Hollywood Hunter

Easter in the West is the first Sunday after the full moon of the spring equinox. This year’s Easter is April 3. American high schools and universities usually give students one to two weeks of spring break during this period. The main force of movie watching, the Easter schedule has naturally become a schedule that Hollywood attaches great importance to every year.

"When Harry Meets Sally" after two consecutive weeks of film accumulating reputation, the Easter schedule has officially arrived.

On March 25, "When Harry Meets Sally" officially opened on a large scale with 1,077 screens.

At the same time, Universal Pictures' "Genius Soldier", Orion Pictures' "Good Johnny", and Paramount Pictures' "Single Men's Wonderful Things" three films also aimed at young audiences during the Easter period were also released at the same time. .

Among them, the starring role of "Genius Soldier" happens to be Matthew Broderick, who had a conflict with Simon before. This is not surprising. Matthew Broderick and relying on the "Back to the Future" series Famous Michael Fox can be said to be the most popular young male star this year.

Moreover, compared with the previous two mediocre works, Matthew Broderick's new film "Genius Soldier" has also received unanimous approval from the critics. If there is no "When Harry Meets Sally" turned out, "Genius Soldier" is destined to become the most popular work this Easter schedule.

Now, through two weeks of word-of-mouth brewing and topical hype about Meg Ryan’s restaurant scene, "When Harry Meets Sally" is far more popular than the others just released this Easter schedule, both in word of mouth and in the media. works. What's more, "When Harry Met Sally" was originally a classic movie that was still popular among movie fans a few decades later. Naturally, it was not "Genius Soldiers" which studios specially tailored for the Easter schedule. The movie can compare.

As a result, from March 25 to March 31, the first week of the large-scale painting, "When Harry Meets Sally" easily won $17.81 million in the box office, showing a trend of a ride. In contrast, the second-ranked "Genius Soldiers" directly dropped to just under $10 million in the box office in the first week, and the screen size of 1,239 screens only received $9.13 million in the first week. Subsequent "Good Johnny" and "Single Men's Wonderful Things" were left further.

Counting the previous screenings, the cumulative box office of "When Harry Meets Sally" has easily exceeded 20 million U.S. dollars in three weeks, reaching 21.56 million U.S. dollars.

When Daenerys Films promoted "When Harry Meets Sally" last year, almost all studios were not optimistic about the project. In the end, through cooperation with the independent production company Handicraft Pictures, it raised 15 million US dollars for production. funds.

In the subsequent issuance negotiations, Daenerys also signed a very unequal distribution contract with Disney.

Although all parties did not publicize these details, in Hollywood, where there are no secrets, these things are still a joke that is often mentioned in the circle. Even after Simon suddenly made a large sum of money in the stock index futures market, he has been ‘squandering’ in Hollywood over the past few months and is also regarded by too many people as a rookie, fat sheep, and upstart.

Now, with the release of "When Harry Meets Sally", the whole Hollywood has suddenly calmed down, and many people have re-examined a series of actions by Simon Westeros.

After the large-scale opening of the first week, the box office score directly exceeded 20 million US dollars. Coupled with the overwhelming reputation, it is obvious that the North American box office of "When Harry Meets Sally" has a very good North American box office hope, or, more directly, as long as There are no major surprises. The North American box office is almost destined to exceed 100 million yuan in this movie with very high topic and word of mouth.

Obviously, this will also be Hollywood's first North American movie in 1988 with a box office expected to exceed 100 million.

The local box office has exceeded 100 million yuan, a seemingly simple concept, but too many Hollywood filmmakers are chasing goals that may not be achieved in their lifetime.

You know, in Hollywood, the scale of movies entering the theaters every year has reached about four to five hundred. It's too far to say, but in the previous 10 years, the average annual box office in North America has achieved no more than 5 works. Moreover, many of the works that can achieve a local box office of more than 100 million yuan, most of which are concentrated on the most outstanding filmmakers and studios of this era in Hollywood. The number of works that broke the local box office of over 100 million yuan in a dark horse posture is even rarer.

