I’m in Hollywood

Feeling Kelly's cool fingertips, Eric put down his hand and leaned comfortably on the sofa.

Have you got a headache, are you too tired recently? Kelly's voice sounded behind her. She was less shrewd and capable as a female assistant, and more gentle.

The doctor said it was the result of the reversal of day and night some time ago, and it will be fine after a while, Eric leaned back, replied, and asked again, Sony, the first weekend box office of Men in Black 2 It should be out, right?

Kelly replied: $52.16 million, probably around $75 million in the first week.

Eric hummed, but there was not much emotional change in his heart, including Jumanji 2 which will be released next week. In these two films, Firefly still occupies 60% of the investment share, but since the last dispute After that, according to the established strategy, except for investment, Firefly has completely let go of these two projects.

The box office of about $75 million in the first week seems to be good, and the total North American box office may even hit the $200 million mark, but because of Sony's neglect of cost control and the sharp increase in the star's salary, the production cost of this sequel is as high as 1.4 100 million, plus the announcement, the total cost is close to 200 million US dollars.

Even if the total global box office can reach 600 million US dollars, this project can only barely recover its investment at the box office. Although the follow-up DVDs, video tapes and broadcast rights are still rich in revenue, if the time cost of long-term operation is counted, such a project is actually still. Very uneconomical.

After a while, Eric asked again: What about Jumanji 2, I heard that the effect of the test screening was not very good?

Well, Kelly didn't want Eric to bother, but since he asked, she said, At the time of the test screening, many film critics said that this sequel was like a farce, not only was the plot chaotic, but also completely Lost the comedy style of the first film, but most of these comments were suppressed by Sony, and now we will see how the market reacts next week, after all, the special effects of the film are still very delicate.

Eric did not participate in any production of the sequel. Jumanji 2 still follows the chessboard style, but the production team was completely replaced, and even the director was replaced by someone else, and the first part did not gather much popularity. , it's not surprising that this outcome is happening now. Of course, it is not without benefits to replace the entire production team. At least, the production cost of this sequel is maintained at an acceptable $86 million. Even if it really loses, Firefly will not lose too much.

It is estimated that after this summer period, only the few films that Firefly cooperated with Sony will be left with the possibility of continuing to develop a sequel to Men in Black.

In addition to the Jumanji series, although the original Mrs \u0026 Mrs. Smith has been talking about a sequel, in fact, everyone knows that Pierce Brosnan, who starred in 007, is difficult to return, and Nicole's salary in recent years is even more Having surpassed Pierce Brosnan and was busy with too many film appointments, the possibility of a sequel to Mr. \u0026 Mrs. Smith is almost nil.

Thinking of Godzilla being developed by Sony Pictures, Eric couldn't help but smile. Maybe Sony will embark on a long road of fighting for a long time in the future.

Seeing that Eric didn't answer, Kelly leaned over slightly, just noticed the smile on his face, and asked, What are you laughing at?

Eric shook his head and patted his side: Come, sit here.

Kelly knew that this little man would not think of anything good, so she sat down obediently,

But he still reminded softly: It's daytime now, and Peter may come over later.

Then just call and tell him not to come here, Eric smiled, lay down, pillowed on the woman's plump thigh, sniffed the seductive body fragrance, put his arms around the woman's waist, and said: I'll sleep for a while, and don't let anyone disturb me even when the sky falls.

Kelly was helpless, reached for the phone on the coffee table, called Peter Rich, gave some vague instructions in a low voice, hung up the phone, and looked down, Eric, who was resting on her lap, was already comfortable. I closed my eyes and my breathing started to slow down.

When I woke up again, the whole living room had fallen into darkness, a pale yellow wall lamp was lit on the wall, and the woman's thigh had also become a pillow.

Erica took off the blanket on her body, sat up, raised her wrist habitually, and found that the watch was taken off at some point and placed on the coffee table.

It was nearly eight o'clock in the evening, and Eric was about to pick up his mobile phone and call Kelly when the door was pushed open, and Kelly walked in with a tray.

Eric, are you awake? Putting down the tray, Kelly came over and touched his forehead.

Eric grabbed the woman's little hand and kissed it, Why did you leave me here alone.

I'm going to help you prepare dinner, Kelly pulled back her hand with a smile, and added, The conference room is ready, you can eat something first, everyone is waiting for you.

Then let's go directly, Eric said, about to get up, but was held down by Kelly.

It's okay, everyone knows you've been tired recently.

After hurriedly eating a simple dinner, Eric rushed to a conference room in the nearby Ocean Club Center at 8:30.

Peter Ritchie has been waiting here, and sure enough, there is still no video conference equipment, and a conference phone is placed on the long table.

Eric sat down on the chair, Kelly spread out a few documents in front of him, sat next to him, and said to the conference phone: Everyone, Eric is here.

Good evening, Eric also greeted.

On the opposite side, there were greetings from Katzenberg, Frank Wells and other Firefly executives.

After a few simple greetings, Eric said: Then, let's talk about the current situation first. Are there any fans outside the headquarters to invite the original?

Katzenberg replied with a wry smile: Yes, there are quite a lot of people recently, there are more than 100 people in Burbank and Playa Vista, and the number of signatures on the original website is also more than 12. Absolutely.

The current Internet, not to mention the real-name system, even the registration system is not very perfect. Of course, Eric knows that the 120,000 people have a lot of water. Except for the deliberate troubles of competitors, maybe most of them also click repeatedly. Therefore, he didn't care much about this data, and said, Well, in this situation, let's talk about your thoughts first.

I think, in any case, it is better to give the public an accurate answer as soon as possible to eliminate this turmoil, Frank Wells said, So, I suggest shooting according to the original script of the Wachowski brothers. , of course, we can only make the second film. I believe that with the popularity accumulated by the first film, the profit brought by this sequel is only a more or less problem. Even if the film quality is not satisfactory, it will not appear again. This is the case now.”

