $110 million only earned $22.05 million at the box office, which was not even as good as the first-day box office of “Rush Hour 2”.

This result is beyond everyone's expectations. No one thought that "Rush Hour 2" would suddenly be so popular, and no one expected that the film critics' reputation was much better than the just passing "Rush Hour 2". "Starship Troopers" box office would be so dismal.

Sony Pictures released "Starship Troopers" before Firefly Pictures' "Jurassic Park 3". The original goal was to compete with "Jurassic Park 3". Feeling empty.

Unlike Rush Hour 2's slight 19% drop on Sunday, Starship Troopers' single-day box office drop on Sunday was already $8.3 million on Friday and $8.28 million on Saturday. Reaching 34%, the box office received only $5.45 million that day.

Therefore, entering the working day, the single-day box office of "Starship Troopers" fell even more miserably. On Monday, the box office fell by 61% compared with the previous day, and the single-day box office was only 2.1 million US dollars. In comparison, although the box office of "Rush Hour 2" on Monday also fell by 51% compared to Sunday, the single-day box office data is still as high as 9.47 million US dollars, which is more than any single-day box office of "Starship Troopers" in the first weekend. much higher.

In order to find out what happened, Eric also took the time to watch "Starship Troopers".

Then I found that the plot of this film, strictly speaking, is not a problem, and the special effects are even more excellent. However, when combined as a whole, it gives people a very uncomfortable feeling, because the whole movie, it is difficult for the audience to find anything that makes people feel physically and mentally pleasing, but it is filled with a relatively blunt and didactic atmosphere.

Although media critics have explained that this is a satire of fascism, most people are obviously not interested in this kind of satire. What's more, it's still Christmas time, and more audiences entering the cinema are just for entertainment, and "Starship Troopers" seems even more out of place. As a result, although the film received fairly good reviews from film critics, it was extremely coldly received by the market.

On the contrary, compared with the first film, "Rush Hour 2" can't be said to have anything new in terms of plot, which is why most media gave the film a low score. However, the audience was very impressed with such a slapstick kung fu comedy.

The box office of $67.4 million in the first weekend has exceeded everyone's expectations. The box office of $9.47 million on the first day of the working day was released. Most people realized one thing, "Rush Hour 2" may become the year-end schedule. One and perhaps the only film to break 100 million at the box office in its first week.

The box office exceeded 100 million in the first week. If it is the upcoming "Jurassic Park 3", it may be nothing. Because the first two films of this series have achieved breakthroughs of over 100 million yuan in the first week, but such an honor falls to "Rush Hour 2", a film with a total North American box office expectation of only more than 100 million yuan. People find it incredible.

Los Angeles, Burbank Firefly headquarters.

Bill Michanick saw that the driver had parked the car, and was still a little reluctant to get out of the car.

The driver and assistant sitting in the front row naturally did not dare to urge them.

They all know that Bill Michanick has been in a very bad mood the last few days.

As the vice chairman of Sony Pictures and CEO of Columbia Pictures, Bill Michalnick has not only lost the ease when Peter Cooper and Jon Peters took charge of Columbia since he took this position, the operation of the film company The situation was even worse than when Peter Cooper knew it.

From the summer vacation to the Christmas season, Sony Pictures has continuously tried to create two special effects film series, "Godzilla" and "Starship Troopers", and now both ended in failure, and the failure was very complete.

Bill Michanick rose to prominence as the head of Disney's home entertainment division during his time at Disney.

Originally, as an executive of the Disney system, he was able to achieve the position of one of the seven leaders, at least on the surface, with the position of Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of Firefly Group, and the CEO of Universal Pictures Group. Michael Eisner was almost equal, and he was still very proud.

But now, he even often regrets taking the job in the first place.

If he could have stayed at Disney, he now feels that he should at least be a vice president-level executive of the Firefly Group. Maybe after Frank Wells retires, he can still compete for the position of president. Being the president of Firefly Group is no worse than being the CEO of the current Columbia Film Company.

After sitting in the car for a while, Bill Michanick had to get out of the car. The time he had agreed with Katzenberg was about to come.

The consecutive failures of "Godzilla" and "Starship Troopers" also made Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony's US branch, start to get angry. It is inevitable that Sony Pictures will continue to lose money this year. In order to stabilize its position, Sony The film industry must come up with a movie project that can turn the situation as soon as possible.

As a result, "Men in Black", "Jumanji" and "Mrs. Smith", which Columbia and Firefly cooperated with, became the best choice to turn around the situation of Sony Pictures. Especially "Men in Black", this series not only has a very high popularity, but also has a very secure box office.

Although Sony Pictures produces and distributes more than a dozen films a year, the 28-8 law of the Hollywood film market is also very obvious. Eighty percent of a film company's box office and profits are concentrated in the best percent. twenty of the videos. If "Men in Black 3" can be launched, although Sony can only occupy 40% of the interest in this film, it will at least make the performance of Sony Pictures in the next year or two not too ugly.

Katzenberg didn't go out to greet his former colleague, and Bill Michanick didn't expect it, and he still knew Katzenberg's character well. Take the assistant to the door of Katzenberg's office, five minutes before the appointed time.

Waiting in the lounge, watching the busy scene of four or five assistants and secretaries outside Katzenberg's office, Bill Michanick couldn't help but feel a little envious, and then turned to a self-deprecating smile. Perhaps, even if he and Carson Berg also hired four or five assistants, and Sony Pictures didn't have so many things for them to handle.

The current Firefly Group is already a giant corporate aircraft carrier larger than the entire Sony of Japan. Wall Street valued Firefly at $85 billion last year, and it's sure to rise again this year. And the entire Sony Group is taking advantage of the new technology wave, and the current market value has not exceeded 70 billion US dollars, and Sony Pictures is less than one-tenth of the market value of the entire Sony Group.