However, for a young man who has broken into Hollywood for less than two years, the threshold of a North American box office exceeding 100 million yuan seems to be a very common thing in works related to him.

Last year, Simon Westero's three films, one of the year's crown, the box office of over 100 million, even the'worst' box office score, the local box office of more than 70 million US dollars into the annual list. The ninth place.

Now, in the new year, an anti-genre romance film that was not very promising throughout Hollywood has suddenly once again demonstrated the potential of the North American box office to exceed 100 million.

Four movies, four consecutive successes.

In this case, as long as people with a more normal IQ, it is impossible to think that this series of successes will be just accidental.

"Meg Ryan is so beautiful, and the scene, haha, it is a classic, I will definitely buy the videotape as a collection in the future."

"..."

"Do you know that Meg Ryan has other movies?"

"Don’t you forget the sacrificed aviator’s wife in Tom Cruise’s "High Aspirations". However, Meg Ryan’s appearance in that movie was really terrible, and the performance seemed a bit ostentatious. It's also normal. It seems that she is more suitable for the role of Sally."

"..."

"New York's autumn is so beautiful, Toby, we can go to New York to have fun in the autumn, so we can live in my aunt's house."

"..."

"If you count "Good Morning Vietnam", this would be five times." In a movie theater in Burbank, the movie ended, listening to the surrounding audience with a lot of discussion gradually leaving, still sitting still CAA president Michael · Ovitz said to Disney CEO Michael Eisner: "At the time Simon Westero was eager to sign Robin, it must be because he discovered that Good Morning Vietnam would be a big success. This The incident was stopped by me, and for this reason I had some holidays with Westeros. Now that the role has belonged to Robert De Niro, I began to doubt whether my actions were right or wrong."

As a Disney movie, if you want to see "When Harry Meets Sally", Michael Eisner can just casually ask someone to send him a copy. However, both he and Michael Ovitz wanted to experience the film's response in the audience, so they took time to come to the cinema together.

Michael Eisner also listened to the enthusiastic discussions of many young people around him, with a thoughtful expression on his face, and said: "The work De Niro participated in, Michael, can you tell me more about it? ?"

"A feature film called "Death Poetry Society"," Michael Ovitz said: "If you are interested, I will send you a script."

Michael Eisner nodded, and suddenly said: "Michael, do you think it is possible for Disney to acquire Daenerys Pictures?"

"After "When Harry Meets Sally", several other companies will definitely have this idea," Michael Ovitz said with a smile: "But, think about that kid's net worth, how could he treat himself Film company sold."

"Simon Westero’s talent in film is unquestionable, but when it comes to running a film company, it seems to me a complete mess. Like "When Harry Meets Sally", if I sit In his position, he will never sign the original contract with Disney."

In the contract signed between Daenerys Pictures and Disney last year, "When Harry Meets Sally" North American box office less than 40 million US dollars, Daenerys Pictures needs to pay Disney’s fixed share of 6 million US dollars, North American box office Over 40 million U.S. dollars, Disney will receive an 18% issuance commission.

This means that the higher the North American box office of "When Harry Meets Sally", the more revenue Disney will earn as the publisher. But under normal circumstances, this kind of thing should be the opposite.

right now,

Even if the North American box office of "When Harry Meets Sally" is calculated at 100 million U.S. dollars, Disney can get 18 million U.S. dollars in commission income with this movie. Moreover, Disney will also have the priority to obtain the right to distribute the film through other channels.

Since the two are good friends, Michael Ovitz also generally understands this matter.

Thinking of Simon Westero's series of actions in Hollywood since he became rich, if he completely ignores the box office results, it is as if he is acting unscrupulously.

but.

Pointing to the big screen ahead, Michael Ovitz said: "Michael, if Simon Westero did not sign such a seemingly disadvantaged contract, would Disney be willing to spare no effort to promote this movie?"