This is a good way to deal with it, Eric nodded and asked again, Jeffrey, what's your opinion?

Katzenberg and they seemed to have basically reached a consensus, and said oppositely: Eric, we have all read the Wachowski brothers' script, and everyone knows that it is a disaster for the series to shoot like this. , but we don't have any other good way to deal with it now, and Frank said, it's almost the best solution.

Eric smiled bitterly and said, So, this series is almost useless for us.

Chicken ribs? A suspicious voice came from the conference call.

Eric realized that it was impossible for everyone to know this stalk, and explained it simply in English that the other party could understand: It's tasteless to eat, and it's a pity to abandon it.

It's quite impressive, Frank Wells said. However, it can't be said to be tasteless. In any case, with the current popularity of the film, the sequel will definitely be profitable.

Eric couldn't help rubbing his forehead again. In fact, even without this turmoil, Eric didn't have 100% confidence in the Wachowski brothers' revised script.

A director's directing style is very difficult to change. Even if the brothers write a new script, when shooting, unless Firefly sends people to watch every shot, it is inevitable that the brothers will go to their own style. .

What's more, Firefly's strategy of sending people to stare at the set is simply impossible to achieve, because this kind of excessive intervention on the director often only leads to catastrophic consequences for a project. As far as Eric knows, the characters of the Wachowski brothers can definitely be regarded as hot. When the first film was filmed, as newcomers, the two brothers could still maintain modesty and restraint. It is impossible for them to continue to be obedient and obedient.

After thinking for a while, Eric raised his head and asked, Now, how much is the box office in all aspects of the film?

The opposite didn't answer for a while, and Kelly, who was sitting next to Eric, said: North America 223.5 million US dollars, overseas 136 million US dollars, and France, Japan, Italy, and several major ticket warehouse countries have not released, wait until the film is released. In these countries, the overseas box office is expected to be between 350 million and 400 million US dollars, and the global box office should be around 600 million.”

With the issuance of trade agreements such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade led by the United States in recent years, the film market of most overseas countries has been further opened, and the corresponding overseas box office share has also begun to increase. The overall overseas box office share of Hollywood movies has increased to 35%. «out.

According to the average share ratio of domestic and overseas, Firefly can recover roughly 250 million US dollars from the total box office of 600 million US dollars. According to the ratio of about one-third of the total revenue of a movie at the box office, the future long-term operating profit of the surrounding area is probably Twice this figure, after deducting all costs, Firefly can earn at least about 500 million US dollars on this project.

Of course, Firefly can recover almost all of the box office revenue within a year, but the subsequent DVD and video tape distribution, peripheral copyright operation and other income require long-term operation of more than three years, which is also the current second- and third-tier Hollywood movies. The company still can only keep an eye on the reasons for box office revenue. The capital operation cycle of more than three years can only be supported by the seven major Hollywood studios. For second- and third-tier film companies, if a film cannot be quickly recovered at the box office, there will be a series of problems such as a broken capital chain and a stagnant company development. It came in droves.

The two sequels of The Matrix in Eric's memory have accumulated a global box office of nearly 1.2 billion US dollars, and Time Warner can roughly recover 500 million US dollars of box office share.

However, the production cost of the two sequels reached 300 million, and the cost of announcement and distribution required at least about 100 million US dollars. That is to say, although the global box office of 1.2 billion US dollars is enviable, in fact, Time Warner’s two sequel box office Only a mere $100 million in profits will be made. Moreover, because the reputation and quality of the two sequels have seriously declined, the income of the later DVDs will not be too good.

Although Eric can't know the specific data, he can be sure that the combined profits of the two sequels are not necessarily as much as the first one with a great reputation and great influence.

After thinking about it for a while, Eric said, What do you think, how about we sell the production rights of the sequel to The Matrix?

no!

How is this possible.

Eric, you're crazy. ℃≡miào℃≡bi℃≡ge℃≡

A series of objections immediately came from the opposite side, and Kelly and Peter also looked at Eric in surprise.

Although facing a lot of trouble now, all the senior management of Firefly have never thought of this.

There are countless examples of Hollywood studios exchanging or selling copyrights for various reasons, but those are basically projects in the development stage with uncertain futures. The Matrix is different, so that the first part of the series can bring a net profit of no less than 500 million US dollars for the company, and everyone thinks it is crazy to sell such a project.

When everyone's mood stabilized a little, the opposite Katzenberg said again: Eric, we must not sell The Matrix, let alone other things, you must know some news during this period, let's let There are enough projects out there.

Eric patiently said: I think everyone may be too sensitive recently. Our movie box office share is really not ideal this summer, but this situation is definitely only temporary, every film company will experience a downturn, not to mention , our 'trough' even surpassed the heydays of some studios. If you think about it, so far this year, we have had three films: The Seven Deadly Sins, The Matrix and Brave Island The box office has exceeded 100 million films, as well as Red Zone and the recently released Death Is Coming. These films are also very good at the box office. Therefore, in general, our situation is still better than most film companies. .

Frank Wells' gentle voice came from the conference call, persuading: Eric, but we always have to think about the future, how can we sell such an iconic project as The Matrix.

In the future, Eric said patiently: We will also have no shortage of projects in the future. Although we have experienced a break this year, next year, our Disney animation and Pixar animation can continuously launch Monster Power Company and Finding Nemo Two 3D animated films, and after next year, the two animation companies will allow the company to maintain an average rhythm of one animated film per year. In addition, we also have projects such as Jurassic Park 3 and The Day After Tomorrow. These are also enough to maintain the company's strong position in live-action movies. What's more, the company can certainly continue to develop other high-quality rights in the future.