"Mr. Michanic, you can go in."

While thinking about it, Bill Michanick heard the voice of one of Katzenberg's assistants, and quickly stood up, nodded to the other party, and walked towards Katzenberg's office.

Seeing Bill Michanick coming in, Katzenberg, who was sitting behind the desk, put down the phone in his hand, got up, walked over and shook his hand, saying, "Sorry, Bill, I'm a little busy at the end of the year."

"It's okay," Bill Michanick shook hands with Katzenberg with a smile, and the two sat down on the sofa in the reception area.

The secretary quickly served two cups of coffee, and then walked out of the office quietly. Bill Michanick knew Katzenberg's style of behavior, and he didn't beat around the bush. He took a symbolic sip of the coffee and went straight to the topic: " So, Jeffrey, what do you think of the plan I said on the phone last time?"

In order to promote the production of "Men in Black 3", Sony Pictures promised an announcement fee of $50 million in advance, and at the same time reduced Sony Pictures' distribution fee from 15% to 13%, which is only a preliminary offer , Howard Stringer and Bill Michanick are privately acceptable at even 10%.

With such a concession, Sony Pictures may not be able to make a profit at the box office, but the later videotape and TV broadcasting rights are very guaranteed. In this regard, the summer "Godzilla" and the "Starship Troopers" that are still in theaters, with full copyright operation, may not be able to ensure that Sony Pictures can recover the cost.

Katzenberg shook his head when he heard Bill Michanick's words, and said, "Bill, Firefly doesn't care about these concessions from Sony on distribution, you should know what we care more about."

Bill Michanick naturally knows that Firefly is more concerned about the cost control of "Men in Black 3".

In recent years, with the rise of Chris Tucker of the "Rush Hour" series and two other black actors of the "Jedi Boys" series, Will Smith is no longer as hot as the original time and space.

However, for the "Men in Black" series, Will Smith didn't mean much in terms of remuneration. Not only did he offer a guaranteed remuneration of $20 million, but he also asked for at least 10% of the box office share. Another "Men in Black" star, Tommy Lee Jones, probably had similar demands.

Without the restraint of Firefly, in order to promote this project, Sony would not hesitate too much about the remuneration requested by the two leading actors. After all, Sony Pictures has no better choice. Compared with the development of "Godzilla" and "Starship Troopers", which have uncertain futures and may fail in the end, the possibility of losing the "Men in Black" series is very small.

After hesitating for a moment, although he felt that the possibility was very small, Bill Michanick said with some anticipation: "Jeffrey, if Firefly is worried that the high cost of "Men in Black 3" will affect the revenue, Sony can pay a license fee Do you think this is ok?

"Bill, Firefly will not give up the production rights of the 'Men in Black' series. In addition, if the quality of a film can be guaranteed, Firefly will not be stingy with the production budget," Katzenberg said. "It comes down to it. , it's also a matter of actor pay control. Since Jim Carrey got his first $20 million paycheck from Sony for "The Cable Fixer," Hollywood actor pay has almost completely gotten out of control in recent years. Part of the reason is Sony."

"Jeffrey, I don't think so. Generally speaking, the increase in the salaries of Hollywood actors is due to the expansion of the global film market. It is impossible for film companies to make a lot of money, but actors are not allowed to get high salaries, right?"

Katzenberg smiled and said: "Bill, I think there is something wrong with your position. In addition, the average income of Hollywood actors has not risen much in recent years. It is only a small number of top stars that have seen a big increase. This is enough to show that your argument is not valid. In short, we can't control what other film companies do, but within the sphere of influence of the Firefly Group, the maximum salary of big-name actors is only 20 million US dollars. If you want to get a share, the fixed salary must not exceed 10 million, and the share ratio cannot exceed 10% of the production company's global box office revenue. This is the rule. If you can convince Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to accept such a pay condition, this project can start at any time. "

Bill Michanick grimaced and said, "Jeffrey, this is impossible, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will not back down, even if you dragged on for five years and completely got the "Black Clothes" They won't make concessions on the copyright of the "People" series, and the two have no shortage of film contracts."

"It's not just them," Katzenberg said with a playful smile: "In the future, including all other A-list stars, if these people continue to demand unreasonably high pay, they will definitely be short of film appointments. "

Bill Michanick didn't understand the deep meaning of Katzenberg's words for a while, but subconsciously retorted: "I think it's still nothing, the big deal is not acting, do you think these people are short of money?"

"The most important thing in Hollywood is actors. Even if these people leave, there will definitely be other stars rising. What's more, this is not a question of money. Take you as an example, I think you are definitely not short of money now. But if you were to give up everything in Hollywood right now to retire, do you think you could stand it?"

Bill Michanick paused and didn't answer, but he knew that he would definitely not be able to give up all of this now.

Hollywood superstars are probably the same, accustomed to the attention of the people, accustomed to the stars holding the moon, and accustomed to a hundred responses. If one day all of this suddenly ceases to exist, no one comes to compliment you, no one comes after you, and the woman who used to hook up to bed will no longer pay attention to you, even if they have a lot of money, these people will Probably going crazy too.

Shaking his head, Bill Michanick said: "But, Jeffrey, your idea is still impossible to realize, and there is more than Firefly Group in Hollywood."

"One by one, it's always possible," Katzenberg still smiled and looked at Bill Michanic with piercing eyes, "And, look, the Rockefeller Center that the Japanese bought back then, Now it has been sold back, and Universal Pictures, which was annexed at the beginning, has also returned. There are still many such things. In the final analysis, it was a joke that the Japanese wanted to buy the entire United States. Then, Sony will eat it. Columbia Pictures, it's almost time to spit it out."