Michael Eisner paused, shook his head, and said, "No, and, if it is a general agency distribution, I will definitely not give this movie an Easter schedule and a screening screen of more than 1,000 yuan."

Michael Ovitz shrugged and said, "So, do you still think that young man runs a company completely differently? In my opinion, he has no less end to Hollywood than you and me. Moreover, this is also one. A young man who knows how to choose. He knows that he can only get what he wants if he pays enough. Now, look at "When Harry Meets Sally", the North American box office of this movie is calculated at 100 million US dollars. , The cinema share ratio is calculated as 50%, then Disney can get 18 million US dollars, which seems very lucrative, but Daenerys Pictures can recover 32 million US dollars, relative to the production cost of 15 million US dollars. Said that they have generated very considerable profits. Moreover, this is just the beginning."

The people in the theater gradually dispersed, and the two of them also got up and started walking outward.

When Michael Eisner heard Michael Ovitz's words, he couldn't help but start to figure it out.

indeed.

Without the conditions offered by Simon Westero, Disney would definitely not spend too much energy on this movie.

It is Disney through its own distribution channels, two consecutive months of TV trailer promotion, more than 1,000 screens rolled out at once, and the relatively popular Easter schedule. All these details ensure that "When Harry Meets Sally's current box office results.

Without these prerequisites, with the excellent quality of the film, "When Harry Meets Sally" may still be able to sell at the box office, but it is very unlikely that it will achieve the 100 million mark in North America.

Now, for a film with a box office of over 100 million in North America, Disney has only received $18 million in compensation, which is actually a loss.

After all, with the continuous expansion of overseas, TV broadcast and video tape markets, the North American box office is 100 million US dollars, and the total revenue of the entire movie will be three to four times this data. The follow-up channels do not require much investment in publicity. The profit margin is even more lucrative.

Under normal circumstances, studios will buy out all the distribution rights of an independent film producer in advance to operate. But now, although Disney has the priority of subsequent distribution, but the film has proven successful, most of the subsequent channels The profits will still only belong to Daenerys Pictures.

Simon Westeros only passed a seemingly disadvantaged contract, but reaped a lot more generous returns than many smart businessmen.

The two got into a car parked outside the theater together, and when the driver drove back to the Disney headquarters, Michael Eisner said again: "Then, Michael, you set up a project for Simon Westero during this time. What do you think of those videos?"

"I have basically read scripts, such as "Rain Man". This project was personally promoted by me after more than a year. There are also "Death Poetry Club" and "Steel Magnolia". To be fair, I think these The screenplay will be a good movie, but the commercial box office potential is difficult to guarantee.” Michael Ovitz thought while saying, “In Hollywood for so many years, everyone knows that no one before a movie is released Can predict whether he will succeed, but we have already seen an accident."

Michael Eisner said again: "Good Morning Vietnam."

Michael Ovitz nodded and said, "Yeah, "Good Morning Vietnam". Westero may have seen the script of this movie, but I believe that he should not have seen the final film, let alone Robin. The film also added a lot of personal play that did not exist in the original script. However, Simon Westero still judged that the film could be successful, and tried to compete with Robin before he became a first-line actor. Signed the contract for "Death Poetry Society"."

"So, do you think that Daenerys Pictures' films can be successful?"

Michael Ovitz shrugged and said: "If I were you, I would definitely start to fight for a few films from Daenerys Pictures whose distributors have not yet been determined, but I will try my best with Daenerys The film industry maintains a good cooperative relationship."

Michael Eisner nodded, but suddenly smiled: "At the time, when you were in your current position, it seemed that you didn't do this."

"That's a very ambitious little guy," Michael Ovitz shook his head and said: "You know, when we first met, he revealed a certain will, hoping that Hollywood will return to the era of big studios. Times, how is this possible, so we are destined to only become opponents."